April 15, 2025 • 43 mins
Defenseman can be onery. They are defensemen after all. Kyle Quincey was no exception and had his moments, however many were justified. Like the time he pinned a hockey stick between the eyes of Redwings head coach Mike Babcock and “requested” respect during his second stint in Detroit after coming off 3 solid years with the Avalanche. Babcock obliged and put Kyle on the power play the next night.
Kyle started skating in his home country of Canada when he was just a toddler. Junior hockey took the place of college, and the Redwings drafted him in 2003. Babcock was his coach then, which is why it was difficult for him not to treat Kyle like a rookie during the second go around.
Kyle’s career took him from one coast to the other. He endured numerous injuries and over 20 concussions. He also earned respect and lifelong friends everywhere he went whether it was the Redwings, Kings, Avs, Devils, Blue Jackets or the Wild. Hockey is family and he needed that family after he retired in 2019.
In 2020, Kyle’s one year old son Axl was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Kyle was just starting to figure out who he was post-hockey and had to put that mental anguish aside to be a dad, husband and support his family. It was tough between Covid and moving short term to Philly for Axl’s surgery, but Axl came out cancer free. Then it was time to focus on Kyle.
Kyle found a path to fulfillment by creating the Do Good Ranch and helping others who have experienced mental and physical trauma. The Do Good Ranch offers a stunning setting for healing, wellness and education into self-improvement and personal growth. The ranch opened in April of 2025 and is available for reservations and private retreats.
Kyle started skating in his home country of Canada when he was just a toddler. Junior hockey took the place of college, and the Redwings drafted him in 2003. Babcock was his coach then, which is why it was difficult for him not to treat Kyle like a rookie during the second go around.
Kyle’s career took him from one coast to the other. He endured numerous injuries and over 20 concussions. He also earned respect and lifelong friends everywhere he went whether it was the Redwings, Kings, Avs, Devils, Blue Jackets or the Wild. Hockey is family and he needed that family after he retired in 2019.
In 2020, Kyle’s one year old son Axl was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Kyle was just starting to figure out who he was post-hockey and had to put that mental anguish aside to be a dad, husband and support his family. It was tough between Covid and moving short term to Philly for Axl’s surgery, but Axl came out cancer free. Then it was time to focus on Kyle.
Kyle found a path to fulfillment by creating the Do Good Ranch and helping others who have experienced mental and physical trauma. The Do Good Ranch offers a stunning setting for healing, wellness and education into self-improvement and personal growth. The ranch opened in April of 2025 and is available for reservations and private retreats.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'd babcock as my coach before and after he treated
me like I was that rookie, and I'm like, uh uh.
My mentors on that team, right, Cleary Bertuzzi and my
friends were like, you have to go in there and
you had to stand up to the bully. So what
he did he would run to his office and take
his skates off and then get like a really quick
workout before guys would get in. So he was mid
(00:21):
squat with like squat rock on his back and I
put the stick right between his eyes and I'm like,
have you ever talked to me like that we're going
to have an issue?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You did not?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Yeah, I was, and I was shaking doing him, But
ever since that day he respected me.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired a podcast featuring conversations
with professional athletes and coaches who have experienced being cut, traded, fired,
and or they're retired. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. In
the United States, most kids learn how to ride a
bike before getting into other sports. In Canada, kids learn
how to lace up their skates and get on the ice.
(00:56):
Kyle Quincy figures he started skating around age three, and
he he still laces him up today, but now it's
for Colorado Avalanche alumni events. When Kyle was still in
high school, he decided to forego college and get started
with the juniors. In July of two thousand and five,
he was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings during a
commercial break. He'd score his first NHL goal just under
(01:17):
two years later, and then the following year started his
tour of what would become many stops in the pros
the La Kings, three seasons with the Abs, Tampa Bay
Kinda Back to Detroit, the Devils, the Blue Jackets, the
Wild and a little stint overseas until retiring in twenty nineteen.
A year after retirement, while still trying to figure out
(01:38):
who he was besides a hockey player, Kyle's one year
old son was diagnosed with a brain tumor. From there,
it was a whirlwind of doctors, surgery, and healing, not
only for his son, who was doing well today, but
also for Kyle, who began to dig deep and find
ways to help himself and others who are dealing with trauma.
You'll hear more about what he's doing with the do
(01:59):
Good Ranch near the end of our conversation. Let's go
ahead and get into it, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Kyle Quincy Cut Traded Fired Retired podcast with Susie Wargin.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Kyle Quincy, how are you?
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Thanks for having me?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Absolutely? You look like you could still play? You do
you look good?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Thank you? Yeah? Yeah, some days I feel like I
could still play.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I do you Yeah, I bet you do. It's great
to see you again. It's been a long time. I
know that you've made Denver your home for a long time,
so it's good that you're around. And when I found
out that you're still so involved with all the alumni
events and what you're doing now post career is super fascinating.
So I can't wait to get into that. But we
got to start like we always do and go back
(02:42):
with your roots. Yeah, yeah, you're Canadian roots. So you
grow up in what's the name of the town. Is
it Caldon as I say it?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Or I was born in Kitchener, Ontario, right, moved to Shelbourne, Ontario,
and then Orangeville and then that's beside Kaladin.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Caladin Okay, I knew i'd say it wrong. Yeah, okay,
So then when does hockey come into your life or
is it just from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
The whole Canadian cultural story of you know, gym class
and you know, kindergarten or pre kindergarten, three years old,
four years old, everyone everyone is skating and and then
you know it's the dream and you fall in love
with the leaves. And my dad was a huge hockey
fan and.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
He kind of got you into who you looked up to, right.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, So like I was a kind of an up
and down plugger, left winger, and bill Berg was a
fourth line on the story. As we went to see
the Toronto Maple Leafs play the La Kings at the
Maple Leaf Gardens and Wayne Gretzky, right, and my dad's like,
don't watch him, You're never going to be that. And
then he just picked out a guy there's like number ten,
(03:42):
bill Berg and just hitting everybody, dumping it in, doing
all the right things, just grit and like playing the
right way. And he's like, that's you. That's who you
watch and that became my favorite player.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And yeah, when I was I think twelve, I couldn't
make my team as a forward anymore. So they're like,
do you want to play d Yeah, I want to
be on the team. So then I became a defenseman.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Do whatever you can do, right, Yeah, yeah, if you
can't be on the offense and be on defense. I
talked with Rick Berry about that too, where he had
someone pull him aside and he's like, hey, you know
what seems like you know you're not afraid. Yeah, and
that became his role. Yeah, it's very good at it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah. So for me, which was good and bad. I
was good at everything and not great at anything, right,
So I think to make it a long long time
and to have a really good career, like being great
at one thing is important. But I was like the
Swiss army knife. When I got traded to the Abs,
I was, uh, you know, powerplay, penalty kill, last minute.
(04:37):
I was the guy, which was great. Then I got
traded back to the Red Wings and I'm not the guy.
They got a lot of good guys. They got Lenstrom
and Cronwall and Falski and on and on and on.
So I came back into that fourth fifth secondary, power play,
penalty kill, more of a shutdown, hard rugged making it
hard on other teams where I was harder to do that.
(04:59):
When I was playing for the because I was playing
thirty minutes a game, so I was more of, you know,
doing everything good. But then when I came back to
the Red Wings and I had to play like fourteen
to eighteen minutes then do something, I could be more
hard and really like lean into that role.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Interesting. Yeah, okay, So as you're growing up, then, did
you play any other sports aside from hockey?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, baseball was a big one. And then I grew
up in like the epicenter of box across, So yeah,
Orange Voluntario and Ontario is like the epicenter of box across,
which is like mammoth, Like what the mammoth plays?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Oh okay, I don't.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Know what do you guys call its?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Indoor lacrosse?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Indoor lacrosse? There we go. Yeah. So that so that
was big in my little town and big into golf,
like the dream was to play like in college, like
a two sport athlete. But broke my hand playing for
a team Canada when I was sixteen, and then the
golf career was over and I chose the right one.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Did you go to college?
Speaker 1 (05:53):
No? No, I went to junior so I turned.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Okay, I thought, yeah, I was sixty, so not only
no golf career, no college, no going hockey.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
All the way exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, yeah, I ended up. Yeah, it's crazy that, you know,
the rules have changed recently, But back then, at fifteen,
I had to make a decision if I was going
to play in the OHL, play pro or wait and
then try to get a scholarship when I was eighteen.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
At fifteen, you had this society.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, you're not even grown. I luckily had a girl
spurt right then put on forty pounds four inches and
then I'm like, I'm a man. So I went and
played with men right away, and then that was the
way I got to the Red Wings. And I don't know.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
So at fifteen, you made that decision to play in
the Ontario Hockey League, which is the OHL, and so
you start out in the minors, but you're playing with
big kids, big boys.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, in the years, right.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, so in junior they call it right, and then
they pay you fifty bucks a week, so you're not
allowed to go to college. So you make that decision.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Because you're making two hundred dollars a month possibly to college.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Keep it. Yeah, but now those rules are changed, which
is great.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That is good.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Well, it's kind of like the nil I mean, they're
all getting paid.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, but the end of the day, it's not about
the money. It's about the freedom, right because you don't know.
You might you might grow at seventeen and then be like, hey,
I can't wait, I need to go play. But now
you can play the best league in the world at fifteen, sixteen,
seventeen eighteen and then be like, yeah, you know what,
maybe this isn't for me. I'm going to go to college. Yeah,
I can go get a degree. Maybe you have a
good year there. Then you're like, got twenty three.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I'm ready, right, Yeah, Because everybody matures at different places
in their careers, and you can see it where sometimes
you're not ready at eighteen nineteen, even though people think
they might be, they're just not. You need a few
more years before you really start to peak.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah, But the story is I grew up real fast.
You know, when you're playing when you're playing against twenty
year olds at fifteen and it's killer be killed, and
especially in that world, there's like the game's a lot
different than it was, you know, using a wood stick. Yeah,
it was survival. I bet there's there's guys out there
that didn't even know there was a puck on the ice.
They're just there for one reason.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Oh my god, yeah, killer be killed. Yeah, so did
you stay home or did you have did you go?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I got dropped by the London Nights, so it was
about two hour drive and I lived in the host
family with Rick Nash at the time. And then he
signed like the you know, the biggest contract for like
an eighteen year old and left. So I was on
my own but played for London Nights, which was like
a dream.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
And where was that? Where was that located?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
London is on the like in between Toronto and Windsor,
right by Detroit. Okay, yeah, that kind of parlays into
that season. Was my draft year to the NHL at seventeen,
and we played Windsor and Plymouth, which is suburbs of Detroit.
