Colorado Avalanche: Nathan MacKinnon’s New Media Personality
By Crystal Noll
Hockey season is here once again and Colorado Avalanche Alternate Captain Nathan MacKinnon is back with a feisty attitude.
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has really come into his own both on and off the ice. Whether its because he’s one of the best players currently playing in the NHL or because he’s a little tired of sounding like a media trained hockey robot, he’s speaking his mind. And we like it.
There is something about watching a player grow from the timid draftee, to the hotshot rookie, to the still relatively new player, to veteran leadership in a locker room. And over the last year we’ve seen Nate make the transition between the last two categories. BSN Denver’s Adrian Dater picked up on it back in April when he penned, “Ask a bad question, and you’ll probably be told so by him. He doesn’t suffer foolish questions with gladness.”
But it’s been really noticeable lately, especially when asked about Vegas Golden Knight Nate Schmidt’s recent suspension for performance enhancing drugs. “I do believe him. I don’t think he was f—ing injecting a needle in his ass. We’re all hockey players. We all respect the game. I’m sure Nate Schmidt isn’t a cheater. I believe him,” he told Craig Custance of The Athletic.
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In another interview with Emily Kaplan of ESPN, that was released the same day, when asked about Jacksonville Jaguar Jalen Ramsey’s comments regarding being able to play in the NHL within 6 months of putting on skates. Mack said, “I think it’s awesome, I mean, I’d like to see him skate, I think it would be pretty funny. He wouldn’t be able to stand up. I think he just likes to talk. Whatever.”
He goes onto say “It’s good for the NFL, for someone to go out and talk like that. It brings a lot of attention. If it happened in hockey, it would make the sport a little more popular, too, and we’d take it.” And maybe that is exactly what he is doing, drawing a little attention to himself and, through that, the sport of hockey.
I asked my fellow MHS Contributors about it and their opinions, much like my own, are that Nate’s new media persona is good for him, good for the Colorado Avalanche, and good for hockey in general.
Nadia Archuleta – Nate has always been something of an inarticulate speaker with the media. He’s simply usually gone the route of being a stereotypical vanilla hockey player, sticking to cliches rather than sticking out. Now, after becoming the face of the franchise, he’s developing a media persona. And it’s a spicy one. MacKinnon’s here to show the hockey world that not all his fire comes out on the ice.
Hilary Keane – I think it’s great that Nate feels comfortable and confident enough to break away from the generic media soundbites that most hockey players give. It shows that he’s maturing and finding his own voice.
Callie Agnew – I think Nate is getting more comfortable in his role on the team and in the NHL. We all know Erik Johnson is a little spicy in interviews when it means something to him. MacK sees it’s okay to let his opinions be heard and that people like hearing their honest opinion not the lame bs quotes that just cover their asses. I say let the honesty fly. Makes the players more relatable.
In the NHL media day video MacKinnon responded again to the Ramsey statements saying, “I like the confidence. He seems like a pretty confident guy from what I can tell… More power to him.”
Next. MacKinnon Answers Ramsey Perfectly. dark
Well, you know what, Nate? We are liking the more confident you, too. Keep doing what you’re doing both on and off the ice.