NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger has been covering the NHL regularly since 1999. Each Sunday during the season, he will use his extensive network of hockey contacts to write his weekly notes column, "Zizing 'Em Up."
Zizing 'Em Up: Sabres coach Granato can relate to Hamlin-Bills situation
Has perspective after his own near-death experience three years ago
TORONTO --Don Granato said his entire body was numb. He couldn't watch anymore. It simply hurt too much.
The Buffalo Sabres coach had just watched Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapse on the football field and start receiving emergency medical treatment during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on "Monday Night Football." Granato shut his laptop, which he was using to prepare for the Sabres' game at the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
"It was like I was paralyzed," he told NHL.com. "It was just all too familiar."
Three years after going through his own near-death experience, here he was, in his Washington hotel room, in shock at what he'd just seen. His thoughts and prayers were for Hamlin and his family; for his teammates; for his friend, Bills coach Sean McDermott, and the entire organization, which, like the Sabres, is owned by Terry Pegula.
And then there were his own players. How do you help them, he wondered, get over seeing one of their Buffalo sports brethren fighting for his life while being taken off the field in an ambulance?
"There's no textbook for that," he said. "I told the players that. I told them I didn't have the answers. Instead, we just let them talk and let their emotions out. It's ok to do that. They needed to see we're all human and all vulnerable. Coaches. Players. Everybody."
Such is the type of leadership Granato has exhibited in tough times, especially in the past year.
The Sabres would defeat the Capitals, 5-4, in overtime Tuesday. They arrived at the arena wearing t-shirts that said "Love for 3" in reference to the number Hamlin wears for the Bills. Captain Kyle Okposo credited the idea to Nicole Hendricks, the team's senior director of communications who previously worked for the Bills. She credited Okposo for coming up with the slogan.
Thankfully, Hamlin is improving and was able to address his Bills teammates via zoom on Friday from his hospital bed in Cincinnati. It's been an amazing recovery for the 24-year-old who suffered cardiac arrest on the field and needed CPR to have his heart restarted.
For Granato, it brought back memories of an incident that changed him forever.
During the 2019 preseason, Granato, then a Sabres assistant, felt under the weather and eventually wound up at Buffalo General Hospital, where it was discovered that a bacterial infection had entered his bloodstream, leading to pneumonia and, subsequently, respiratory failure. When doctors raced into his room at one point to put him under, "the doctor said to me, 'Listen you've got about five minutes and you will not be here anymore. We need to do this to you right now.'"
Thankfully the treatment was successful. After a few days using a respirator and then a breathing tube, he slowly worked his way back to health.
He was ok physically, but it changed the way he viewed the world. And seeing the Hamlin incident this past week served as a reminder of that.
"When you go through something like I did and then see something like that, it reminds you how vulnerable we all are," he said. "When something like that happens, it grabs you. It's hard to comprehend how vulnerable anybody can be at any moment, and underscores how inconsequential sport, whether it be hockey, football, whatever, can be when it's a life-or-death situation.
"It puts everything in perspective of what really matters most. For sure it changes your reaction when you have the hindsight of traumatic events like that because you've had the experience of going through something like that. When I saw what was happening on TV, my whole body went 'boom.'
"We operate under the assumption that these things don't happen and they're not going to happen because until they do, life is pretty good. In my perspective, you can't go through that and not have your life perspective altered, enhanced, affected, I guess is probably the way to say it. It gives you a greater appreciation for life, for health, makes you realize what's important in life and what is maybe less important."
Granato said Sabres players are learning that through the adversity their community has endured in the past eight months.
On May 14, 2022, a mass shooting at a supermarket on the city's east side left 10 dead, three injured and a tight-knit community shattered. On Tuesday, Erie County officials announced 42 people had died in an epic blizzard that hit the region Dec. 23. Then came the Hamlin incident in front of a national television audience.
Three different situations, all heartbreaking in their own way.
"One thing about this team, they love this community, and they understand how it was hurting from those three incidents. We all were," Granato said. "And make no mistake, this is a tight-knit community. I grew up in Chicago. It's too big a place to feel what you feel here. This is a community. Our players want to be here. They care. And they know they can help in the healing process, both on the ice and off."
