From ‘young and stupid’ to a leader of the Cup champs: Nathan MacKinnon opens up about his journey
DENVER — So, now that Nathan MacKinnon has won a Stanley Cup, will he finally chill out?
The question takes five seconds to ask, but it leads the Colorado Avalanche alternate captain to share more about himself over a 20-minute interview than he has at any point in his nine-year NHL career.
MacKinnon answers the question, but also opens up about a long journey of self discovery. A journey that forced him to be honest with himself about how he underachieved early in his career, and that it’s not worth his time to get caught up in what people outside his team, family and friends think about him. That made him realize he had to channel his energy and emotions to help make himself a better, more dedicated player — and person — before he could become the kind of leader he wanted to be.
“It feels like I have had three different careers at once,” the 27-year-old MacKinnon said. “For me, it feels like my first three or four years was one career. Young, stupid, not a good player. My second three, four years, I established myself as a good player in the league. The last two, three years have been about maturity, trying to win Cups and focus on trying to become a good player.”
What makes him say the 18- to 22-year-old Nathan MacKinnon was “young and stupid?”
Anyone who has been around MacKinnon for even a minute knows he is direct, and that’s certainly the case in his assessment of his younger self. He points to his off-ice habits and the lack of maturity he showed at the rink. MacKinnon recognizes that he was just a teenager and smiles when he says it was as if he was in college.
“Then I hit a crossroads after we came [in] last. Do I want to be a good player? Do I want to be an average player?”
THE 2016-17 SEASON is still fresh for any Avalanche player or front office personnel who lived through it. The Avs finished with 48 points. At the time, it was the lowest point total in the salary cap era. Colorado’s season has to be considered among the worst in NHL history. MacKinnon was 21. He scored 16 goals and had 53 points in 82 games. It was not bad, but it was short of the 24 goals and 63 points he accumulated as a rookie when he won the Calder Trophy in 2013-14.
“You try to lie to yourself about how things are going, but being mediocre just doesn’t sit well with me naturally,” MacKinnon said. “It wasn’t like a huge change. Because my whole life I sacrificed everything to be a great player as a kid. I ate well, I worked so hard. Then I got to the NHL and lost my way a little bit. It wasn’t like an ‘I found Jesus’ moment. But I got back on the rails. I knew how to do this stuff. I had done it my whole life. I just had to find it again.”
The MacKinnon who emerged from the depths of the 2016-17 season is the one everyone had been waiting to see for some time. He broke through to score 39 goals with 97 points in 74 games, helping the Avs reach the playoffs for the first time in three seasons. As a result, MacKinnon was in the Hart Trophy discussion for the NHL’s most valuable player.
He finished second to Taylor Hall in Hart voting that season. (Two years later, MacKinnon was second in the Hart balloting again, behind Leon Draisaitl.) MacKinnon said the runner-up finish to Hall angered him, but it eventually became another inflection point in his life and career.
After losing out to Hall, MacKinnon said it took him two months before he realized he could not let the decision made by voters affect how he felt. He came to accept the reasons why he lost, acknowledging there were players better than him.
“The guys who beat me out deserved it. Hallsy and Draisaitl had unbelievable years. They’re unbelievable players,” MacKinnon said. “You’re still upset. You still want to win it. But at the end of the day, you can’t put all your happiness into how people vote and that’s OK. What matters is the guys in the room, your family and friends. After that, you can’t control what others think.”
Statements like that illustrate why Erik Johnson says the mental part of MacKinnon’s game has caught up to his physical exploits. Johnson, 34, is the Avalanche’s longest-tenured player and has watched MacKinnon’s evolution firsthand. He knows how difficult the adjustment can be for a young player entering the league, as he was a No. 1 pick who played in the NHL as a teenager himself.
“Sometimes, it’s hard to put the mental wear and tear and grind of a season together right away,” Johnson said. “He really developed to where he is doing everything possible to be the best he can be.”
FOR MACKINNON, THAT included becoming a better leader. Losing the Hart provided a silver lining in that it was further proof he was among the best in the game. The next step was finding a way to take what he learned to become a better player and use it to make the Avalanche a better team.
That meant sitting down with Andre Burakovsky, now with the Seattle Kraken, and encouraging him to shoot more after looking at his advanced metrics. And working with Matt Calvert, a bottom-six forward who was on pace for his first 20-goal season before injuries and the pandemic-shortened season in 2019-20 derailed those plans. Even so, Calvert still made significant changes, such as working with a skating coach to revamp his skating. Another was altering his diet. He credited MacKinnon for that change, and MacKinnon said it all came from Calvert and nothing more.
