Nathan MacKinnon raised the Stanley Cup over his head and put it in his mouth.
He dreamed of playing for the Colorado Avs when he was a kid and they won the title for the first time in over a decade. MacKinnon had a goal and an assist in their win over the Lightning to win the title.
There was something strange about MacKinnon's face as he raised the cup again. He had a smile at the end of his previous series.
He does not smile a lot. He's in charge of everything. Colorado general manager Joe Sakic said that he saw how excited he was to lift it. I'm so happy for him. He might be able to relax and enjoy the summer.
In the playoffs, MacKinnon scored 13 goals and had 24 points to lock down his legacy as an NHL star. Before the Stanley Cup Final, MacKinnon didn't care about the latter.
Is there a legacy for who? On media day, he asked if you guys were okay. I'm having a good time. I am doing everything I can for my team. I'm not thinking about anything else.
He ended another to start his own legacy.
The way they went back-to-back was crazy. I don't know if we're going to go back-to-back. I'm going to have fun with it.
They need to lose before they can win. Mac Kinnon did the same. In the span of one victory, the anguish of the regular season and playoffs that had defined his nine-year NHL career were forgiven. The years of demanding excellence from teammates to the point of behind- the-scenes rigidity. From mentors such as Sidney Crosby, MacKinnon was able to learn the mindset to get to the playoffs.
It was worth it because Nathan MacKinnon could finally enjoy the joy of winning a Stanley Cup.
He has excelled on the ice. "He makes everything go, he's the battery of our team, he makes everything go," said Johnson. The person who would do anything to make his team better.
Ian Cole, a member of the Carolina Hurricanes, thinks that hypercompetitiveness is what makes him great. In practice. He's going to do everything he can to win. Even if he calls out his teammates.
Which Mac Kinnon would do. Even if it meant crushing some egos along the way, one of the best players on the planet had molded himself and his teammates into champion athletes.
After the Avs won the Stanley Cup, Nathan MacKinnon went through a lot of his emotions with Emily Kaplan.
WHEN DEFENSEMAN JOSH MANSON was traded by the Anaheim Ducks to the Avalanche ahead of the deadline, he knew about MacKinnon's intensity as an opponent on the ice. He didn't know that intensity paled in comparison to what players experienced with MacKinnon away from the games -- in practice, in the locker room and in life.He is very focused. Is it really scary? I don't know if that is dependent on the player. He is very focused. That is why he is different. That is what makes him special, that he drives everyone else to be better. The man is in your face. He said he expected this from you. I want to win.
MacKinnon's expectations have been experienced by many who played with him. The person is yelling. Unanswered advice and blunt criticisms can be found. There is a standard of excellence applied to everything.
One of the best players in the league, who dedicates so much of himself to the organization, if he is a little intense when someone doesn't act the right way? Pierre-Edouard Bellemare played with MacKinnon for two seasons before he left for the Lightning.
Cole was a teammate of MacKinnon's with the Colorado Avalanche.
I don't think it's bad to be competitive. It is not smooth. He said that the ability to call anyone out at any given time, whether he's right or wrong, makes guys play better. They are either scared to be called out or they don't want to look foolish.
For NHL veterans and the rookies, that's what it's all about.
Cole said that a lot of young men don't want to get yelled at.
Cale was a young player. He joined the Avs in the playoffs after graduating from the NCAA. In the playoffs, he had six points in 10 games and then won the Calder Trophy as rookies of the year. He was going to be a great player.
MacKinnon wasn't satisfied with that.
Cole said thatCale had all the talent in the world. The man was still being pushed by Nathan. It wasn't enough to tell him. He was asked what he was doing. Tell him that he has to be better than this. Cale is a great player in the NHL. You have to elevate yourself when you surround yourself with good people. That is the culture that was being built there.
The winner of the Norris trophy credits MacKinnon with driving him in practices.
He is a very intense guy. I think I'm a very competitive person. It's great to practice with him. I like to think I'm trying to make people around me better by pushing other people to become better.
The Stanley Cup was won by Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and the Avs.
O'Connor has been that player as well. He played parts of the last three seasons with the team, but this was his first full season with the team.
He's a good example for a lot of young guys. He is one of the best players in the world. Before and after practice, he pushes guys. Someone makes a mistake.
O'Connor stopped.
Someone is needed to push everyone. He's always there for people when they aren't sharp or sleepy because it's a long season. That's the most important thing with our team. Accountability throughout the lineup. Everyone has high standards for each other, and he is one of the guys who keeps them up.
If those standards mean you can't eat junk food in his presence, that's fine.
O'Connor said he wasn't a candy guy. Had nothing to do with that, fortunately.
CANONICALLY, THE GREATEST example of MacKinnon's abrasive intensity was provided by former Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov last summer. He did a Russian-language interview in which he shared some of MacKinnon's dietary standards, which he said were pushed on his teammates.Zadorov said that two years ago he got rid of all the desserts in Colorado. They were no longer allowed in the dressing room or pre- game meals. The white sauce was removed for pasta. The pasta was replaced with chickpeas. If you want to eat shit, you have the rest of the year to do it. There won't be any of that when you come here because we're winning the cup.
He compared Mac Kinnon's intensity to that of Michael Jordan. Mac Kinnon reached out after seeing it on social media.
I am not able to read the first paragraph of it on social media. He compared me to another person. MacKinnon said, "You're such a donkey, dude." I sent him a text. I asked if he could stop talking about me in Russia.
MacKinnon encourages teammates to eat healthy as well.
He said that if he saw Z eating a big chocolate bar he would give him a hard time. I'm not a psycho eater, that's for sure." I enjoy eating what everyone else does as well.