The stars aligned. I had a really good playoff, really
hard playing like kind of underdog playing seven game series
(08:40):
and they drafted me when I wasn't. I wasn't expecting
to be drafted. I flew under the radar of my
whole career. I was never like rated high or whatever,
top prospect. But yeah, when I got my name called,
I wasn't even at the draft. I was just and
I got drafted in a commercial. So when that phone
call rang, I was at a party with my buddies
(09:01):
the night before and we're talking about it, watching the
first round on the draft, right, and I got a
phone call and it's like, Hey, it's Ken Holland from
the Detroit Red Wings. Congratulations, we just drapped you. I'm
like haha, yeah, yeah, right click. I thought it was
my buddies just playing a joke on me because I'm
watching the draft right and I'm like, but I did
not just get drafted. I'm watching it. He called right
back and he's like, no, no, no, hey, this is yeah. Yeah.
(09:24):
And then I saw my name on the ticker. I'm like, okay, yeah,
and I was yeah, the dream come true.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
That was.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So that was the two thousand and three the NHL
Entry Draft.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, could be the best draft of all time.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Why do you say that.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Just because of all the players I was in it,
the depth of it, but yeah, being drafted in the
fourth round to Detroit, I was like one of their
high picks because you know, they were in a dynasty
at that time. Should have been yeah, and they were
trading away first rounders for you know, the Brett Halls
Luke Robatize guys like that. So I was one of
their top guys. I was so fortunate. But my first
(09:56):
defense partner in my first training camp was Chris Chelios.
Oh kid, it takes me under his wing on and
off the ice, teaches me how to be a pro.
I'm just so lucky to have amazing mentors.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah really, that's huge.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, so I was a sponge. I soaked everything up
I could, and yeah, let me have a really good career.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Well, what a cool experience having come from where you
were in the juniors, where like you said, it's kill
or be killed. So it's not like anybody's going, hey,
come here, kid, let me let me show you how
this works. It's like, no, you're you're going to take
my job. So I'm not going to be friendly to you. Chelios.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Do that that's huge?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, well, again, he was a legend. He wasn't worried
about me taking the job. But there was six or
seven guys on that team, the older guys that they
looked at me as a threat, and I was. I was.
I did take their job. And that's the one thing
that people understand of like it's it's every shift, it's
every day because there's always some much trying to take
your job every every day.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Okay, you get drafted by the Red Wings, you stay
in their AHL for a little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Right. I was up and down played two inner games
in Grand Rapids. Okay, they have a theory in Detroit.
Even guys like Garie Huddler of Philipoola really big names
that played a long time and had really successful careers.
Every single player in in Detroit's organization had to play
in the minors.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Oh wow, everybody did.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Like you have the Steve Eiserman's and guys like that.
But like in the generation when Ken Holland was there
and how good they were, every single person that came through,
they made you earn it because oh yeah, because when
you get called up, you're like, I ain't going back.
I'll do anything to not go back.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
All right, but you did well.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I was not very my first ever game in the NHL,
Uri Fisher actually died on the bench and they brought
him back to life. That's how I got my one
game in two thousand and five.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
That was November two thousand and five, right against the Ducks.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yet the fibulator on the bench saved his life.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Holy cow.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
So like there was and so when I get called up,
it was like it was just such a huge story
and it was chaos. And then yeah, it would have
been the next year in two thousand and seven, played
up and down. But then my first Stanley Cup game
was Game six, triple overtime in the Sea of Red
and Calgary baptism by fire was an understatement.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yeah, and we're about to come up on the anniversary
when you scored your first goal. It was April seventh,
two thousand and seven.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, that's a funny one too. I I just throw
like an absolute muffin from the point and it might
have bounced twice. And it was the So that Detroit
was so good that the end of the year they
would rest and Lindstrums and the top guys. So I
would come in and play and they've already locked up
the President's Trophy. They were that good. So Thomas Holmstrom,
who was a great guy funny, comes up to me,
(12:32):
is like, hey man, I got like a two million
dollar bonus and that's my thirtieth goal. And it was
the last game of the year. I'm like, oh, take it,
like just you know, slice me off a percentage and
pull it good, like this might have been. This might
have been before like the it's all monitored and stuff, right, Yeah,
he was just joking around. It was my goal. I
probably would have rathered the hundred grand or whatever, no.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Kidding, right, Yeah, but that's that was the last goal
of the regular season that year.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, and then it was like a seven to one
win over Chicago or something. Yeah, it didn't matter at all.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
It doesn't matter if it's garbage time. It's a goal, right,
it's your first NHL goal. So and like you said,
they go on for the end of the playoffs and
then you're a key component of that overtime win that
helps them get into the second round that year.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah. Yeah, we should have won the Cup that year.
We went all the way. It is wild. We're playing Anaheim.
Pronger takes a It would have been a thirty gamer
thirty game suspension nowadays, but it was a one game.
So we're like, okay, we'll win this game and then
win it at home, and we ended up losing the game.
Pronger was out. Then we're up one nothing with thirty
seconds left and Nita Meyer just kind of put on
(13:37):
a show and they ended up beating us in six.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
But the next year they next year, next year we
won in eight.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah, and then that one is interesting because you are
on the practice team at that point or during the
Stanley Cup playoffs, right, so you're in the picture. Did
you get a ring?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You know what? That's a that's an interesting question, but yeah,
a legend. Yeah, we call a so it's called the
Black Cases or are we called the Mushroom Club?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Okay, they're the Black Aces here because Rick Berry was
on the Black Aces.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, yeah, it's all the Black Cases. But we had
a joke we called the Mushroom Club because they you know,
they feed us crap and they keep us in the
dark and expect us to grow.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
You're literally just a fun guy, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Exactly, but I was actually injured. So like uh chelly
os and like McCarty and the guys are like, hey,
we need you to be like the guy in the room,
like not the clown, but like you got to come
in tell stories, like have a good.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Time and just snuff the crowd.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Exactly. Yeah, like everyone has a role in here. So
like I was injured. I was not There's no chance
I was playing. But I was still there for the
three months just to keep everybody oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we had a great crew, Aaron Downey and Darren
McCarty and Kelley. We were all not playing. We're all
just hanging out. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
But did you get a ring?
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Okay? So I was told. So I got put on
waivers of the year after and I'm in LA and
I remember the phone call and my agent calls me
to say, hey, you're gonna get a ring, and you're
gonna get it. I'm here, right, So it didn't come.
Didn't come. There's a rings, B rings, C rings.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Like, right to give me any rings whatever.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I'm on the team, yes, right you are. Let me
have people in the miners getting rings, the trainers and stuff.
But it was just like, so I did not get
a ring. I got a day with the cup.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Your name's not on the cup either.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
You have to have forty one games or one second
in the finals. So I don't deserve to be on
the okay, but I think I deserve a ring. But
at the end of the day that it doesn't matter
at all. That's so far away. Just the memories and
all the lessons I learned from that. Yeah, it was
wild having a day with the cup, bringing it to
my hometown, that would be cool. Sharing it with my
small town in Orange On, Ontario was really cool.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
That's super cool and not many people get to do that.
So that's cool, all right. So follow two thousand and
eight that same year, that's when you get claimed offed
waivers by the LAK.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I get called into the office and again, we're so good. Right,
we go to Game seven and Pittsburgh beats us that year,
but hostas on the team. Now we're better than the
year before and Steve Eiserman I played with him and
now he's the assistant GM mckenn holland. So he calls
me in and says, we traded you to Dallas, so
go say bye to the boys. So I go say
(16:06):
bye to the guys. I'm on my way to the
airport and Brett Hall and Les Jackson calls me back
and say, hey, we just got your MRI. Your back
is toast. You need surgery immediately. Just turn it around.
We avoided the trade. So I come back around and
then they call me into the office and they say okay,
now you need to pack a bag for anywhere in
the NHL. We're going to see the president because we're
(16:28):
playing Carolina and we won the Cup the year before,
so we're going to do that or grin rapids. But
now I'm injured, so I can't be traded, I can't
be claimed, and I shouldn't be able to get sent down.
But I was playing on pure adrenaline, and because Detroit
won the Cup, I didn't get my surgery because they
didn't sign me until late August, so I just grinded through.
(16:51):
I had a her need a disc in my bag,
which was like crazy pain down my static. But like
during the game, I never lost strength, so I could
grind through the pain. So I come to training camp
do that, and I'm the odd man out. We have
a couple of young d and their theory was they
had a bunch of smaller guys. I could play deer forward.
So I'm the guy out. So they end up put
(17:11):
me on waivers and I'm beg skating before the Carolina
game and Ken Hallan says, hey, LA just picked you up.
Here's the phone and here you go. So I call
Dean Lombardi. I'm like Dean I'm going to meet the president,
like tomorrow. What do you think. He's like, buddy, get
on a plane right now. You're playing in three hours.
(17:32):
Oh no. So I fly to LA and I failed
my physical. So I come to the rink of which
I knew was going to happen. So I fail my
physical and Dean is like grilling me to see if
he's going to give me a chance, and I begged him.
I said, give me one game and I can show
you that I can play. So he thought about it.
He brings me to practice the next day and he
gave me one game and I went on like a
(17:54):
ten or thirteen game point streak and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Oh my gosh. And you didn't get to meet the president.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
No, not yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that propelled me
to have just an amazing season in LA.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
And you hadn't had back surgery, so you're just going.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
On excruciating pH So I play sixty games for the Kings,
have you know, close to forty points and.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
With a herniated disc.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, and set myself up for my whole career. And
then I was never their guy. So they traded me
in the summer to the Avalanche for Ryan Smith. Then
I became one of the top guys.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Here absolutely for three years.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, but all because of that. He gave me one
game in LA.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
It all comes back to that, Isn't that amazing.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
There's so many stories like that where it's like you
just you need that one little opportunity, that door to
open and then but you got to be ready for it.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Oh when it comes.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, most guys don't get the opportunity, but when you do,
you have to make it absolutely. Yeah, make it work.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
All right. So while you're in the abs, as you've
talked about, you're you're the guy. Everybody knows who you are.
