Burnside: Stepan's Ride To Raleigh & Fit With The Canes

RALEIGH, NC. -We talk almost by default about whether a player is a fit for the team.
How does the individual fit the greater good? How does the individual meet the needs of the group?
But what about those moments when it's as important, maybe more importantly, that it's a fit for the individual player, that the fit helps repair the player, the person and his family?

Sitting with Derek Stepan recently we couldn't help but feel that this Carolina Hurricanes team, this community in fact, was exactly what Stepan and his family needed at this moment in his long, distinguished career. Hearing him describe the highs and lows of the last couple of seasons and the impact on his family it's a good reminder that as much as we often view players as assets, chess pieces to be moved around the board or from board to board, there is a human element that is integral to all of this.
And in talking to Stepan and to his coaches and those around the Hurricanes, there is a distinct impression that when push comes to shove in May and June, maybe finding that fit on both sides of the equation will help make all the difference.
But to understand what might become of this union between veteran forward and Stanley Cup hopeful team we have to understand what led to the match. And specifically, we need to understand how things unfolded for Stepan over the last few seasons.
In June of 2017, less than two years after signing a big-time, six-year deal with the New York Rangers, the team that had drafted Stepan 51st overall in 2008, Stepan was dealt to Arizona with - wait for it - current Carolina teammate Antti Raanta for - again wait for it - current Carolina teammate Tony DeAngelo.
Stepan joked that the three current Hurricanes sometimes joke that Carolina GM Don Waddell needs to acquire Lias Andersson, the other player involved in that deal, to complete the circle.

Stepan went from a key member of a perennial playoff team in New York to a team in perpetual rebuild in the desert in Arizona.
After playing 92 playoff games in New York between 2012 and 2017 he played in just nine playoff games for the Coyotes, and that included a play-in round in 2020.
Then, on the eve of last season's COVID-shortened season, Stepan was dealt to Ottawa.
Three days before Stepan packed his bags and in the midst of a global pandemic flew to Ottawa the youngest of his three children was born.
It was December 30. Happy New Year.
"No, it was not great timing," Stepan said with a rueful grin.
The juxtaposition between then and now, there and here, is stark.
Stepan's wife, who like Stepan is from Minnesota, and the kids, now six, four and one, are all ensconced in Raleigh. Pre-schools and kindergarten classes have been discovered and new friends have been made.
"Which is nice because Ottawa, they couldn't come because my wife had just given birth. I was up there by myself," Stepan said.
He pauses and considers the two realities of his career over the past two years.
"It's better this way. Having them here. It's been a lot better this way," Stepan said.
"Raleigh's great for families. Kids love the schools they're in. It's been a really easy transition family-wise and off-ice stuff. It's a great city to live in. Me and my wife have really enjoyed it," he said.
Stepan is very clear in discussing his trade to Ottawa and his experience there, feeling that he was treated with nothing but respect by GM Pierre Dorion and head coach D.J. Smith. But the reality of the move was that it wasn't a fit on many levels.
The trade actually came through in the late stages of his wife's pregnancy. Training camp in the shortened season was just getting going and the Sens were understanding and told Stepan to get to Ottawa as soon as he could after his wife gave birth. There was the required 14-day quarantine when he first arrived in Ontario.
"I don't know, it was just a horrible situation," Stepan said.
A shoulder injury ended Stepan's season after 20 games. He scored once and had five assists. He went home to rehab the shoulder and to assess what was next in his career.
It was a sobering time. He'd never been a free agent before and frankly, the timing wasn't great given how things had unfolded. Also, the fact that the free agency period was pushed later into the summer because of the impact of COVID on the schedule didn't help.
"It's not fun," Stepan said of the free agent experience. "It's stressful. Especially with kids. Maybe it's different if you're single or just married. It's a lot easier transition. Yeah, it was a stressful move because this is July and you want to get your kids in schools and they start soon and you don't know where you're going to end up, so you can't call anyone to get ahead of it. So it was a stressful situation. That being said once the domino fell it was a really easy transition."
Once the market opened Stepan spoke to both Carolina head coach Rod Brind'Amour and GM Don Waddell.
The Canes were solid through the top end of the lineup with Sebastian Aho, Vincent Trocheck and Jordan Staal locked into the top three center positions. The question that had to be answered was whether Stepan could or would accept a role that was much different than he'd assumed obviously in New York with the Rangers and even with the retooling Coyotes.
"I think the biggest thing was they're looking at my career and they're thinking we're not going to use you the way you probably were and at this point I'm transitioning to a new role. Which I wanted them to know I was comfortable with," Stepan said. "So the pieces fit and I think they wanted to understand that I knew that, that I didn't think I was going to come in here and play over the three that were in front of me."
"I think that was a big piece for them and I obviously I wanted to let them know that this was where I wanted to fit into," Stepan added. "It was a stressful situation, but I've been very happy with how the process has gone."
Three days - a long time in the life of a veteran free agent player with a family - into free agency Stepan signed a one-year deal with Carolina with a $1.35 million cap hit.
We think of the times we've come to the rink early in the day during what is shaping up as a special season for the Hurricanes and Stepan has been on the ice, sometimes with players working their way back from injury and with members of the coaching staff, the backup goalie on that particular day.
And we think of the nights when Stepan has been the odd man out in the forward rotation, as Brind'Amour tries to keep his troops fresh and to ice a lineup that gives them the best chance on that particular evening.
It's a tightrope to walk with players, especially veteran players, who are in this role. As an organization you want those depth players to have the hunger to be in the lineup every night and to be fulfilling the role expected of them when they are in the lineup. But you don't want a player who will wear his emotions on his shirt sleeve and bring a negative vibe into the locker room when they aren't playing. It's not an easy line to walk for the player and the organization.
"It's just an adjustment. It's understanding as you get older the game gets faster and my minutes have gone down and they started to even in Arizona a little bit," Stepan said. "I still believe I can play and be effective in a role here and help this team win a lot of hockey games. And I wanted them to know that. And as my adjustment goes on I wanted them to understand that I'm ready to accept that. I think you have to be willing to accept that."
"It's kind of a mental acceptance and understanding that, hey, listen I can be really good at this job that's probably where I'm going to piece in here," Stepan added. "It's not an easy thing to do. It's a big chunk of understanding, being a supporting actor basically rather than being a big chunk of it."

