Nikita Kucherov usually gets into the protocols and highlights of hockey games, but in the interviewee’s chair it is much less common. A month and a half after his 30th birthday, the striker opened up in a conversation with the people closest to him – representatives of the Tampa press service. Here’s the weird monologue from him.
“We play hockey. Why don’t we go out on the ice?”
“You must be obsessed with the game. You need to love her. I know some guys in the league who come in, work out in the gym, and go home without being on the ice until the end of August. To me, it’s the same as LeBron James not playing basketball for two months. Or as if Lionel Messi hadn’t touched a soccer ball for as long. We play hockey, why don’t we go out on the ice?
Do I get tired? No, because I love this business, I love being on the ice. There are some boring exercises but you have to understand that while you are playing they make your life easier.
Let’s say you want to beat yourself on the board. Your defense has the puck and is under pressure. You spin the puck around him and his defender “sits” on you. How to get out of this situation? Nobody wants to get stuck like this, so you have to know the way out. This is what we are working on.
Kucherov – about the main defender of “Tampa”:
Kucherov: Vasilevsky doesn’t have to say a word, he is a professional. I admire him
Nobody wants to get stuck in the defensive zone, and I don’t want to be the one to stop you. If you’re rolling and you want to get the puck and I’m slowing down because I can’t play like that, then I’m to blame. It’s not easy, it’s hard, and that’s why you’re working on it.
There are a lot of guys who say, “It’s too hard” or “I can’t do it.” I think, “What do you mean you can’t? You can not do it? Or can’t go to work?
“This job buys me a couple of seconds”
“I want to be ready for anything by the time training camp starts. All those little things that happen 25 to 35 times per game, I practice them. I want to be ready to pick up any record, with a comfortable hand, with an uncomfortable one. I want my head to be on fire and to be able to find partners as quickly as possible.”
“My transfer to Hagel from the board? I want to work on these elements until it becomes routine. It just has to be fast. It’s extra work that gives me a couple of seconds to look around and play the game element.”
The rights to the video belong to NHL Enterprises, LP You can view the video on the NHL website.
“You have to be ahead of the game”
“I have some free time while the children sleep. Or when they wake up and go out, I go to the garage. Even if I only have 10, 15, 20 minutes, it doesn’t hurt. There I can work on throws, from the backhand, from the right. I can move the goal so it looks like I’m shooting from different positions.
I will play with the ball: hit it on the edges and work on receiving passes from different angles. On ice, you have to know how to get the puck out in different situations. You have to know how to catch the puck at a good angle and how to catch the puck at a bad angle. You have to be ahead of the game and see what’s going on.
“When he talks, I’m like a little kid”
I remember how I began to pay attention to these nuances. Until I met trainer Adam Oates, no one taught me these magic tricks and how to do them. He was the guy who showed me all this. This is all of his exercises.
He is a member of the Hall of Fame. He played against Gretzky. He studied with Gretzky, so of course he should listen to it. When he talks, I’m like a little kid. I stand and listen, because when I started paying attention to those things, I once thought, “Wow, the game can be so slow.”
Oates on Kucherov:
NHL legend – words about Kucherov’s talent are just excuses. Don’t underestimate his efforts.
“You want to be good as a player, but everything is for the cup”
“I want to win more. Drinking is amazing. You just want to win, that’s the main thing. Of course you want to be good as a player, but everything is for the cup. That is the reason why I do all this work. I just want us to win more.
Yes, we won two or three years ago. But that’s in the past, who cares now? Nobody cares about the past. You have to get back on the ice and do the work. You need to make a new story, that’s how I feel about it.”
“I think we are going to have a good year”
“We are still a good team. I think Julien (BrisBois, Tampa GM-Approx. “Championship”) and his team did an excellent job bringing in new players, new energy, new blood. It’s hard. We know it’s a business. It’s hard to keep everyone. You just can’t do it.
Kucherov – about the new partner:
Kucherov: Every time a Russian guy comes to Tampa, we try to help
But new people challenge us, we challenge them, it’s a good combination. This is how we grow as a team. I still rank our team as the best. In my opinion, we still have a good chance. Let’s see how it goes. I can’t wait for training camp and the start of the season. I think we’re going to have a good year.”