But you had some pretty crazy injuries during your your
years and one of them happened while you were here,
and that was when you you said you dislocated your
shoulder from your shoulder to your hips.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah the time, yeah, yeah, the timing. So, like I
think we were talking about just how how the career
goes and all the stars out there the line. So
I was on a minimum wage contract in LA and
Colorado my first year and playing twenty eight thirty minutes
a game. So I finally signed my first contract and
I tried to play like I was a three million
(19:25):
dollar player. Instead of just playing the way I was,
I was trying to do too much.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Feel more pressure. Once you signed that contract, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
You want to earn You want to You don't want
people to be like, look like, what's going making that?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Ye?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I want to earn it. So I was squeezing the
stick too hard. I was trying way too hard to
prove myself, which I already did. But it's all mental.
And anyway, we're uh, we're playing in Washington. They are
doing the Winter Classic, so HBO is there. And the
first shift of the game, I reversed the puck a
little early and Ovechkin reads it and runs Duchane. I
(20:00):
need to get him back. I can't fight him. It
got to be clean. But target was put on him.
So in the second period he was bumbling like a
two on two in the neutral zone and I just
stopped on a dime and threw the kitchen sink at him,
try to knock his head off a Russian tank. I
bounced off him and I landed on the ice and
(20:22):
my shoulder popped out. But I was going so fast.
When I went into the boards, it was already out
and then it went down, so all the nerves under
that are in your armpit, they were all messed up,
and that's the nerve that makes you move your arm.
So our doctor here, you know, is great, amazing Doctrin
did an amazing surgery. But his bedside manner is kind
(20:42):
of funny. He's like, hey, good news. The nerve doesn't
come back. We don't need to do the surgery. I'm like,
oh okay. He's like, yeah, you won't be able to
use your arm. Give me fine, And I'm twenty three
years old, Like no, no education. Right. I get to
the dressing room and like Scotty Woodward, who's still in
the abs, an amazing, amazing guy. Love them. I go,
I just, I just. They end up scoring on the play.
(21:04):
So I get up and I hold my arm. I'm like, Scott,
something's wrong. So they cut my jersey off and I
go to put my hand where my arm is, and
my arm is all the way down. Yeah, my ribs.
So it took them an hour and a half to
put the ball back in the socket because it came
out so aggressively.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
But I give you anything, I hope for something.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
All we had was like the numbing for for your
for the so they did. There's jabbin. But yeah, after
like five minutes, your body goes into full like panic
mode and it tightens all the sure. But yeah, got
to learn a lot about the body through all these injuries.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
How long did it take to come back from that?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
I missed the whole year I was that was in December,
So I missed that whole year and then I came back.
But yeah, it was a long rehab. It was the
worst painful surgery.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Did you think you would come back and play again?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Oh yeah, okay, yeah yeah, But for a couple of
weeks there when I was rehabbing my my nerve, I
was like, this doesn't come back, Like I'm I'm out
posts and.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Then what do you do? Right, that's what you got
to think about. I gotta come back, yeah, because hockey's all.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
You knew exactly all I was good at at the time.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Yeah, yeah, okay, So three seasons here in twenty twelve,
you get a weird trade what I read, you get
traded to Tampa Bay, but then right after that, right
back to Detroit, like all on the same days.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I think it's like the funny, It's like the Avs
and the Red Wings. They don't do business together because
something like that. But no, I think I think they
needed Tampa to make it work. Okay, Yeah, it's funny.
A lot of trade deadlines they bring up one of
like the worst trades of all time, which was me,
which was you because the pick that went back to
(22:41):
Tampa was ended up being Vassilevski. Oh yeah, so it was.
But yeah, I went back to Detroit as like a
depth defenseman and Lindstrom was about to retire. Then it
was Zetterberg and so we had we had a little
window to make a run, and we couldn't get past
the first round.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
But how different was it going back to the same
organization a second time, you know, with a few years
in between, because every organization has a personality. But I
also think if there's space in between, you know, stints,
it can be a completely different team, even if you
have the same ownership or a lot of the same
people in the front office.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
So I I had Babcock as my coach before and
after he treated me like I was that rookie and
I'm like, uh uh, I'm a I'm a made man
in the NHL like that, I've been number one d
on two teams. Now, I know I'm not that here,
but like you got to. So I demanded respect, and
he did after I had to stand up to him.
But did you Oh, that's a good story.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I'd love to hear that one. Can you tell that one?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, he made a point. We were kind of going
back and forth during a drill and then we did
like a one on one drill out of the corner,
and uh, he was making a point and I just
started running guys from behind, and I just like you,
I'll keep going if you want to. Then he just
blew the whistle and practice was over, and like Bertuzzi,
(23:58):
like my mentors on that team, right Cleary Bertuzzi and
my friends were like, you have to go in there,
and you got to stand up to the bully. So
what he did he would run to his office and
take his skates off and then get like a really
quick workout before guys would get in. So he was
mid squat with like squat rock on his back and
I put the stick right between his eyes and I'm like,
if you ever talk to me like that, we're going
(24:20):
to have an issue.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
You did not.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yeah, I was, and I was shaking doing it, but
ever since that day he respected me. You got to
stand up to the bully. It's hard. It's hard, especially
at you know, a young age like that. But yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Okay, well yeah, but that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I was on the power Play the next night.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah yeah, okay. So then you you end up signing
a nice deal while you're with the Red Wings on
your second stint with them, you have some ankle issues,
have an ankle surgery? Was that when you had your
gnarly ankle?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yeah? When I was in junior Sorry, when I was fifteen,
playing junior B I broke and dissocated my ankle, so
like my foot was almost completely off my body. And
I think with all that trauma, and every time I
would roll my ankle, a little piece of bone would
come into my channel like my ankle canal, and my
(25:13):
body wasn't absorbing the bone enough, so I ended up
with these bone chips. So what they did is they
made like five or six cuts and they went in
there like trimmed down my achilles and everything, but they
pretty much just vacuumed out. So I was playing in
the NHL and that season and the bone chip would
get caught in a weird place and I couldn't walk.
I would crawl to the bathroom, but I would always play.
(25:37):
So when you're injured like that extreme like you have
to be so precise with your angles and your positioning.
So I almost played better, Like even like into La,
I was in so much pain, but I was like
I was so dial like I couldn't. I was never
a good skater at that level, Like I wasn't an
elite skater, like I'm a car where he can skate
(25:58):
himself out of trouble. I could not get in trouble. Okay,
so if I ever got into a foot race, I'd
lose it. And I knew that. But I would never
ever get myself in that position. So when you're playing,
even injured, it's even more heightened and you actually play better.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Yeah, huh, all right, So then after that second stint
in Detroit, you have stops with the Devils, the Blue
Jackets and the wild was that over a course of
how many.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
It was wild? It was really tough. Twenty sixteen, I
play in Detroit. I'm making four million at that point,
and I knew I wasn't that player, and I didn't
deserve that. So at this point, I just want to
play in the NHL, like I play for a minimum wage.
But I think it might have been assumed.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
That, like that was my number you're asking.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Or even yeah. So I didn't get a contract all summer.
Now it's there's one preseason game left and I am panicking,
oh yeah, because I'm in my not not prime but
I'm still very good defenseman in the NHL. And I
get a call from New Jersey and they're like, forgive
you this, and I'm like, I'm done. I sign me up.
(27:08):
But I knew I was going on a team that
was rebuilding. I knew if I played well, i'd be
needed for So I got traded to Columbus at the
trade deadline as that like solid five to six stay
at home guy, that team's need death guy. In the playoffs,
we ended up running into a hot team Pittsburgh and
they beat us. But yeah, that's how I got.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
To Columbus, Okay, and then how'd you get to the
Wild July one.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
I had a good season and I showed that I
could be that player they signed me to be that player,
that fifth sixth guy kind of mentor the young guys,
and things didn't work out for many different reasons in Minnesota.
But yeah, like you know, people say like, hey, when
did you retire. I'm like, well, I got fired December
of twenty eighteen, okay, when I was playing for the
(27:53):
Wild Yeah, and they released you. Yeah, it was weird.
They it was just kind of go home, and I
think I had a chance to get traded to the
deadline and keep it going. But at that point I
was so mentally physically I was done. I was totally done.
And then again that was thirteen years, like I had
a great run. Yeah, yeah, but when I when I
started seeing the bullshit. So I don't know if I
(28:15):
can say that on this by the podcast, but when
I started seeing the lies and everything, I was like,
you know what, I'm out And I was in a
lot of pain at my back and shoulders and neck
and everything.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
And I'm I'm.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Getting a concussion every season, like not not big, just
kind of grazing, and.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
But each one adds up and is worse than the other.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
So but couldn't go out like that. I wanted to
go to Europe and I went to Finland and lived
in Helsinki and I FK took care of me and
had a great and we were so close to winning
a championship there. But it was a great way to
wean off a career. And then I had such a
good time. I was I wanted to play in Germany
or another team like I was playing for the love
of it, just to kind of like not grow up
(28:59):
and just to see Europe. And I was riding my
bike up in Conniffer out here and knocked myself out
and I'm laying in the river and I'm like, you
know what. So I came home and talked to my wife.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
And that was the you knocked yourself out?
Speaker 1 (29:14):
How I went off a jump and hit a tree
and okay, it was like that, I'm done. Yeah, yeah,
what am I doing? Right? So I got to respect
my body and my brain. Then that kind of got
me down my path when I'm doing.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Now okay, so then let's go there. So twenty nineteen,
you officially retire and you have a series of events,
one of them being with your son Axel, who has
a brain tumor at the age of one, and my
husband had a brain tumor and O nine. I'm very
familiar with how those work, so did my mom that
she passed away from last year. So I mean to
(29:49):
have your one year old with that, and then you've
just gone through so much trauma with your career and
concussions and whatnot. How did that all kind of add
up and lead to what you're doing now with the
Do Good Ranch.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah, March twenty twenty was for COVID, right during I
call COVID March fifteenth, because I was supposed to be
on a plane that day, and I remember I was
supposed to be in ceremony with an indigenous tribe in
San Diego on HBO that next day.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Really yeah, and it all.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Got shut down. But it was March thirtieth when we
decided to take our kid in because Axel was throwing
up and we thought, you know, we didn't know what
to think, but it was that day that you know,
rushed in and had surgery the next day.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
And what kind of tumor?