Thanks to Nikita Zadorov, the world gained more insight into MacKinnon’s nutrition plan. Zadorov, now with the Calgary Flames, said in a 2021 interview that MacKinnon had desserts, ice cream and soft drinks removed from the team’s dressing room and even played a part in having the team stop serving carbonara sauce with pasta, replacing it with a healthier option.
As Zadorov said, with those moves, MacKinnon “made pros” of the entire team.
“It’s not just about his success, not that it was before either,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Now he thinks more about, ‘What does the team have to do?’, ‘How does it all fit together?’ He’s a bigger picture guy. A guy like [Gabriel Landeskog] has had that perspective for a number of years where Nate’s grown into that the last six years. It’s been getting better year after year, and last year, he was an incredible leader for us.”
MacKinnon knew he’d have to ease into that role. He said having Landeskog around as the Avs’ captain helped because it gave MacKinnon the time to both find his game and find his way into becoming a leader who could make a difference.
One of the steps MacKinnon has taken is to ensure young players feel valued. Perhaps the starting point for that was his relationship with Cale Makar. Earlier in Makar’s still young career, MacKinnon spoke about the Calder Trophy winner as if he raised him as his own while raving about how Makar was already one of the best defensemen in the league.
He pointed to Bowen Byram, saying the 21-year-old was their third-best defenseman in the playoffs last year and rattling off his stats. He continued by saying players like Byram, who are still on their entry-level contracts, are so important because their performances are what help Stanley Cup contenders with high-end players and big contracts have depth.
“It’s a lot different now than when I came into the league,” said MacKinnon, who made his debut in 2013, when Byram was 12. “So I like to relate to them. It’s tough being a young guy. Nowadays, you need young guys to win. It’s not like the old days when you treat rookies like s—. You need them.”
MacKinnon said he loves talking to his teammates about, well, anything. So how does that work when it comes to having a difficult conversation if someone’s not playing well? MacKinnon said the time he has spent with teammates has given him a gauge for what works. He knows some players may respond well to one approach while others may not. For him, it is about crafting a message and delivering it in a way that is more about togetherness than admonishment.
Avs star right winger Mikko Rantanen said MacKinnon has become more patient than he was five years ago.
“I saw it especially in the playoffs,” Rantanen said. “He was really calm in situations. If we had a bad period, he was just calm and just encouraged everyone to reset. There was a difference and it was fun to watch.”
What made MacKinnon want to become a better leader, let alone a leader at all? He could have just settled for being the best player on a team and nothing more.
“It just doesn’t feel good when you try to be the best player you can be and I knew that we weren’t going to win if I did not become even better of a leader and try to make guys feel good and make guys excited or try to be the best they can be,” MacKinnon said. “We were so close and figured if I gave it a shot last playoff run, especially try to make guys feel good every day — and that’s not saying it’s why we won — but every little thing guys do adds up.”
The notion MacKinnon is willing to open up about what got him to this stage of his career might be the strongest sign of his evolution. There was a time when MacKinnon would get angry enough with himself at practice, he would launch his stick into the stands at Ball Arena. It would sail 10 or so rows up, requiring an equipment manager to retrieve it while MacKinnon got another one.
Rantanen smiled when saying MacKinnon had managed to cut down on those moments, but admitted they do still happen from time to time. And while MacKinnon tossing his stick in the stands was too striking to ignore, it was something people did not really ask him about.
But now? He’ll talk about it freely.
“I don’t mind that. I like when guys get angry,” MacKinnon said. “We were at an optional skate and [Kurtis MacDermid] punched a water bottle the other day. I like it. I don’t think it’s a bad thing if I do that. I threw my stick the other day. It doesn’t matter.
“I just think away from the rink, you have to prepare yourself to be a leader, a good person coming into the rink and then have that energy before you show up. My whole thing is the work should be done before you play.”
A lot has changed in the six years since the low point of the Avalanche’s 48-point season. MacKinnon no longer has to ask himself if he wants to remain a mediocre player. His focus has shifted toward asking what can be done to get a few more banners hanging in the rafters of Ball Arena.
So does this mean MacKinnon is finally going to chill?
You probably can guess the answer. No, he is not.
“This is my journey and everyone’s different,” MacKinnon said. “Some guys come in and dominate. Sid [Sidney Crosby], [Connor] McDavid, [Auston] Matthews, those guys. I didn’t. I had to kind of find my way and I think once I found my way for three or four years, I focused more on trying to help others out and not just trying to make myself good. That’s how you win.”
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Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff Writer
AUSTIN, Texas — No. 1 Texas got its first SEC win behind the arm of Arch Manning, who helped the Longhorns overcome a slow start and some self-inflicted setbacks to beat Mississippi State 35-13 on Saturday.