Mac Kinnon wouldn't yell at him if he saw him eating a cupcake.
He felt that all of that stuff was taken out of proportion. He can have some cheat meals. He is very dialed in during the season.
Cole is vegan, dairy-free, and watches his diet, so he wasn't on MacKinnon's hit list while he was a player. He said the pressure from MacKinnon was real.
Some of the guys on our team did not fight back. He said, "You are fat." Cole told them to stop eating. He's right in his defense. He doesn't pull any punches. He said he wouldn't give a s---. It is indeed. It is almost always.
MacKinnon is not the only NHL player who values nutrition.
He's quite strict. Sidney Crosby said that all the men are aware. We're close in diet.
Both Crosby and MacKinnon are actors. The two NHL superstars are from Cole Harbour. He befriended a fan and is now training with him.
Crosby and Cole are both very competitive and good friends, according to Cole.
CROSBY FIRST MET MacKinnon when Nate was 17, playing for the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. MacKinnon would go back to Cole Harbour in the summer and train there, as would Crosby.The two players spoke before the playoffs, but MacKinnon wouldn't say what they talked about. Crosby has said that the two have had candid conversations about hockey.
I think the big part of it is that he is aware of it. It is easy to say, "I want to improve something." I believe it is just experience. Crosby said that he will learn and figure out what he's going through. You're learning all the time. I'm not sure, but I'm sure he is as well.
Crosby came into the league as a terrible leader, but has grown into an even-tempered leader. MacKinnon warned not to confuse that calm with a lack of aggressiveness.
I don't think he's chill. He is the most competitive person I have ever met. He used to wear his emotions on his sleeve. Crosby is calmer now, according to MacKinnon. It's better to be that way. I think every year I get a little calmer. I don't think I'll be there in the near future.
MacKinnon learned from Crosby's demeanor and also from Sid's. According to Cole, MacKinnon started to breathe the sport in 2016-17, when the Avs finished last in the league with a.293 points percentage.
Both of them are hockey-focused. Sid has always been wired that way. It was a conscious decision that he made after the bad season they had.
Cole said that he felt he needed to live and breathe to be successful. He made a conscious decision to be miserable. I have never been a part of a worse season. I will not allow that to happen again. I will hold myself accountable and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Between the last place season and the team's recent failures, MacKinnon's approach to practices and teammates was amplified. Like Crosby, MacKinnon has learned to reel in his intensity for the benefit of the Colorado team.
"He's always going to push, he's always going to be the driver of our offense, but I feel like he's let himself relax a little bit more," Bednar said. If he plays his role to the best of his ability, there's more inner confidence in what he can accomplish over the years. It doesn't have to be flawless.
POST-PLAYOFF ELIMINATION press conferences have been a place where MacKinnon's emotions are on full display. He would look devastated, despondent and utterly defeated.When the Avs lost to the Golden Knights in six games in last year's playoffs, MacKinnon said this.
There is always next year. I don't feel like we talk about anything else. I haven't won anything in my ninth year.
MacKinnon said that his team's insistence that it could finally be the year led to his disgruntlement.
You don't have a lot of chances. I've probably had at least two or three chances to win in nine seasons. We're all upset when you feel like you're close to winning with the team you have. He said that it was all the men.
He says he is no longer that guy.
I think I'm a different person from that year. I was overcome with emotion. I would be emotional if we did not win. He thinks the mindset is more positive. It doesn't work out when you want it. The goal is to get the victory.
The Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup because they didn't win it for the last few years. They learned from losing seven games in a row to the San JoseSharks and from blowing a 2-0 series lead to the Golden Knights.
You have to learn a few things when you lose. We got away from how we play our strengths in Vegas. We were a little afraid out there. MacKinnon said that they were a bit hesitant. You can't win against a team that is rolling.
The teams have similar paths to glory, as evidenced by the fact that the Avs won the Stanley Cup against the Bolts. The team talked about learning how to win after losing in the playoffs. The first-round sweep of the Columbus Blue Jackets is a key moment in their origin story, showing how they needed to think and play to succeed in the playoffs.
It was easy to point fingers at each other because of how bad that was for the group. "Everyone looked in the mirror and came back the next year with a little bit of a chip on their shoulders."
The Lightning's resilience inspired the Colorado team.
We were aware of what they had gone through. Everyone wrote them off after they lost to Columbus in the playoffs. They went through some ups and downs and are now the team everyone is trying to emulate. We're a long way from where we were. You need to learn from those losses. Sometimes it's necessary to go through some pain. Staying on the gas has been our focus.
No matter what the situation is, the Avalanche have to stay alert.
They eliminated an opponent after putting them on the ropes.
When we'd get down in a game, the guys would start looking forward. We might take our foot off the gas even if we win. I feel like this team is focused on trying to do their best and play their best.
The players were not the only ones to take a lesson from the Lightning. After back-to-back Stanley Cup wins, there was a lot of discussion about whether the core of the team should have been destroyed.
I was a little bit hesitant after 2019. We didn't let the band fall apart. Cooper said they kept the faith.
Four years in a row without an appearance in the third round was not a problem for the Avs.
There is a belief. "It's a belief in your core, that's what it is." You have to keep learning. You need to get bigger. We continued to get better over time. We really fought this year.
MacKinnon was a leader in that area. He didn't have to win all his games by himself.
He hasn't put as much this year as he has in the past. He is more relaxed in our game. He doesn't put too much weight on his own shoulders in the team game. It doesn't have to be three points. I can see the growth from him. It's just a more mature player every year that we've had him here, especially coming playoff time with the experiences that we've gone through.
Winning the Stanley Cup with MacKinnon is the ultimate experience.
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