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Was it a pandomoma? So which is me in the back,
the back kind of like upper neck, but it was
squeezing off his his spinal fluid. It was pooling, so
he was just trying to dehydrate himself get rid of
the pressure. So we had surgery to relieve that, and
then we kind of understood what we were dealing with
(30:56):
and then made a game plan. But going into the
hospital every day was and see the news was one thing,
but actually seeing the transition in a hospital, like I
lived in a hospital pretty much, so it was like,
all right, now you gotta wear a mask. Okay, now
you can't do that. Okay, now you can't do this.
And then then yeah, like understanding that no one really
knew what was going on.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
No, well, we all thought it was going to be
two weeks and we'll be back to normal, and it
just wasn't.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Oh my gosh. So on top of that, and I
think men are very good at this, but I had
to compartmentalize. I was in the thick of the loss
of identity, the loss of purpose, the dealing with all
the TBI symptoms of you know, huge mood swings of depression,
anxiety and suicidal ideation, and and then all of a
(31:38):
sudden you have to stuff all of that down and
then be the rock for the family. And my parents
couldn't come down because they were in Canada, and my
wife moved into the hospital, and then we have another son,
so yeah, after we went through all that and we
had to move to Philadelphia. This is the beautiful deal
with hockey and the community and the family. The NHL
(31:59):
shut down and we had an airbnb downtown Philadelphia and
we're watching the riots. I think it was George Floyd
at the time, and the city's on fire, like literally,
and we're looking it up on a map. It's like,
that's a block away from our airbnb. So Brian Elliott,
who played here Goaltender, He's like, dude, I heard what
(32:19):
you're going through. Take the house, the car's guest up.
We have a five and two year old, toys and everything,
and it was like the perfect It was a lifesaver.
So we literally moved. They went back home and we
just moved in and everything was dialed for us. And
we were there for three months and they did the bubble.
They went back into the bubble and like in August.
(32:40):
But it was such a such a blessing. So we
did an We did a like a thirty hour surgery,
so they had to remove every cell of the cancer
off of brain stems and vital nerves, and then we
did thirty days of radiation and then we climbed up
the rocky stairs, ring the bell when we got home
(33:02):
is when I could finally put my mask on and
get some healing for myself. And a great hockey friend
of mine was going through very similar things and found
psilocybin as a medicine and he's like, I'm coming to
get you, and you're gonna go see this person. We're
gonna sit with this medicine. And it changed my life.
(33:22):
I got my power back in that one ceremony.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
A year later, I bought the ranch and then it's
organically over the last four years become a healing center
for a lot of special operators, a lot of first responders,
and a lot of athletes. But it's for everybody that
wants to be a better version of themselves. Were committed
to creating a container in a safe space for people
to come and do some healing.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Talk more about the medicine cause it's a derivative of mushrooms. Correct.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Psilocybin is the psychoactive compound in mushrooms.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
So how do they get it from the mushroom?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah, you eat it, so.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
You're just not just taking it by It's it's your story.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
We know there's products that that we partner with that
are extracts, and but yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Know a little bit to be dangerous.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Jake Ummer, I know exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
So Jake is working on the Lion's mane, the Turkey
tail and the ratime putting it. He has an amazing well,
it's an unbelievable product. It's called Unbo. What we're doing
is partnering with more of the psychoactive stuff and using
that sil cybin compound to heal brain trauma, PTSD, anxiety,
depression and just kind of it's a long, long story
to get into it, but anyway, this compound of sil
(34:29):
cybin has changed and saved my life. So what I'm
doing my job really in the grand scheme of this
movement is to educate people, you know, use the platform
of the career and say, hey, this is the symptoms
I've had and this is what I did to continue
my journey, and this is what I'm doing now and
(34:50):
I feel great, And just to be like a role
model for people to take that step of their ownership
of their own healing.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
So how does that then differ from Lion's Mane and
all of those I mean, and there's so many different.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Because of my son, I had to and myself, I
had to. I educated myself, and I was so fortunate
to be around PhD about chemists and elders and some amazing,
amazing people, And like the Navy Seals took me under
their wing and I went to a bunch of their
mentors and elders and I just soaked, just like Chilio's.
I soaked up every information I could. Then I started
(35:28):
doing my research, learning about Lion's Maine and the nerve
growth and the turkey tail and the immune system because
we were putting a hazmat suit on to change my
kids diaper, and like learning the evil of chemo and
like all of these things and how it's just a cycle,
a disease cycle. I'm like, no way, So figuring out
(35:49):
how we can use the earth and our bodies to
heal each other. Yeah, yeah, so the turkey tail lines
main that's called functional medicinal mushrooms, non psychoactive, got it.
And then we live in Call, which is an amazing
state that is allowing us to start using soil cybin
as the medicine with reverence. And again, like that's another
(36:10):
thing I'm teaching people is intention and reverence of this
amazing technology which is the mushroom, and it will it
will treat you well if you treat it well with respect.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Anybody that goes to the Do Good Ranch, do they
have to do the medicine part of it or can
they just go there as a as a healing.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
The ranch is what it is. It's you know, it
sleeps twenty people with these geodesic domes. But we have
sauna from my hometown Coal Plunge. We have you know,
amazing partners that come in for breath work, for yoga,
and it's a it's a space where people can We
partner with people that do men retreats or they do
women yoga retreats, and if they want to do the medicine,
(36:51):
we partner with people that can help provide that.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Wow, that is cool. So if somebody wanted to just
go so it's not like it's rotating through with people
all the time that you have to you can do
retreats and.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Have yeah built it it's brand new.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Oh okay, and is it open yet?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Oh yeah, we have our first partnership this weekend.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Oh wow, this weekend, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Men's retreat. Yeah. So they're doing it. I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Oh my gosh, Yle, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yeah. Then I'm bringing up a crew in April tenth,
and then we have like an indigenous tribe taking it
for seven days late April, so.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
People can go on because I looked at the website.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
The website is awesome dot com.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yeah, and go there and they can find out about
how if they wanted to reserve iteah and get involved.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
So that is really cool.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
And all the inquiries come to me.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
So you're in charge.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Does your wife help out or are you just doing everything?
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Yes, she's she's done ceremony with me, and she's seen
the benefit. I'm sure and everyone around me has seen it.
And that's attraction, not promotion, just trying to live by
example and when people are ready to take ownership of
their own health, like we're here absolutely.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
And you had known Rachel for a long time, right,
hadn't you?
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah? Grand Rapids Days two and five?
Speaker 3 (38:02):
When did you guys get married?
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Twenty sixteen?
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Oh gosh, Okay, so she's seen the transition of you
through several years and injuries and everything else. So that's huge. Yeah,
and what a great way to have a support system.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Oh yeah, big time. Yeah, no, she's she's amazing. Met
her in Michigan and she's been all on all the travels. Yeah. Wow.
And two boys, Axel and Stone. Yeah, seven and six. Tomorrow,
April Fools is Axel's birthday, which is the day we
found out about on his first birthday. Oh my god,
so tomorrow is a big day.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Okay, yeah, yeah, really cool. That's very cool.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
Okay, Excel and Stone, how'd you get those from?
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Are we like huge music fan?
Speaker 3 (38:41):
Guns and roses?
Speaker 1 (38:42):
More so Stone Stone Morrison? Okay, I really wanted to
have like Morrison as a first name, but we wouldn't sure,
you know, so we gave them both. But Stone Stone, Gossard,
Rolling Stones. And then Morrison is you know, Jim Morrison,
Van Morrison and Red Rocks Morrison Colorado. Okay, Axel was
supposed to be born in Finland. Oh so we gave
(39:03):
a Scandinavian name. We always love that name. It's Axl
not like a diehard Axel rose from but don't not
like them? Right?
Speaker 3 (39:11):
But yeah, well you came in here and you were
super impressed. We're in the Fox studio and we've got
all these albums up and you said you're a huge
collector of albums and.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Music, and I can see that yeah, big time. Yeah, No,
music is fun. All right.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
This has been super cool to hear more about you.
My last question that I ask all of my guests, Kyle,
is when you get to those points and you've had them,
where you've been down and trying to figure out what's
my next step? What do you tell people? And this
will be what you end up talking to people about,
I'm sure with the do Good ranch is how do
you pick back up and move forward and keep going.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Yeah. The biggest message that I've come to realize is
that this life that we were living is a journey
and it's a process. It's not about an end game.
It's not about you know, when I was five years old,
I dreamed of making the NHL, winning the Stanley Cup,
making some good money, and then retiring on a beach.
And it doesn't work like that. I've actually checked most
(40:05):
of those boxes off, and you know, a year later,
you're dealing with all your injuries and stuff and you're like,
what's my identity? What's my purpose? But once you understand
that the prize is the process and to enjoy the journey.
That's where the beauty is and you're always grateful and perspective.
And that's where I've gotten to now because of all
the work I've been doing with all the psychedelics and
(40:28):
stuff and all the amazing people that have taken me
under their wing, but just trying to enjoy the journey
every day.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
The support system is huge, and I know you guys
have a great group with the alumni, and you guys
are all very close. I didn't realize how close you
were to I talked with Brick Barry how much you
guys all still stay in touch and are together.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Yeah, Like with with the ranch, we call education, like
our pillars are education, access in community, and it's similar
to the alumni where the one thing that we miss
and need and it's and during COVID is when I
really realized this is it is a vital human need
to have community in a tribe and the alumni is
my tribe. There's seven hundred guys in the world to
(41:08):
get to do what we did at the highest level,
and we're unicorns. Like if you think about it, we
only relate to those people, to the depths of understanding
what we've gone through, especially as men and not really
communicating or saying our emotions very well. But it's a
reason why we push to do these events. Right. So
(41:29):
we get to go to Vail and Aspen and tell
your ride and Breck we're doing Breck next weekend, and
we get to raise money for youth hockey, give back
to the game that's given us everything. But we get
to sit in that dressing room with the guys again,
and we get to look each guy in the eye,
and it's our accountability network if guys aren't doing well.
That's part of the reason why the Do Good Ranch exists.
