Sheng Peng
The 2019-20 San Jose Sharks were missing numerous ingredients. Will adding Kurtis Gabriel help the mix?
The 6-foot-4 Gabriel hopes so: Besides his trademark toughness and locker room presence, the right-hander has been working on faceoffs and penalty killing this off-season.
Gabriel joined San Jose Hockey Now for a far-ranging chat: He shared what made his pre-2013 Draft interview with the San Jose Sharks so memorable, why you don’t want Evander Kane fighting Ryan Reaves and how he can help that, if he’s worried about the long-term effects of concussions, how he approaches teammates with far different social and political beliefs than his, and why players shouldn’t be afraid to speak their minds about such issues.
He also throws in a sweet “Pacific Rim” reference!
Sheng Peng: Why were the San Jose Sharks your first choice as a free agent?
Kurtis Gabriel: It’s quite obvious the type of player I am and why I’m brought onto teams. I’ve been lucky enough that every time I’ve hit free agency, I’ve gone to my number-one choice.
I’m a physical player and teams that are lacking in that aspect, whether it be on the big club, in the organization, they look for a guy like me.
I bring that, I guess, unique element to today’s game.
I just think I can add a lot to a team. My enthusiasm and passion for the game. My love of the process and the work, and obviously, the physical aspect. You don’t want Evander Kane having to fight Ryan Reaves just so your team doesn’t get bullied.
SP: Did you guys talk about where you would play most, with the Sharks or the Barracuda?
KG: I just want to compete. That is my only expectation is to show up and compete all out, and have a blast doing it.
But I was really excited to hear that they wanted to see me be able to contribute a bit on the PK. I think today’s game, you gotta be more versatile.
So I’m working on faceoffs, going over the PK. That’s really exciting for me, whether I’m up or down. Bottom line, if I can demonstrate something to the big club that in some way, they think I benefit them, I will be there I believe.
SP: You said faceoffs? Have you played a lot of center in your career? As far as I know, you’ve always played at wing.
KG: I’ve been talking to a lot of people recently about them. I’ve always been a student of the game. A lot of the guys say it’s like 60 percent skill, 40 percent luck.
I’m a big, strong guy. I got a big paddle on my stick, big, wide blade. And I’m willing to battle all over the ice. So why not learn this ability? They don’t have a lot of right-handed faceoff guys.
Even on just my strong side, I can snap a couple back. It’s gonna help my chances of contributing.
SP: You’ve never taken a faceoff in the NHL. Have you ever taken faceoffs regularly at any point in your career?
KG: No, sir. But it’s not like we’re re-inventing the wheel here. I think I can figure it out. I’m probably never going to be amazing at them, but who knows? I’ve gotten here by being curious and exploring all avenues of getting better. It led me to this opportunity. So I’m gonna keep having that mentality and that growth mindset. I don’t think anything is off the table.
I’m working with Joey Hishon, he’s a skills guy up here and a really incredible former player. Dwayne Blais as well at Total Package Hockey. Try to get out with Brett Seney, he’s a center in the Devils organization, take some faceoffs. Bo Horvat, I’m trying to get out with him, see if I can badger him.
John Hynes, who was my coach in Jersey, he would talk to all the centers about, the mindset of the player or the team [on faceoffs]. Whoever wants that puck more is gonna be over that faceoff circle, in there. That’s something that’s stuck with me.
SP: You tweeted after you signed with the San Jose Sharks, you talked about the pre-Draft interview in 2013 with them. You mentioned that interview having a special place in your and your mother’s heart. What’s the story behind that?
KG: I didn’t expect to be drafted going into that season. I was a 19-year-old, turning 20. But I got interviewed by like 20-plus teams.
I lived just north of Toronto, so they kept having me come down to the combine and interview in all these different hotels. Going through backdoors, so teams didn’t know I was talking to them because it’s kind of an unknown. It was such a weird thing.
Going to talk to the Sharks, I just remember they had a nice, big light near my face. I was in a big boardroom. There’s all the tables around. You kind of couldn’t really see much because the light was close to your face. I think that’s what they wanted.
Tim Burke was the guy interviewing me, kind of a hard-nosed dude. Doug Wilson was sitting just to my right, off to the side. After I was done, I headed on out, walking down the hall and I heard someone coming up behind me. Doug Wilson came all the way down the hallway to tell me that he really loved what I said in there. That if I keep working, I’m gonna play in this league. I thanked him, and that was always something that kind of stuck out to me. Pretty cool to hear from a Hall of Famer, and it is funny how life works out that I’m back here and get another chance.