Given what he's been through himself, Granato would know. And with the help of his guidance, his players are learning how, too.
'KID KRAKEN' TURNING HEADS
With the NHL regular season approaching the halfway mark, NHL.com will be running the third installment of its Trophy Trackers this week, beginning with the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year Monday.
My first-place vote went to Vegas Golden Knights goalie Logan Thompson. But after watching Seattle Kraken forward Matty Beniers in a 5-1 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday, it's easy to see why he's considered one of the frontrunners.
The No. 2 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft scored his 13th goal of the season and leads all rookies in goals and points (28) as of Friday. More importantly, coach Dave Hakstol said he's noticed growth in the 20-year-old's game and confidence.
"It's shown every day, by his approach, his demeanor, his competitiveness," Hakstol said. "Matty's a guy that just shows up and works every day. He's an intelligent person, he's got great hockey sense, and that competitiveness never wanes. It's never up and down. He's going to have struggles but with his demeanor he shows up the same every day no matter what."
It's that combination of talent and competitiveness that has landed the center on the top line with forwards Jordan Eberle and either Andrei Burakovsky or Jared McCann. It's also given him some matchups against stars he grew up watching.
"Connor McDavid's been one of the hardest to play against," he said. "He and the Oilers put a spanking on us when they came to our building (7-2 loss on Dec. 30). Then there's Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar of Colorado. They're the type of guys, you want to get on them but then you take a second and realize you don't want to go at them too fast. So those three."
He suddenly remembered one more.
"And, of course, Sidney Crosby too," he said. "He's great offensively but he can shut you down defensively too.
"So it's tough in a different way."
PARTING SHOT
Arguably, the best good-natured dig of this past week came via retired Hall of Fame broadcaster Rick Jeanneret, the longtime voice of the Sabres.
After two periods of the Maple Leafs-St.Louis Blues game at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday, Jim Ralph, the Maple Leafs radio analyst and former standout goalie for Ottawa of the Ontario Hockey League, received a text from Jeanneret. The teams had combined for nine goals on 39 shots in what was a forgettable 40 minutes for goalies Ilya Samsonov of Toronto and Jordan Binnington of St. Louis.
Evidently Jeanneret was watching and couldn't hold his tongue -- or, in this case, his typing fingers -- any longer.
"You playing goal for both teams?" Jeanneret wrote, causing the quick-witted Ralph to laugh out loud.
For the record, Ralph, who played for Ottawa from 1978-82, holds the franchise record for goalie wins (107), games played (175) and goalie assists (11).
QUOTE/UNQUOTE
"Tell 'Chief' it was an honor to be part of HIS trade."
-- NHL Hall of Famer Doug Gilmour, in reference to Blues coach Craig Berube. Jan. 2 was the 31st anniversary of the 10-player blockbuster between the Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames in which Gilmour, Ric Nattress, Jamie Macoun, Kent Manderville and Rick Wamsley were sent to Toronto in exchange for Berube, Gary Leeman, Alexander Godynyuk, Michel Petit and Jeff Reese. For the record, Berube laughed when he heard Gilmour's comments and it's easy to understand why. Consider the career points totals for both forwards: Berube had 159, Gilmour 1,414. Enough said.
THE SUNDAY LIST
With the NHL approaching the midway point of the season, here are three preseason predictions we were VERY wrong about through the first half.
1. The fall of the Boston Bruins: Too slow? Too old? Their window was finally closing? Here are the answers to those preseason suggestions: wrong, wrong and wrong. Entering Friday, they had four regulation losses in 38 games. Is it possible for someone to be more wrong?
2. The Columbus Blue Jackets might challenge for a wild card berth: Johnny Gaudreau comes to Columbus and teams up with Patrik Laine to put the Blue Jackets in the middle of the Stanley Cup Playoff race, right? Nope. As of Friday, only the Chicago Blackhawks (20) had fewer points than the Blue Jackets (24) in the 32-team NHL. Oops.
3. Wobbly Maple Leafs goaltending: Given the recent struggles of Samsonov and Matt Murray, the jury is still out on this one. There's still time for this to come true. But as of Friday, the Maple Leafs were tied for fourth with the Carolina Hurricanes in goals-against per game (2.67). If you go by first half results, another big whiff on another prediction.