But we have a support system, like, dude, let's talk
(41:52):
about this. What do you got going on? We're all
going through similar stuff, so we lean on each other
and that's our community.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
That is amazing. I love that.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
I do have one question, because we talked about it
before we started this. You mentioned when you got a
slap shot in the face and had to have one
hundred and fifty two hundred stitches.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Well, the one hundred fifty stitches was a cumul of
across the career. Oh okay, I didn't I didn't get
any stitches from that, which is wild.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Had no stitches when you got hit in the face
with a puck.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
Yeah, it broke my orbital sinus and all the bones
in my cheek. We had a plan to uh remove
my skin on my face and my face off style, yeah,
and put put bars in and mesh to uh, but
the bones were barely touching, so they just let it
heal and I played three weeks later.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Okay when you said that, that's why I asked, I
can't even see a scarm, like had you have one
hundred and fifty stitches in your face? Okay, but that's
over the course of your career.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Yeah. Yeah, skates and sticks and pucks and it's.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
A brutal sport.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
But you loved it.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Then, ye best, I love it. Yeah. Yeah, we're playing
this weekend.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
That's awesome. All right.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Hey Kyle, this was super fun. Thanks for coming in.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Yeah, thank you, Thank you. Kyle.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
Definitely check out the website for the Do Good Ranch
at dogodranch dot com. New episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired,
Retired are released on Tuesdays. Please follow and download this
podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and keep up on
new releases by following on Twitter and Instagram at ctfur podcast,
and also on the website ctfurpodcast dot com. I'm your host,
(43:20):
Susie Wargen. To learn more about me, visit Susiewargen dot com.
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, please
be careful, be safe, and be kind. Take care.
I'd babcock as my coach before and after he treated
me like I was that rookie, and I'm like, uh uh.
My mentors on that team, right, Cleary Bertuzzi and my
friends were like, you have to go in there and
you had to stand up to the bully. So what
he did he would run to his office and take
his skates off and then get like a really quick
workout before guys would get in. So he was mid
(00:21):
squat with like squat rock on his back and I
put the stick right between his eyes and I'm like,
have you ever talked to me like that we're going
to have an issue?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You did not?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Yeah, I was, and I was shaking doing him, But
ever since that day he respected me.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired a podcast featuring conversations
with professional athletes and coaches who have experienced being cut, traded, fired,
and or they're retired. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. In
the United States, most kids learn how to ride a
bike before getting into other sports. In Canada, kids learn
how to lace up their skates and get on the ice.
(00:56):
Kyle Quincy figures he started skating around age three, and
he he still laces him up today, but now it's
for Colorado Avalanche alumni events. When Kyle was still in
high school, he decided to forego college and get started
with the juniors. In July of two thousand and five,
he was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings during a
commercial break. He'd score his first NHL goal just under
(01:17):
two years later, and then the following year started his
tour of what would become many stops in the pros
the La Kings, three seasons with the Abs, Tampa Bay
Kinda Back to Detroit, the Devils, the Blue Jackets, the
Wild and a little stint overseas until retiring in twenty nineteen.
A year after retirement, while still trying to figure out
(01:38):
who he was besides a hockey player, Kyle's one year
old son was diagnosed with a brain tumor. From there,
it was a whirlwind of doctors, surgery, and healing, not
only for his son, who was doing well today, but
also for Kyle, who began to dig deep and find
ways to help himself and others who are dealing with trauma.
You'll hear more about what he's doing with the do
(01:59):
Good Ranch near the end of our conversation. Let's go
ahead and get into it, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Kyle Quincy Cut Traded Fired Retired podcast with Susie Wargin.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Kyle Quincy, how are you?
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Thanks for having me?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Absolutely? You look like you could still play? You do
you look good?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Thank you? Yeah? Yeah, some days I feel like I
could still play.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I do you Yeah, I bet you do. It's great
to see you again. It's been a long time. I
know that you've made Denver your home for a long time,
so it's good that you're around. And when I found
out that you're still so involved with all the alumni
events and what you're doing now post career is super fascinating.
So I can't wait to get into that. But we
got to start like we always do and go back
(02:42):
with your roots. Yeah, yeah, you're Canadian roots. So you
grow up in what's the name of the town. Is
it Caldon as I say it?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Or I was born in Kitchener, Ontario, right, moved to Shelbourne, Ontario,
and then Orangeville and then that's beside Kaladin.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Caladin Okay, I knew i'd say it wrong. Yeah, okay,
So then when does hockey come into your life or
is it just from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
The whole Canadian cultural story of you know, gym class
and you know, kindergarten or pre kindergarten, three years old,
four years old, everyone everyone is skating and and then
you know it's the dream and you fall in love
with the leaves. And my dad was a huge hockey
fan and.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
He kind of got you into who you looked up to, right.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, So like I was a kind of an up
and down plugger, left winger, and bill Berg was a
fourth line on the story. As we went to see
the Toronto Maple Leafs play the La Kings at the
Maple Leaf Gardens and Wayne Gretzky, right, and my dad's like,
don't watch him, You're never going to be that. And
then he just picked out a guy there's like number ten,
(03:42):
bill Berg and just hitting everybody, dumping it in, doing
all the right things, just grit and like playing the
right way. And he's like, that's you. That's who you
watch and that became my favorite player.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And yeah, when I was I think twelve, I couldn't
make my team as a forward anymore. So they're like,
do you want to play d Yeah, I want to
be on the team. So then I became a defenseman.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Do whatever you can do, right, Yeah, yeah, if you
can't be on the offense and be on defense. I
talked with Rick Berry about that too, where he had
someone pull him aside and he's like, hey, you know
what seems like you know you're not afraid. Yeah, and
that became his role. Yeah, it's very good at it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah. So for me, which was good and bad. I
was good at everything and not great at anything, right,
So I think to make it a long long time
and to have a really good career, like being great
at one thing is important. But I was like the
Swiss army knife. When I got traded to the Abs,
I was, uh, you know, powerplay, penalty kill, last minute.
(04:37):
I was the guy, which was great. Then I got
traded back to the Red Wings and I'm not the guy.
They got a lot of good guys. They got Lenstrom
and Cronwall and Falski and on and on and on.
So I came back into that fourth fifth secondary, power play,
penalty kill, more of a shutdown, hard rugged making it
hard on other teams where I was harder to do that.
(04:59):
When I was playing for the because I was playing
thirty minutes a game, so I was more of, you know,
doing everything good. But then when I came back to
the Red Wings and I had to play like fourteen
to eighteen minutes then do something, I could be more
hard and really like lean into that role.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Interesting. Yeah, okay, So as you're growing up, then, did
you play any other sports aside from hockey?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, baseball was a big one. And then I grew
up in like the epicenter of box across, So yeah,
Orange Voluntario and Ontario is like the epicenter of box across,
which is like mammoth, Like what the mammoth plays?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Oh okay, I don't.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Know what do you guys call its?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Indoor lacrosse?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Indoor lacrosse? There we go. Yeah. So that so that
was big in my little town and big into golf,
like the dream was to play like in college, like
a two sport athlete. But broke my hand playing for
a team Canada when I was sixteen, and then the
golf career was over and I chose the right one.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Did you go to college?
Speaker 1 (05:53):
No? No, I went to junior so I turned.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Okay, I thought, yeah, I was sixty, so not only
no golf career, no college, no going hockey.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
All the way exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, yeah, I ended up. Yeah, it's crazy that, you know,
the rules have changed recently, But back then, at fifteen,
I had to make a decision if I was going
to play in the OHL, play pro or wait and
then try to get a scholarship when I was eighteen.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
At fifteen, you had this society.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, you're not even grown. I luckily had a girl
spurt right then put on forty pounds four inches and
then I'm like, I'm a man. So I went and
played with men right away, and then that was the
way I got to the Red Wings. And I don't know.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
So at fifteen, you made that decision to play in
the Ontario Hockey League, which is the OHL, and so
you start out in the minors, but you're playing with
big kids, big boys.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah, in the years, right.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, so in junior they call it right, and then
they pay you fifty bucks a week, so you're not
allowed to go to college. So you make that decision.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Because you're making two hundred dollars a month possibly to college.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Keep it. Yeah, but now those rules are changed, which
is great.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That is good.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Well, it's kind of like the nil I mean, they're
all getting paid.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, but the end of the day, it's not about
the money. It's about the freedom, right because you don't know.
You might you might grow at seventeen and then be like, hey,
I can't wait, I need to go play. But now
you can play the best league in the world at fifteen, sixteen,
seventeen eighteen and then be like, yeah, you know what,
maybe this isn't for me. I'm going to go to college. Yeah,
I can go get a degree. Maybe you have a
good year there. Then you're like, got twenty three.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I'm ready, right, Yeah, Because everybody matures at different places
in their careers, and you can see it where sometimes
you're not ready at eighteen nineteen, even though people think
they might be, they're just not. You need a few
more years before you really start to peak.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah, But the story is I grew up real fast.
You know, when you're playing when you're playing against twenty
year olds at fifteen and it's killer be killed, and
especially in that world, there's like the game's a lot
different than it was, you know, using a wood stick. Yeah,
it was survival. I bet there's there's guys out there
that didn't even know there was a puck on the ice.
They're just there for one reason.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Oh my god, yeah, killer be killed. Yeah, so did
you stay home or did you have did you go?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I got dropped by the London Nights, so it was
about two hour drive and I lived in the host
family with Rick Nash at the time. And then he
signed like the you know, the biggest contract for like
an eighteen year old and left. So I was on
my own but played for London Nights, which was like
a dream.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
And where was that? Where was that located?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
London is on the like in between Toronto and Windsor,
right by Detroit. Okay, yeah, that kind of parlays into
that season. Was my draft year to the NHL at seventeen,
and we played Windsor and Plymouth, which is suburbs of Detroit.
The stars aligned. I had a really good playoff, really
hard playing like kind of underdog playing seven game series
(08:40):
and they drafted me when I wasn't. I wasn't expecting
to be drafted. I flew under the radar of my
whole career. I was never like rated high or whatever,
top prospect. But yeah, when I got my name called,
I wasn't even at the draft. I was just and
I got drafted in a commercial. So when that phone
call rang, I was at a party with my buddies
(09:01):
the night before and we're talking about it, watching the
first round on the draft, right, and I got a
phone call and it's like, Hey, it's Ken Holland from
the Detroit Red Wings. Congratulations, we just drapped you. I'm
like haha, yeah, yeah, right click. I thought it was
my buddies just playing a joke on me because I'm
watching the draft right and I'm like, but I did
not just get drafted. I'm watching it. He called right
back and he's like, no, no, no, hey, this is yeah. Yeah.