The day we spoke with Brind'Amour about Stepan, it happened to be one of those days that Brind'Amour went with Jordan Martinook and Stepan, 31, was the odd man out.
"This killed me today that I had to sit him out," Brind'Amour said. "Stepper gets it. Earlier in the year, I healthy scratched him for four or five games. And he understands. But I know when we get to crunch time this is the kind of guy you're going to have in your lineup. He's a perfect fit for us. And I think it just goes back to people. Honestly."
By that Brind'Amour means the people on this roster need to be where they're supposed to be, not necessarily where they want to be.
"You can't be on your own program or it doesn't work. It just doesn't work," the defending Jack Adams Trophy winner as NHL coach of the year said.
Stepan understands that and that's why he's become an important part of the team's depth when he is in the lineup - he's contributed seven goals and 15 points in his 42 games - and a supportive teammate when he's not.
"Because he's a good dude, because he gets what it means to be on a team, what the dynamic is. I mean he's not happy. He's pissed but he is like, 'I get it,'" Brind'Amour.
At one point Stepan asked if it was okay to be mad when he's not playing.
"I said of course you can. But he's not going to let it affect somebody else," Brind'Amour said. "That's why you need guys like that that get it. There's no bad apples. I've never been around a team like this."
Longtime NHL player and analyst Rick Tocchet coached Stepan in Arizona. He isn't surprised that he has found a welcome home in Raleigh.
"A pure pleasure to coach," Tocchet said. "He is like another assistant coach. He knows systems and X's and O's as well as any coach. He helps reinforce the coaches' message of the day."
"Smart practice player in regards to the drills coaches are trying to execute," added Tocchet who is part of TNT's national broadcast panel this season. "Definitely a future coach/GM if he wants."
Waddell knew Stepan as a player but also had had him on a couple of international U.S. teams. He also knew that last season was a tough one for the player and his family.
"Just talking to him I could see that he was going to be a good fit for us. Because of how he was approaching it," Waddell said. "Some guys coming off making a lot of money, even though maybe their game doesn't deserve it, they can't let that guard down to take less money. He knew right off the bat that he was going to make a lot less money but it wasn't about the money it was about the opportunity. He asked the right questions about his family and all that which was important to him which is great to hear."
One of the reasons it has worked so well for Stepan is that everyone came to the table with the same understanding.
"The one thing that Roddy and I both are in agreement about is we're not going to promise a player something we know we can't live up to. Because when you get into free agency and you're chasing a particular guy and guys coming out of college, all of that, there's a lot of promises made that are never upheld. And that's something we don't do here," Waddell said. "We're not going to make you promises to get you to sign your name on a contract and then say okay we've got you now. We're very upfront about how it's going to be, how we look at your role and if you're going to sign here this is what you expect. You uphold your end and we're going to uphold our end."
And it's worked. Waddell is an early riser, early to the office kind of guy. So is Stepan.
"He's one of the first guys here every morning. He loves to be at the rink and do what he needs to do to prepare. He's handled it. He wants to play," Waddell said. "I've talked to him when he was out and he was out for a period there, it's frustrating but he's not going to be pissed off. He's not happy about not playing but he doesn't do it in a way that you'd say oh this guy's pouting or he's got an ego. He's there to support his teammates one hundred percent. But he wants to play. And you can appreciate all that."
Few have the perspective on the team that longtime analyst Tripp Tracy has. He has watched closely how Stepan has fit in not just when he's playing but how he's accepted those moments when he's not.
"I think he's had a very fine year," said Tracy. "What's made the strongest impression on me is that even when he hasn't been in, just watching him and his actions and his body language on the bus after practice, it's made an impression on me that he's a good teammate."
He's played center. He's played on the wing. He's done what has been asked.
And understanding Stepan's experience in big moments in the playoffs, Tracy has no doubt that he will be a factor this spring for the Hurricanes.
"You're going to need guys like that," he said. "Guys that have been through it."
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