For The Love Of The Game

They say that a man who loves what he does never works a day in his life.

Warren Foegele, then, has had it pretty easy, not having worked over the span of his 430-plus-game NHL career, which includes 80 goals and 163 points, prior to starting the season with the LA Kings. At the beginning of this season, through 20 games played, Foegele has tallied six goals and ten points, and if the math is mathing, is on pace for a 25-goal season in his inaugural year in Los Angeles.

The Kings signed 28-year-old Foegele, an unrestricted free agent, to a three-year contract on July 1st, moving the winger to LA from Edmonton, where he had been for three seasons. Kings fans may have gotten a little uncomfortable at this news, and rightfully so, considering the red-hot playoff rivalry between the Kings and Oilers for the last three consecutive years.

Nobody needs to be reminded of the outcome of each of those series, least of all Foegele, who chose to come to the Kings organization of his own free will, when he was exploring the free agency market.

“I've always made the playoffs in my whole career so I kind of wanted to go to a competitive team,” explains Foegele, on his decision to sign with the Kings. “But I also wanted a little bit more opportunity too. Obviously having [Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl], the two best players in the world, it's hard to get ice, right? So for me, I was like, I think I'm at that stage in my career where I can take on more and I wanted a bigger role, but I also wanted to be on a competitive team, and playing against the Kings for three years in a row, I knew them probably better than most people, just because of how hard they play and it wasn't fun playing against them.”

While Foegele is certain there is a fierce rivalry between his current and former clubs, he doesn’t believe it was as strong in the 2024 postseason as it was during the playoffs of 2023, and he isn’t sure why. He does remain friends with most of the guys from his time in Edmonton because, like him, most are from the Toronto area.

Foegele grew up in Unionville, a neighborhood in Markham, Ontario. His older brother by two years, Reese, would play street hockey - road hockey, as they call it north of the border - with his friends, and eventually began playing ice hockey. Warren would always be watching and of course wanted to be just like his older brother. Willing to do just about anything to play with the big boys, Warren began playing goalie during the road hockey games.

“Just being the younger brother that got beat up, basically,” jokes Foegele, who grew up cheering for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Eventually, he got his shot at ice hockey. Idolizing Brad Richards, Foegele started out as a forward despite his little brother's goalie experience, and everything took off from there. Foegele played collegiately at St. Andrew’s College and the University of New Hampshire before getting drafted into the OHL. He was then drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the third round, 67th overall, in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, and played parts of four seasons with the Hurricanes before being traded to the Oilers during the summer of 2021.

No matter where his NHL career has taken him, Foegele has maintained his routines, especially on game day. One of the more peculiar parts of his routine, that he isn’t even sure is superstitious, is what he does upon arriving to the arena.

“One thing I do that’s just kind of funny is - everyone comes to the rink and they do their hair and they get to the rink, you show up looking fresh - but after that I love to shower once I get to the rink,” declares Foegele, chuckling. “It just calms me down.”

Foegele remains close with his family. His parents, George and Leslie, and Reese are still based in Markham. He visits frequently in the summers and spends time at the family’s cottage in Muskoka, which is about two hours north of Markham. Foegele and his fiancee, Alexandra, who is also from the Toronto area, are getting married in Ontario next July, after which they’ll move into their newly built home in Markham.

Both Warren and Alexandra are settling in to their new digs in the South Bay quite nicely, enjoying the weather among other things. One aspect of LA life that has Foegele particularly enthused is the opportunity to watch LeBron James and the Lakers on a regular basis.

“I’ve actually seen him play in the playoffs. Two years ago on an off day, the Lakers were playing so one of my teammates and I went to watch him play the Grizzlies, so that was pretty cool,” shares Foegele, who is a big basketball fan in general. “But now I’m saying I have more opportunity to see him and it’d be pretty cool. I’m just fascinated by his longevity.”

Aside from following James and basketball, Foegele is a big fan of country music - his favorite artists are Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen. He’s not the type of person to be able to identify many artists or song titles beyond the two, so when he hears a song he likes, he uses the app Shazam to identify the song so that he’s able to add it to his Spotify playlist.

His favorite TV series is Suits although he does dabble in the Bravo network - Summer House being on the top of that list - and is currently watching American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez. He enjoys action movies, specifically movies with heist and robbery themes, but dislikes horror movies. He did, however, recently sit through Anna Kendrick’s Woman of the Hour because Alexandra wanted to watch it. When asked if he enjoyed it, his response was elusive, but telling:

“I don’t know - I was a good sport,” Foegele confesses.

Foegele’s biggest hot take though, has to do with a different genre of movies.

“I like rom coms but they don’t make them anymore.”

For anyone confused about his take, he elaborates.

“They don’t make them anymore - not like they used to,” Foegele insists. “Like Friends with Benefits, all the ones Katherine Heigl is in - they don’t make those anymore, right? And even Matthew McConaughey - How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days - they don’t really make them anymore, they’re all old.”

It’s a good thing for Foegele that something that hasn’t stopped production is hockey, because that’s another thing he enjoys, even on his days off.

“I’m super passionate, I love watching hockey, even on days off I’ll watch hockey,” affirms Foegele, who would have a job in hockey somehow if he weren’t playing. “I think I’m a fan of the game, so I’m real passionate about that.”

An important thing that Foegele has learned from hockey is that like in life, nothing is really ever given to you.

“There is always going to be ups and downs and at the end of the day you just try to put your head down and work hard and that will help you through adversity,” says Foegele. “In life, there are things that are thrown at you that are unexpected, and it’s kind of the same thing with hockey.”

Not bad for a man who has never worked a day in his life.

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