(09:24):
And then I saw my name on the ticker. I'm like, okay, yeah,
and I was yeah, the dream come true.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
That was.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So that was the two thousand and three the NHL
Entry Draft.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, could be the best draft of all time.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Why do you say that.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Just because of all the players I was in it,
the depth of it, but yeah, being drafted in the
fourth round to Detroit, I was like one of their
high picks because you know, they were in a dynasty
at that time. Should have been yeah, and they were
trading away first rounders for you know, the Brett Halls
Luke Robatize guys like that. So I was one of
their top guys. I was so fortunate. But my first
(09:56):
defense partner in my first training camp was Chris Chelios.
Oh kid, it takes me under his wing on and
off the ice, teaches me how to be a pro.
I'm just so lucky to have amazing mentors.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah really, that's huge.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, so I was a sponge. I soaked everything up
I could, and yeah, let me have a really good career.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Well, what a cool experience having come from where you
were in the juniors, where like you said, it's kill
or be killed. So it's not like anybody's going, hey,
come here, kid, let me let me show you how
this works. It's like, no, you're you're going to take
my job. So I'm not going to be friendly to you. Chelios.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Do that that's huge?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, well, again, he was a legend. He wasn't worried
about me taking the job. But there was six or
seven guys on that team, the older guys that they
looked at me as a threat, and I was. I was.
I did take their job. And that's the one thing
that people understand of like it's it's every shift, it's
every day because there's always some much trying to take
your job every every day.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Okay, you get drafted by the Red Wings, you stay
in their AHL for a little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Right. I was up and down played two inner games
in Grand Rapids. Okay, they have a theory in Detroit.
Even guys like Garie Huddler of Philipoola really big names
that played a long time and had really successful careers.
Every single player in in Detroit's organization had to play
in the minors.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Oh wow, everybody did.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Like you have the Steve Eiserman's and guys like that.
But like in the generation when Ken Holland was there
and how good they were, every single person that came through,
they made you earn it because oh yeah, because when
you get called up, you're like, I ain't going back.
I'll do anything to not go back.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
All right, but you did well.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I was not very my first ever game in the NHL,
Uri Fisher actually died on the bench and they brought
him back to life. That's how I got my one
game in two thousand and five.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
That was November two thousand and five, right against the Ducks.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yet the fibulator on the bench saved his life.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Holy cow.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
So like there was and so when I get called up,
it was like it was just such a huge story
and it was chaos. And then yeah, it would have
been the next year in two thousand and seven, played
up and down. But then my first Stanley Cup game
was Game six, triple overtime in the Sea of Red
and Calgary baptism by fire was an understatement.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yeah, and we're about to come up on the anniversary
when you scored your first goal. It was April seventh,
two thousand and seven.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, that's a funny one too. I I just throw
like an absolute muffin from the point and it might
have bounced twice. And it was the So that Detroit
was so good that the end of the year they
would rest and Lindstrums and the top guys. So I
would come in and play and they've already locked up
the President's Trophy. They were that good. So Thomas Holmstrom,
who was a great guy funny, comes up to me,
(12:32):
is like, hey man, I got like a two million
dollar bonus and that's my thirtieth goal. And it was
the last game of the year. I'm like, oh, take it,
like just you know, slice me off a percentage and
pull it good, like this might have been. This might
have been before like the it's all monitored and stuff, right, Yeah,
he was just joking around. It was my goal. I
probably would have rathered the hundred grand or whatever, no.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Kidding, right, Yeah, but that's that was the last goal
of the regular season that year.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, and then it was like a seven to one
win over Chicago or something. Yeah, it didn't matter at all.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
It doesn't matter if it's garbage time. It's a goal, right,
it's your first NHL goal. So and like you said,
they go on for the end of the playoffs and
then you're a key component of that overtime win that
helps them get into the second round that year.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah. Yeah, we should have won the Cup that year.
We went all the way. It is wild. We're playing Anaheim.
Pronger takes a It would have been a thirty gamer
thirty game suspension nowadays, but it was a one game.
So we're like, okay, we'll win this game and then
win it at home, and we ended up losing the game.
Pronger was out. Then we're up one nothing with thirty
seconds left and Nita Meyer just kind of put on
(13:37):
a show and they ended up beating us in six.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
But the next year they next year, next year we
won in eight.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah, and then that one is interesting because you are
on the practice team at that point or during the
Stanley Cup playoffs, right, so you're in the picture. Did
you get a ring?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
You know what? That's a that's an interesting question, but yeah,
a legend. Yeah, we call a so it's called the
Black Cases or are we called the Mushroom Club?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Okay, they're the Black Aces here because Rick Berry was
on the Black Aces.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, yeah, it's all the Black Cases. But we had
a joke we called the Mushroom Club because they you know,
they feed us crap and they keep us in the
dark and expect us to grow.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
You're literally just a fun guy, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Exactly, but I was actually injured. So like uh chelly
os and like McCarty and the guys are like, hey,
we need you to be like the guy in the room,
like not the clown, but like you got to come
in tell stories, like have a good.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Time and just snuff the crowd.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Exactly. Yeah, like everyone has a role in here. So
like I was injured. I was not There's no chance
I was playing. But I was still there for the
three months just to keep everybody oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we had a great crew, Aaron Downey and Darren
McCarty and Kelley. We were all not playing. We're all
just hanging out. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
But did you get a ring?
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Okay? So I was told. So I got put on
waivers of the year after and I'm in LA and
I remember the phone call and my agent calls me
to say, hey, you're gonna get a ring, and you're
gonna get it. I'm here, right, So it didn't come.
Didn't come. There's a rings, B rings, C rings.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Like, right to give me any rings whatever.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I'm on the team, yes, right you are. Let me
have people in the miners getting rings, the trainers and stuff.
But it was just like, so I did not get
a ring. I got a day with the cup.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Your name's not on the cup either.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
You have to have forty one games or one second
in the finals. So I don't deserve to be on
the okay, but I think I deserve a ring. But
at the end of the day that it doesn't matter
at all. That's so far away. Just the memories and
all the lessons I learned from that. Yeah, it was
wild having a day with the cup, bringing it to
my hometown, that would be cool. Sharing it with my
small town in Orange On, Ontario was really cool.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
That's super cool and not many people get to do that.
So that's cool, all right. So follow two thousand and
eight that same year, that's when you get claimed offed
waivers by the LAK.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I get called into the office and again, we're so good. Right,
we go to Game seven and Pittsburgh beats us that year,
but hostas on the team. Now we're better than the
year before and Steve Eiserman I played with him and
now he's the assistant GM mckenn holland. So he calls
me in and says, we traded you to Dallas, so
go say bye to the boys. So I go say
(16:06):
bye to the guys. I'm on my way to the
airport and Brett Hall and Les Jackson calls me back
and say, hey, we just got your MRI. Your back
is toast. You need surgery immediately. Just turn it around.
We avoided the trade. So I come back around and
then they call me into the office and they say okay,
now you need to pack a bag for anywhere in
the NHL. We're going to see the president because we're
(16:28):
playing Carolina and we won the Cup the year before,
so we're going to do that or grin rapids. But
now I'm injured, so I can't be traded, I can't
be claimed, and I shouldn't be able to get sent down.
But I was playing on pure adrenaline, and because Detroit
won the Cup, I didn't get my surgery because they
didn't sign me until late August, so I just grinded through.
(16:51):
I had a her need a disc in my bag,
which was like crazy pain down my static. But like
during the game, I never lost strength, so I could
grind through the pain. So I come to training camp
do that, and I'm the odd man out. We have
a couple of young d and their theory was they
had a bunch of smaller guys. I could play deer forward.
So I'm the guy out. So they end up put
(17:11):
me on waivers and I'm beg skating before the Carolina
game and Ken Hallan says, hey, LA just picked you up.
Here's the phone and here you go. So I call
Dean Lombardi. I'm like Dean I'm going to meet the president,
like tomorrow. What do you think. He's like, buddy, get
on a plane right now. You're playing in three hours.
(17:32):
Oh no. So I fly to LA and I failed
my physical. So I come to the rink of which
I knew was going to happen. So I fail my
physical and Dean is like grilling me to see if
he's going to give me a chance, and I begged him.
I said, give me one game and I can show
you that I can play. So he thought about it.
He brings me to practice the next day and he
gave me one game and I went on like a
(17:54):
ten or thirteen game point streak and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Oh my gosh. And you didn't get to meet the president.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
No, not yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that propelled me
to have just an amazing season in LA.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
And you hadn't had back surgery, so you're just going.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
On excruciating pH So I play sixty games for the Kings,
have you know, close to forty points and.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
With a herniated disc.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, and set myself up for my whole career. And
then I was never their guy. So they traded me
in the summer to the Avalanche for Ryan Smith. Then
I became one of the top guys.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Here absolutely for three years.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, but all because of that. He gave me one
game in LA.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
It all comes back to that, Isn't that amazing.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
There's so many stories like that where it's like you
just you need that one little opportunity, that door to
open and then but you got to be ready for it.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Oh when it comes.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, most guys don't get the opportunity, but when you do,
you have to make it absolutely. Yeah, make it work.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
All right. So while you're in the abs, as you've
talked about, you're you're the guy. Everybody knows who you are.
But you had some pretty crazy injuries during your your
years and one of them happened while you were here,
and that was when you you said you dislocated your
shoulder from your shoulder to your hips.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah the time, yeah, yeah, the timing. So, like I
think we were talking about just how how the career
goes and all the stars out there the line. So
I was on a minimum wage contract in LA and
Colorado my first year and playing twenty eight thirty minutes
a game. So I finally signed my first contract and
I tried to play like I was a three million
(19:25):
dollar player. Instead of just playing the way I was,
I was trying to do too much.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Feel more pressure. Once you signed that contract, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
You want to earn You want to You don't want
people to be like, look like, what's going making that?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Ye?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I want to earn it. So I was squeezing the
stick too hard. I was trying way too hard to
prove myself, which I already did. But it's all mental.
And anyway, we're uh, we're playing in Washington. They are
doing the Winter Classic, so HBO is there. And the
first shift of the game, I reversed the puck a
little early and Ovechkin reads it and runs Duchane. I
(20:00):
need to get him back. I can't fight him. It
got to be clean. But target was put on him.
So in the second period he was bumbling like a
two on two in the neutral zone and I just
stopped on a dime and threw the kitchen sink at him,
try to knock his head off a Russian tank. I
bounced off him and I landed on the ice and
(20:22):
my shoulder popped out. But I was going so fast.