SP: Do you remember what you said to them?
KG: Just how I’m talking to you right now. I think it’s obvious how much I care about what I do. I told my story about my father taking his own life and how that impacted me. Just my passion showed through. I want to play up there and compete at the highest level so badly. Obviously, Minnesota picked me in the third round, but that was a pick that [San Jose] traded away for James Sheppard. They were joking at the [draft] table, that was kind of them picking me in a way. I always felt like, back of my mind, someday I’d get here.
SP: And your mom is terrified of sharks?
KG: Absolutely terrified. You can’t even get her whale watching. If you put a whale in a pool, put her on a boat, she still wouldn’t go in. She doesn’t want to be in the water, near anything large. “Jaws” freaked her out when she was a kid.
SP: You mentioned in a recent interview with the Athletes Podcast that you told San Jose that you were going to be ready to tangle with Ryan Reaves, Kurtis MacDermid, and Nicolas Deslauriers in particular. Of course, you fought Reaves in 2016, you were teammates with MacDermid in Owen Sound. What can you say about those three?
KG: I think Kurtis, we haven’t talked in quite a long time, but we grew up together a bit in Owen Sound. So he knows me pretty well. Have changed a lot since then though.
You ever watch the movie “Pacific Rim”? It’s kind of like I’m going out there to fight the Kaiju. I’m going monster hunting out there.
I’m trying obviously to be a player who can PK a little bit. Can’t spend the whole time in the box anymore. You gotta be able to contribute in other ways and take minutes off the top-six players to keep them fresher. But when the time comes, I’ll be ready.
SP: Speaking of fighting, what is your argument for keeping fighting in the sport?
KG: It’s just a different sport if you take it out. I wish hockey would go back to the days where any player, if they got challenged, stood up for themselves, no matter their role. And if you didn’t, your own team would look at you kind of funny. I don’t want it to go back to where guys are just squaring up with each other all the time and cannot play. I want it to be guys who can play, and if I can’t play, I won’t play.
Rocky [Thompson] said in an interview, just let the guys play and let the emotions boil over. That’s the fight he likes to see, when emotion just boils over.
That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to get my team going on the nights they aren’t as emotionally into it. So if I just go out, hit and chirp, it will happen quite a bit I think, or it should. I will win some, lose some, but I will always compete. And that means something when you practice and work alongside guys. They see it. There is nothing like when a team gets emotionally engaged and plays for one another. It is magic. Heck I do it in my 4-on-4 league, not fight, but just hustle plays all over the ice, gets everyone going.
The NHL should never ban fighting. You can limit it a bit in lower leagues, so that guys coming up aren’t primarily doing that.
SP: What would the sport look like without fighting?
KG: I think it would adapt in a bad, bad way.
Look at college hockey, for example. The guys have cages on. They just send themselves flying across the ice like missiles trying to kill each other. I think that’s wrong. That’s not hockey.
So having the ability to always go over and smack someone if you need to, there’s always gonna be an intimidation factor in hockey. Even if there’s no fighting, there’s going to be an intimidation factor of hitting. So you need to keep that in check somehow with some level level of fighting.
SP: Do you personally worry about the possible long-term effects of repeated head trauma and concussions from fighting?
KG: Yeah, for sure. If it ever gets to the point where you think something is seriously wrong or it’s time, I would just stop playing. I’m a person first, that’s something that’s really changed in my mentality. I’m a human being. I’m a son. I’m a boyfriend, brother first, and I’m a hockey player second.
SP: You’ve been very outspoken about your beliefs, like your support for the LGBTQIA community and Black Lives Matter. How do you approach a teammate with far different beliefs?
KG: I think people think that I’m going to a team and I’m constantly asking everybody where they stand and cross the guys off. That’s not how it works.
I rarely have these conversations with guys, and if we do, it’s always very respectful and very cordial.
We need to be able to have difficult conversations if things are ever gonna change. I’m fine with people having other views. I’d just love them to hear out both sides, and then just try to pull at the heartstrings.
I’m still learning the politics. I don’t really know them well. Obviously, human rights became like a weaponized thing it seems like in that political race.
I just stand by what I think is right, and I’m always gonna be on the side of — I think everybody should be born with the basic level of human respect. And then, it’s either your job to keep it, grow it, or lose it.