Manning was 26-of-31 for 324 yards and two touchdowns and added 33 rushing yards and another score, despite Johntay Cook II dropping a wide-open touchdown pass that would’ve added another 62 passing yards in the second quarter. A week after throwing two interceptions in his first start against UL Monroe, Manning said he felt more relaxed.
“I think last week I didn’t have as much fun as I wanted to,” Manning said. “I think I had a little bit more fun today even though it was a little rocky.”
It was rocky because running back Jaydon Blue lost two fumbles — one in the red zone — Cook dropped a touchdown and there were eight penalties on the Texas offense. Coach Steve Sarkisian criticized himself for kicking a field goal, then going for it on fourth down after a defensive penalty gave the Longhorns another chance. Texas failed to convert, taking three points off the board.
The Longhorns went into halftime with a 14-6 lead, with Mississippi State running a ground-heavy approach behind true freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. The Bulldogs ran 73 plays on the night to Texas’ 62, but the Longhorns outgained them 522 yards to 294. There were also 17 penalties in the game, many with lengthy reviews.
“It was hard for the game to get a rhythm to it,” Sarkisian said.
But he was pleased that the Longhorns navigated this stretch of the season and Quinn Ewers‘ injury to start 5-0. It’s the second straight season Texas has started 5-0, marking just the second time in the past 50 years the Longhorns have done it in back-to-back years. Texas has an off week coming up, followed by the Red River Rivalry in Dallas against Oklahoma, before Georgia comes to Austin the following week.
Sarkisian said the Longhorns showed poise, and he was pleased they were able to survive their first SEC challenge while letting Ewers recover from a strained oblique injury without having to rush him back.
“We need Quinn back because he’s our quarterback and he’s our leader,” Sarkisian said. “I think that impacts the entire team and belief, but what I think we learned and what Arch learned here over the last 2½ games is this team can count on him too.”
Manning said he’s ready for Ewers’ return whenever that might be.
“I think Quinn’s proved himself,” Manning said. “I mean, he led us to the Sugar Bowl last year and he’s played really well this year, so this is his team. I think he’s going to come back and play really well, but I’ll be ready for when my number’s called if they need me. So we’re just going to try and keep this thing rolling.”
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Max Olson, ESPN Staff Writer
LAS VEGAS — UNLV made a statement Saturday in its first game without former starting quarterback Matthew Sluka: The Rebels are going to be just fine.
Rolling to a dominant 59-14 win over Fresno State and moving to 4-0, UNLV proved it will be a contender in the Mountain West Conference race regardless of its quarterback change.
Hajj-Malik Williams threw for 182 yards, rushed for 119 yards and accounted for four total touchdowns in his first start for the Rebels after Sluka opted to leave the program Wednesday over a dispute about his NIL compensation.
“It was business as usual,” UNLV coach Barry Odom said. “We’ve got a very mature team. … Our players, we’ve got strong leadership. They understand the mission that we’re on and they got it done.”
Williams, a sixth-year senior and FCS transfer from Campbell, joined the Rebels in January and lost a close competition with Sluka in fall camp. The 24-year-old quarterback played in 41 games at Campbell, leaving as the program’s career leader in passing yards and touchdowns, and was ready for his opportunity.
“I thought he was effective, I thought he was efficient,” Odom said. “I thought the offensive line did a tremendous job protecting him. I thought the receivers ran great routes. I thought the runners ran hard. We played well as an offense.”
UNLV wide receiver Ricky White III led the Rebels with a season-high 10 catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns and said the quarterback change was “definitely good for us.”
“He’s just a great quarterback that us, as an offense, we can rally behind and just go by his pace,” White said.
After starting three games for UNLV, Sluka opted to redshirt and was expected to enter the transfer portal in December. Sluka’s father and agent have alleged he was verbally promised $100,000 by UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion during his recruitment but received only $3,000 from the school’s NIL collective. UNLV said in a statement that Sluka’s representatives made financial demands for him to keep playing that it interpreted as “a violation of NCAA pay-for-play rules, as well as Nevada state law.”
Odom read from a prepared statement during his postgame news conference and did not take questions regarding Sluka. He said UNLV complied with applicable rules and was committed to the development and success of every player in the program.
“Many have expressed very strong opinions about the events of last week without full knowledge of the facts, without full knowledge of the events of last week and without full knowledge of the rules in the ever-changing, evolving NIL system,” Odom said. “And regrettably, some have even used this circumstance as a platform for their own agendas. I respect everyone’s right to an opinion, and I won’t comment on others’ opinions or their motivations for expressing them.”
White also had a message for Circa Sports CEO Derek Stevens after the Vegas casino expressed interest in offering $100,000 to keep Sluka on the team, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal that doing so would be worth it “to keep the Rebels’ playoff hopes alive.”
“I would ask that somebody reach out to the Circa CEO and ask him, with that $100,000 that he wanted to donate, give it to our O-line please,” White said.