When I went into the boards, it was already out
and then it went down, so all the nerves under
that are in your armpit, they were all messed up,
and that's the nerve that makes you move your arm.
So our doctor here, you know, is great, amazing Doctrin
did an amazing surgery. But his bedside manner is kind
(20:42):
of funny. He's like, hey, good news. The nerve doesn't
come back. We don't need to do the surgery. I'm like,
oh okay. He's like, yeah, you won't be able to
use your arm. Give me fine, And I'm twenty three
years old, Like no, no education. Right. I get to
the dressing room and like Scotty Woodward, who's still in
the abs, an amazing, amazing guy. Love them. I go,
I just, I just. They end up scoring on the play.
(21:04):
So I get up and I hold my arm. I'm like, Scott,
something's wrong. So they cut my jersey off and I
go to put my hand where my arm is, and
my arm is all the way down. Yeah, my ribs.
So it took them an hour and a half to
put the ball back in the socket because it came
out so aggressively.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
But I give you anything, I hope for something.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
All we had was like the numbing for for your
for the so they did. There's jabbin. But yeah, after
like five minutes, your body goes into full like panic
mode and it tightens all the sure. But yeah, got
to learn a lot about the body through all these injuries.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
How long did it take to come back from that?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
I missed the whole year I was that was in December,
So I missed that whole year and then I came back.
But yeah, it was a long rehab. It was the
worst painful surgery.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Did you think you would come back and play again?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Oh yeah, okay, yeah yeah, But for a couple of
weeks there when I was rehabbing my my nerve, I
was like, this doesn't come back, Like I'm I'm out
posts and.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Then what do you do? Right, that's what you got
to think about. I gotta come back, yeah, because hockey's all.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
You knew exactly all I was good at at the time.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Yeah, yeah, okay, So three seasons here in twenty twelve,
you get a weird trade what I read, you get
traded to Tampa Bay, but then right after that, right
back to Detroit, like all on the same days.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I think it's like the funny, It's like the Avs
and the Red Wings. They don't do business together because
something like that. But no, I think I think they
needed Tampa to make it work. Okay, Yeah, it's funny.
A lot of trade deadlines they bring up one of
like the worst trades of all time, which was me,
which was you because the pick that went back to
(22:41):
Tampa was ended up being Vassilevski. Oh yeah, so it was.
But yeah, I went back to Detroit as like a
depth defenseman and Lindstrom was about to retire. Then it
was Zetterberg and so we had we had a little
window to make a run, and we couldn't get past
the first round.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
But how different was it going back to the same
organization a second time, you know, with a few years
in between, because every organization has a personality. But I
also think if there's space in between, you know, stints,
it can be a completely different team, even if you
have the same ownership or a lot of the same
people in the front office.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
So I I had Babcock as my coach before and
after he treated me like I was that rookie and
I'm like, uh uh, I'm a I'm a made man
in the NHL like that, I've been number one d
on two teams. Now, I know I'm not that here,
but like you got to. So I demanded respect, and
he did after I had to stand up to him.
But did you Oh, that's a good story.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I'd love to hear that one. Can you tell that one?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, he made a point. We were kind of going
back and forth during a drill and then we did
like a one on one drill out of the corner,
and uh, he was making a point and I just
started running guys from behind, and I just like you,
I'll keep going if you want to. Then he just
blew the whistle and practice was over, and like Bertuzzi,
(23:58):
like my mentors on that team, right Cleary Bertuzzi and
my friends were like, you have to go in there,
and you got to stand up to the bully. So
what he did he would run to his office and
take his skates off and then get like a really
quick workout before guys would get in. So he was
mid squat with like squat rock on his back and
I put the stick right between his eyes and I'm like,
if you ever talk to me like that, we're going
(24:20):
to have an issue.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
You did not.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yeah, I was, and I was shaking doing it, but
ever since that day he respected me. You got to
stand up to the bully. It's hard. It's hard, especially
at you know, a young age like that. But yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Okay, well yeah, but that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I was on the power Play the next night.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah yeah, okay. So then you you end up signing
a nice deal while you're with the Red Wings on
your second stint with them, you have some ankle issues,
have an ankle surgery? Was that when you had your
gnarly ankle?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yeah? When I was in junior Sorry, when I was fifteen,
playing junior B I broke and dissocated my ankle, so
like my foot was almost completely off my body. And
I think with all that trauma, and every time I
would roll my ankle, a little piece of bone would
come into my channel like my ankle canal, and my
(25:13):
body wasn't absorbing the bone enough, so I ended up
with these bone chips. So what they did is they
made like five or six cuts and they went in
there like trimmed down my achilles and everything, but they
pretty much just vacuumed out. So I was playing in
the NHL and that season and the bone chip would
get caught in a weird place and I couldn't walk.
I would crawl to the bathroom, but I would always play.
(25:37):
So when you're injured like that extreme like you have
to be so precise with your angles and your positioning.
So I almost played better, Like even like into La,
I was in so much pain, but I was like
I was so dial like I couldn't. I was never
a good skater at that level, Like I wasn't an
elite skater, like I'm a car where he can skate
(25:58):
himself out of trouble. I could not get in trouble. Okay,
so if I ever got into a foot race, I'd
lose it. And I knew that. But I would never
ever get myself in that position. So when you're playing,
even injured, it's even more heightened and you actually play better.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
That's fascinating.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Yeah, huh, all right, So then after that second stint
in Detroit, you have stops with the Devils, the Blue
Jackets and the wild was that over a course of
how many.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
It was wild? It was really tough. Twenty sixteen, I
play in Detroit. I'm making four million at that point,
and I knew I wasn't that player, and I didn't
deserve that. So at this point, I just want to
play in the NHL, like I play for a minimum wage.
But I think it might have been assumed.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
That, like that was my number you're asking.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Or even yeah. So I didn't get a contract all summer.
Now it's there's one preseason game left and I am panicking,
oh yeah, because I'm in my not not prime but
I'm still very good defenseman in the NHL. And I
get a call from New Jersey and they're like, forgive
you this, and I'm like, I'm done. I sign me up.
(27:08):
But I knew I was going on a team that
was rebuilding. I knew if I played well, i'd be
needed for So I got traded to Columbus at the
trade deadline as that like solid five to six stay
at home guy, that team's need death guy. In the playoffs,
we ended up running into a hot team Pittsburgh and
they beat us. But yeah, that's how I got.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
To Columbus, Okay, and then how'd you get to the
Wild July one.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
I had a good season and I showed that I
could be that player they signed me to be that player,
that fifth sixth guy kind of mentor the young guys,
and things didn't work out for many different reasons in Minnesota.
But yeah, like you know, people say like, hey, when
did you retire. I'm like, well, I got fired December
of twenty eighteen, okay, when I was playing for the
(27:53):
Wild Yeah, and they released you. Yeah, it was weird.
They it was just kind of go home, and I
think I had a chance to get traded to the
deadline and keep it going. But at that point I
was so mentally physically I was done. I was totally done.
And then again that was thirteen years, like I had
a great run. Yeah, yeah, but when I when I
started seeing the bullshit. So I don't know if I
(28:15):
can say that on this by the podcast, but when
I started seeing the lies and everything, I was like,
you know what, I'm out And I was in a
lot of pain at my back and shoulders and neck
and everything.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
And I'm I'm.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Getting a concussion every season, like not not big, just
kind of grazing, and.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
But each one adds up and is worse than the other.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
So but couldn't go out like that. I wanted to
go to Europe and I went to Finland and lived
in Helsinki and I FK took care of me and
had a great and we were so close to winning
a championship there. But it was a great way to
wean off a career. And then I had such a
good time. I was I wanted to play in Germany
or another team like I was playing for the love
of it, just to kind of like not grow up
(28:59):
and just to see Europe. And I was riding my
bike up in Conniffer out here and knocked myself out
and I'm laying in the river and I'm like, you
know what. So I came home and talked to my wife.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
And that was the you knocked yourself out?
Speaker 1 (29:14):
How I went off a jump and hit a tree
and okay, it was like that, I'm done. Yeah, yeah,
what am I doing? Right? So I got to respect
my body and my brain. Then that kind of got
me down my path when I'm doing.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Now okay, so then let's go there. So twenty nineteen,
you officially retire and you have a series of events,
one of them being with your son Axel, who has
a brain tumor at the age of one, and my
husband had a brain tumor and O nine. I'm very
familiar with how those work, so did my mom that
she passed away from last year. So I mean to
(29:49):
have your one year old with that, and then you've
just gone through so much trauma with your career and
concussions and whatnot. How did that all kind of add
up and lead to what you're doing now with the
Do Good Ranch.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah, March twenty twenty was for COVID, right during I
call COVID March fifteenth, because I was supposed to be
on a plane that day, and I remember I was
supposed to be in ceremony with an indigenous tribe in
San Diego on HBO that next day.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Really yeah, and it all.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Got shut down. But it was March thirtieth when we
decided to take our kid in because Axel was throwing
up and we thought, you know, we didn't know what
to think, but it was that day that you know,
rushed in and had surgery the next day.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
And what kind of tumor?
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Was it a pandomoma? So which is me in the back,
the back kind of like upper neck, but it was
squeezing off his his spinal fluid. It was pooling, so
he was just trying to dehydrate himself get rid of
the pressure. So we had surgery to relieve that, and
then we kind of understood what we were dealing with
(30:56):
and then made a game plan. But going into the
hospital every day was and see the news was one thing,
but actually seeing the transition in a hospital, like I
lived in a hospital pretty much, so it was like,
all right, now you gotta wear a mask. Okay, now
you can't do that. Okay, now you can't do this.
And then then yeah, like understanding that no one really
knew what was going on.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
No, well, we all thought it was going to be
two weeks and we'll be back to normal, and it
just wasn't.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Oh my gosh. So on top of that, and I
think men are very good at this, but I had
to compartmentalize. I was in the thick of the loss
of identity, the loss of purpose, the dealing with all
the TBI symptoms of you know, huge mood swings of depression,
anxiety and suicidal ideation, and and then all of a
(31:38):
sudden you have to stuff all of that down and
then be the rock for the family. And my parents
couldn't come down because they were in Canada, and my
wife moved into the hospital, and then we have another son,
so yeah, after we went through all that and we
had to move to Philadelphia. This is the beautiful deal
with hockey and the community and the family. The NHL
(31:59):
shut down and we had an airbnb downtown Philadelphia and
we're watching the riots. I think it was George Floyd
at the time, and the city's on fire, like literally,
and we're looking it up on a map. It's like,
that's a block away from our airbnb. So Brian Elliott,
who played here Goaltender, He's like, dude, I heard what
(32:19):
you're going through. Take the house, the car's guest up.
