What do you say if your name gets called at the NHL Draft?
It's the moment young hockey players have worked their whole lives towards. But after you're drafted, what story do you want to tell?
I got a call last summer from a friend of a friend whose son had recently been drafted by the Boston Bruins. It was three weeks after the NHL Draft in which the player had his name called in the fifth round.
This player and his family were looking for guidance: what do we say to journalists when they ask questions during interviews? Based off what you’ve seen so far, are the responses I’m providing right now the right ones?
This year’s NHL Draft starts Friday at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and has me thinking about my conversations last summer with this young Bruins prospect. The 2025 draft is the first time the league is doing a decentralized draft model, meaning top prospects have the ability to be present in the room, but team executives, coaches and scouts won’t be there. It’s a similar format to other leagues such as the NBA and NFL in which franchises instead gather in a central location in their city.
For the top 50 NHL prospects — the players who have had their names earmarked for months (sometimes years) as someone who is likely to be picked on draft day — the NHL Draft is fairly straightforward from a media perspective. These players have likely been interviewed by journalists at some point during their hockey careers to date, whether with their Canadian Hockey League teams or during the world junior hockey championship.
However, there’s a good chunk of players who either play in tier-2 hockey in Canada, USHL, NCAA or otherwise, who may not be used to dealing with reporter questions. If you’re fortunate enough to get selected at the draft to a hot ticket market team, like the Bruins or a Canadian market franchise, there will be an influx of questions and inquiries as to who you both as a player and person.
Sure, there are the cliche, canned answers which so many players use in their media interviews.
“You know, it feels great to be drafted.”
“It’s a team game, I’m just focused on working hard, etc. Etc.”
It’s why so many hockey players have received labels of not being interesting subject matters for interviews. I’m of the belief that it’s because they don’t know what to say.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
I hosted two of three chats with the Bruins prospect I mentioned above and exchanged a number of text messages afterwards with his parents providing some thoughts on his performance in media interviews to date with pointers on areas to improve. We focused one of our sessions primarily on getting to know the player as a person. Based off this, we developed a series of messages for him to focus on if he gets asked certain questions in media interviews moving forward. These messages we crafted aren’t meant to be a script, but rather authentic stories about himself that bring personality and could create a personal brand.
In media training with C-suite executives, my colleagues and I often ask them to think about “what is the one thing you want to leave with your audience?” In other words, what is one element of an interview which you want people to remember?
It’s no different with athletes. They often have a number of incredible insights and stories to tell, but haven’t been coached on how to relay the right message or narrative when speaking with reporters.
If you’re a player or someone who could be selected at an upcoming draft — NHL, MLB, NBA or otherwise — it’s worth checking in with a communications professional to discuss the best approach if/when your name gets called by a professional franchise. It’s the first opportunity for the world to get to know you; make sure it’s a good first impression.
Let’s get in touch.
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Ryan McKenna is one of Canada's top sports communication experts with a powerful track record of aligning organizations to fast moving sports and media trends. Ryan is an award-winning journalist who worked at both The Canadian Press and Sportsnet prior to moving into communications.
Reach out to Ryan to learn more about key communication strategies in this complex and fast-moving new digital communications age.