The Rebels ended a six-game losing streak against Fresno State and achieved the program’s first 4-0 start since 1976 with a strong day in all three phases of the game. Their defense produced four interceptions and four sacks while giving up only 30 rushing yards, and their special teams delivered a blocked punt that White returned for a touchdown in the first quarter plus a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown by Jai’Den Thomas in the fourth quarter.
The victory kept UNLV in the race for the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff and concluded a chaotic week for an athletic department that was simultaneously dealing with the latest round of conference realignment in college athletics.
UNLV officially decided to remain in the Mountain West on Thursday, turning down a move to the Pac-12 following that league’s addition of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State for 2026. The seven remaining schools in the Mountain West agreed to a grant of rights that will bind them to the conference through 2031-32.
After already defeating Big 12 members Houston and Kansas in nonconference play, UNLV gets one more opportunity to take down a Power 4 opponent and strengthen its CFP résumé when it hosts 3-1 Syracuse on Friday.
“Our guys will flip the page really quickly,” Odom said. “I could tell in the locker room we’re ready to do that and get on to the next game.”
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Andrea Adelson, ESPN Senior Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. — As Colorado walked off the field following its best win of the Deion Sanders era — a 48-21 domination of UCF on a steamy Saturday afternoon — one staffer had a pointed message.
“Keep telling them to make us 16-point underdogs!”
Colorado played its most complete game to date, finding balance on offense while shutting down the No. 1 run offense in the country, holding UCF nearly 200 yards below its average. The 27-point triumph is Colorado’s largest road conference win since a 34-0 victory over Oklahoma State in 2005.
It also marked the Buffaloes’ second win under Sanders as a double-digit underdog, though the line did close at 12.5 points.
Sanders batted away any notion his team played with extra motivation as such a large underdog against the undefeated Knights.
“We’re underdogs every week,” he said. “Ain’t nobody want to see us win except for our fan base. That’s just the nature of the game. We’re not mad about it. We know who we are.”
So does the rest of the country.
No one can say it has been boring. Through five games, Colorado has had to rally to beat an FCS opponent (North Dakota State), needed a Hail Mary in overtime to get past Baylor and also posted two blowout wins. Also in there was a disheartening 28-10 road loss to Nebraska in which Shedeur Sanders was sacked five times.
Yet here they are, 4-1, matching their win total from a season ago.
In the spring, Sanders guaranteed at least a bowl berth, and after another roster overhaul, questions again followed the program into the season. But there’s a reason the win over UCF was hailed as its best under Sanders. Not only did Colorado find balance (128 yards rushing, 290 yards passing) and a defensive performance that limited big plays on the ground (UCF had 177 yards rushing), it was a group effort.
Yes, Sanders threw for 290 yards and three touchdowns. And yes, Travis Hunter had nine catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, along with an interception in the third quarter in which he darted in front of a pass at the last second. Twice now this season, Hunter has had a touchdown reception and an interception in a game. As he stood, he struck a Heisman pose.
But there was also Will Sheppard, who led all receivers with 99 yards and added a score. There was Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig, who had a 95-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown. And there was Preston Hodge, who had an interception of his own.
Colorado had five sacks from four different players.
After Silmon-Craig scored, Colorado graduate assistant Warren Sapp turned to the crowd and waved goodbye.
“I feel like we’re trending in the right direction,” Deion Sanders said. “I feel like you guys are seeing the fruit of a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, great hires. Bringing the right guys in with the right attitude, the right work ethic. I love where we are as a program. I really do. Could we be better? Of course, I think everyone can, but I know we’re trending in the right direction.”
Colorado is now 2-0 in Big 12 play headed into an open date before it hosts Kansas State on Oct. 12. The two conference wins already doubled what the Buffs had last season in the Pac-12 when they went 1-8.
“Everybody’s bought in. You can tell,” Silmon-Craig said. “We don’t point fingers. We pick each other up. That’s the way we’re playing right now. It’s definitely the most complete win. It’s just the beginning.”
Deion Sanders credited getting to Orlando a day early, on Wednesday, to avoid the effects of Hurricane Helene as one reason for the dominant effort.
“Getting them away from everything and having them focus and lock in, we had some tremendous walkthroughs in the hotel, and it was just unity,” he said. “All the guys ate together, they had meetings together, they’re watching film together. They responded tremendously. They could have been mad and upset about us leaving prematurely, but they were on it, and they did a great job.”
But there was also an acknowledgement the team could be in a different spot based on how it responded to adversity at various points before Saturday.
“We could be in a whole different place right now,” Sanders said. “But we’re 4-1 going into the break, and I’m so excited, you have no idea. It’s gonna be a really good plane ride tonight.”
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