So I don’t judge people on anything but their character, go down all the list of adjectives, compassion, kindness. So that’s how I approach these things. I always wanna talk and learn, the growth mindset. I’m always wanting to hear other sides’ viewpoints and how we can work on things together.
I have no problems with that and it won’t ever be a problem on a team. We’re a team first.
SP: You mentioned having rare conversations with people about things, how did those go?
KG: If it comes down to people not liking each other on the team, that’s a problem. That’s never happened to me, personally. Obviously, I’m probably one of the most outspoken people.
But I have guys I train with that, you know, see the world a different way. Whether it’s in regards to politics, just Canadians talking about American politics, and that’s fine. It’s very clear no matter how much hate that we try to abolish, there’s always gonna be some hate that exists. That’s just the yin and yang of life. It’s always gonna be there. That’s how we know what’s good.
I just really want to see the the needle move more towards love, education, and humanizing. It’s pretty obvious and easy for people when they see things first-hand to realize what’s right and wrong. I think everybody knows it and they feel it in their chests, just whether or not you decide to stand up for it.
SP: Have you ever had anybody influential, be a teammate, someone on a team, tell you to hold back? Don’t speak out? I imagine, hockey being something of a monoculture where people don’t speak out as much, aren’t individuals, someone’s talked to you before.
KG: Yeah, literally nothing. This is what I want to tell people: Besides like the burner account trolls online who are afraid to show their faces to me, I’ve received such little backlash.
If I’ve received any kind of criticism, it’s from my own side, just trying to correct me and me trying to learn, trying to sort out our things, so we can move forward in kind of a unified front.
I don’t know if it has something to do with the role I play. People are intimidated by me? I don’t what it is, I’ve never gotten into a legit fight off the ice.
I just think people know I’m very passionate about it. And maybe if they don’t feel as passionate about it or they feel like they can’t support what they’re gonna say, they don’t even bother.
But nobody has ever said, hey, settle down or anything like that. You know why? It’s the right thing to do. It’s the right thing to do. That’s what I keep coming back to. Everybody knows it’s the right thing to do.
So I believe in the good of hockey players and the good of hockey culture. I think people are just uneducated and maybe worried about the culture and oh, if I step out, will I get in trouble?
We talk about hockey as such great guys, such a great sport. Well, we gotta be that. We gotta lead our respective sport and show all the younger leagues and kids kind of how how it should be.
I’m not worried about it at all. If somebody doesn’t want me to play on the team because of this, than that’s their loss.
SP: So it’s fair to say that you haven’t really been held back — and maybe that should encourage other guys to speak up a bit because it’s not like you’re not going to lose your contract.
KG: I think so. I’m going to a pretty great state for this kind of thing. A great organization that’s open-minded and extremely classy, and from all accounts, does everything the right way every single time,
I don’t know, I guess guys are like I work so hard at hockey, I gotta make sure I take care of that. And there’s no problem with that. Come around to it in your own time. I didn’t do this my first four or five years of pro hockey. I had to come around to it and learn about it. But now I know, I’m secure in what I am and what I stand for. And if that’s not gonna work for people, they don’t want me to play, I’ll gladly go do something else.
SP: Do you have anything you want to promote or advocate for right now?
KG: No, I just think we all can do little things.
David Goggins said it best recently. He said, with all this political stuff going on, the change doesn’t start with whoever’s sitting in office and people and stuff. Obviously, it’s gonna help a bit. But change starts with everyone, and we all can do our little things. Be ready to stand up against racism, against homophobia, against sexism, and do the right thing. It’s time we’re all doing that.
We also need to work together to end mental health stigma and check in on the people in our lives and ask how they are really doing.
Trans Americans, and specifically, Trans Black Americans are being killed at an alarming rate. Broken the record for most violent killings in a year with 35 now. It’s almost 2021, this is not acceptable. Imagine you were being targeted for simply wanting to live the life you want. Isn’t that what we all want? To live our true selves? Don’t go after the people who are the most courageous in pursuit of that.
And to all the fans that reached out to me, and anyone who has well wishes for me going to try to make the team out in San Jose, thank you so much. I am running right at my dream, and I think more people should. The pain of regret will always be deeper than the pain of failure. Go for it, that’s what life is about. I live my life by this. “Control what you can control, and do it with love.”