We have a five and two year old, toys and everything,
and it was like the perfect It was a lifesaver.
So we literally moved. They went back home and we
just moved in and everything was dialed for us. And
we were there for three months and they did the bubble.
They went back into the bubble and like in August.
(32:40):
But it was such a such a blessing. So we
did an We did a like a thirty hour surgery,
so they had to remove every cell of the cancer
off of brain stems and vital nerves, and then we
did thirty days of radiation and then we climbed up
the rocky stairs, ring the bell when we got home
(33:02):
is when I could finally put my mask on and
get some healing for myself. And a great hockey friend
of mine was going through very similar things and found
psilocybin as a medicine and he's like, I'm coming to
get you, and you're gonna go see this person. We're
gonna sit with this medicine. And it changed my life.
(33:22):
I got my power back in that one ceremony.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
A year later, I bought the ranch and then it's
organically over the last four years become a healing center
for a lot of special operators, a lot of first responders,
and a lot of athletes. But it's for everybody that
wants to be a better version of themselves. Were committed
to creating a container in a safe space for people
to come and do some healing.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Talk more about the medicine cause it's a derivative of mushrooms. Correct.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Psilocybin is the psychoactive compound in mushrooms.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
So how do they get it from the mushroom?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah, you eat it, so.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
You're just not just taking it by It's it's your story.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
We know there's products that that we partner with that
are extracts, and but yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Know a little bit to be dangerous.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Jake Ummer, I know exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
So Jake is working on the Lion's mane, the Turkey
tail and the ratime putting it. He has an amazing well,
it's an unbelievable product. It's called Unbo. What we're doing
is partnering with more of the psychoactive stuff and using
that sil cybin compound to heal brain trauma, PTSD, anxiety,
depression and just kind of it's a long, long story
to get into it, but anyway, this compound of sil
(34:29):
cybin has changed and saved my life. So what I'm
doing my job really in the grand scheme of this
movement is to educate people, you know, use the platform
of the career and say, hey, this is the symptoms
I've had and this is what I did to continue
my journey, and this is what I'm doing now and
(34:50):
I feel great, And just to be like a role
model for people to take that step of their ownership
of their own healing.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
So how does that then differ from Lion's Mane and
all of those I mean, and there's so many different.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Because of my son, I had to and myself, I
had to. I educated myself, and I was so fortunate
to be around PhD about chemists and elders and some amazing,
amazing people, And like the Navy Seals took me under
their wing and I went to a bunch of their
mentors and elders and I just soaked, just like Chilio's.
I soaked up every information I could. Then I started
(35:28):
doing my research, learning about Lion's Maine and the nerve
growth and the turkey tail and the immune system because
we were putting a hazmat suit on to change my
kids diaper, and like learning the evil of chemo and
like all of these things and how it's just a cycle,
a disease cycle. I'm like, no way, So figuring out
(35:49):
how we can use the earth and our bodies to
heal each other. Yeah, yeah, so the turkey tail lines
main that's called functional medicinal mushrooms, non psychoactive, got it.
And then we live in Call, which is an amazing
state that is allowing us to start using soil cybin
as the medicine with reverence. And again, like that's another
(36:10):
thing I'm teaching people is intention and reverence of this
amazing technology which is the mushroom, and it will it
will treat you well if you treat it well with respect.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Anybody that goes to the Do Good Ranch, do they
have to do the medicine part of it or can
they just go there as a as a healing.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
The ranch is what it is. It's you know, it
sleeps twenty people with these geodesic domes. But we have
sauna from my hometown Coal Plunge. We have you know,
amazing partners that come in for breath work, for yoga,
and it's a it's a space where people can We
partner with people that do men retreats or they do
women yoga retreats, and if they want to do the medicine,
(36:51):
we partner with people that can help provide that.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Wow, that is cool. So if somebody wanted to just
go so it's not like it's rotating through with people
all the time that you have to you can do
retreats and.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Have yeah built it it's brand new.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Oh okay, and is it open yet?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Oh yeah, we have our first partnership this weekend.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Oh wow, this weekend, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Men's retreat. Yeah. So they're doing it. I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Oh my gosh, Yle, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yeah. Then I'm bringing up a crew in April tenth,
and then we have like an indigenous tribe taking it
for seven days late April, so.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
People can go on because I looked at the website.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
The website is awesome dot com.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yeah, and go there and they can find out about
how if they wanted to reserve iteah and get involved.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
So that is really cool.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
And all the inquiries come to me.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
So you're in charge.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Does your wife help out or are you just doing everything?
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Yes, she's she's done ceremony with me, and she's seen
the benefit. I'm sure and everyone around me has seen it.
And that's attraction, not promotion, just trying to live by
example and when people are ready to take ownership of
their own health, like we're here absolutely.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
And you had known Rachel for a long time, right,
hadn't you?
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah? Grand Rapids Days two and five?
Speaker 3 (38:02):
When did you guys get married?
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Twenty sixteen?
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Oh gosh, Okay, so she's seen the transition of you
through several years and injuries and everything else. So that's huge. Yeah,
and what a great way to have a support system.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Oh yeah, big time. Yeah, no, she's she's amazing. Met
her in Michigan and she's been all on all the travels. Yeah. Wow.
And two boys, Axel and Stone. Yeah, seven and six. Tomorrow,
April Fools is Axel's birthday, which is the day we
found out about on his first birthday. Oh my god,
so tomorrow is a big day.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Okay, yeah, yeah, really cool. That's very cool.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
Okay, Excel and Stone, how'd you get those from?
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Are we like huge music fan?
Speaker 3 (38:41):
Guns and roses?
Speaker 1 (38:42):
More so Stone Stone Morrison? Okay, I really wanted to
have like Morrison as a first name, but we wouldn't sure,
you know, so we gave them both. But Stone Stone, Gossard,
Rolling Stones. And then Morrison is you know, Jim Morrison,
Van Morrison and Red Rocks Morrison Colorado. Okay, Axel was
supposed to be born in Finland. Oh so we gave
(39:03):
a Scandinavian name. We always love that name. It's Axl
not like a diehard Axel rose from but don't not
like them? Right?
Speaker 3 (39:11):
But yeah, well you came in here and you were
super impressed. We're in the Fox studio and we've got
all these albums up and you said you're a huge
collector of albums and.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Music, and I can see that yeah, big time. Yeah, No,
music is fun. All right.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
This has been super cool to hear more about you.
My last question that I ask all of my guests, Kyle,
is when you get to those points and you've had them,
where you've been down and trying to figure out what's
my next step? What do you tell people? And this
will be what you end up talking to people about,
I'm sure with the do Good ranch is how do
you pick back up and move forward and keep going.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Yeah. The biggest message that I've come to realize is
that this life that we were living is a journey
and it's a process. It's not about an end game.
It's not about you know, when I was five years old,
I dreamed of making the NHL, winning the Stanley Cup,
making some good money, and then retiring on a beach.
And it doesn't work like that. I've actually checked most
(40:05):
of those boxes off, and you know, a year later,
you're dealing with all your injuries and stuff and you're like,
what's my identity? What's my purpose? But once you understand
that the prize is the process and to enjoy the journey.
That's where the beauty is and you're always grateful and perspective.
And that's where I've gotten to now because of all
the work I've been doing with all the psychedelics and
(40:28):
stuff and all the amazing people that have taken me
under their wing, but just trying to enjoy the journey
every day.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
The support system is huge, and I know you guys
have a great group with the alumni, and you guys
are all very close. I didn't realize how close you
were to I talked with Brick Barry how much you
guys all still stay in touch and are together.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Yeah, Like with with the ranch, we call education, like
our pillars are education, access in community, and it's similar
to the alumni where the one thing that we miss
and need and it's and during COVID is when I
really realized this is it is a vital human need
to have community in a tribe and the alumni is
my tribe. There's seven hundred guys in the world to
(41:08):
get to do what we did at the highest level,
and we're unicorns. Like if you think about it, we
only relate to those people, to the depths of understanding
what we've gone through, especially as men and not really
communicating or saying our emotions very well. But it's a
reason why we push to do these events. Right. So
(41:29):
we get to go to Vail and Aspen and tell
your ride and Breck we're doing Breck next weekend, and
we get to raise money for youth hockey, give back
to the game that's given us everything. But we get
to sit in that dressing room with the guys again,
and we get to look each guy in the eye,
and it's our accountability network if guys aren't doing well.
That's part of the reason why the Do Good Ranch exists.
But we have a support system, like, dude, let's talk
(41:52):
about this. What do you got going on? We're all
going through similar stuff, so we lean on each other
and that's our community.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
That is amazing. I love that.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
I do have one question, because we talked about it
before we started this. You mentioned when you got a
slap shot in the face and had to have one
hundred and fifty two hundred stitches.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Well, the one hundred fifty stitches was a cumul of
across the career. Oh okay, I didn't I didn't get
any stitches from that, which is wild.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Had no stitches when you got hit in the face
with a puck.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
Yeah, it broke my orbital sinus and all the bones
in my cheek. We had a plan to uh remove
my skin on my face and my face off style, yeah,
and put put bars in and mesh to uh, but
the bones were barely touching, so they just let it
heal and I played three weeks later.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Okay when you said that, that's why I asked, I
can't even see a scarm, like had you have one
hundred and fifty stitches in your face? Okay, but that's
over the course of your career.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Yeah. Yeah, skates and sticks and pucks and it's.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
A brutal sport.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:47):
But you loved it.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Then, ye best, I love it. Yeah. Yeah, we're playing
this weekend.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
That's awesome. All right.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Hey Kyle, this was super fun. Thanks for coming in.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Yeah, thank you, Thank you. Kyle.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
Definitely check out the website for the Do Good Ranch
at dogodranch dot com. New episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired,
Retired are released on Tuesdays. Please follow and download this
podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and keep up on
new releases by following on Twitter and Instagram at ctfur podcast,
and also on the website ctfurpodcast dot com. I'm your host,
(43:20):
Susie Wargen. To learn more about me, visit Susiewargen dot com.
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, please
be careful, be safe, and be kind. Take care.
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