Two minutes after wrapping up a conversation with his wife, Lars Eller couldn’t remember anything.
Automatic bill payments have become Jordan Staal’s friend growing up from a 20-year-old on Pittsburgh’s 2009 championship team, to a husband and father a decade later with Carolina. As younger teammates such as Teuvo Teravainen have no problem going all in on playoff hockey mode, Staal leans on loved ones to get him through the daily needs off the ice.
“It’s easy to do,” Williams said. “You just deflect as much as you can and use the excuse of ‘I’ve got to focus on hockey’ for everything. When you’re home, it’s dad time. When you’re at the rink, it’s hockey.” Bettman said he typically talks to director of hockey operations Colin Campbell multiple times on any given game day, well past midnight. But he loves every bit of it.