Mattias Norstrom interview

I got the chance, this morning, to catch up with former Kings captain Mattias Norstrom, who will be honored in a ceremony before tomorrow night’s home game against New Jersey. It brought back good memories, as Norstrom was always one of the most media-friendly players and always willing and able to give some interesting quotes from the perspective of a smart, steady veteran player. Norstrom played for the Kings from 1996 until 2007, and retired after spending the 2007-08 season with Dallas. Now 38, Norstrom lives in his native Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife, Kristin, and their two daughters, Linnea (9) and Emma (6). Here’s the full interview with Norstrom…

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Question: First, there were a number of people who didn’t really have a question, but just wanted to pass along their thanks for all your efforts as a player, so I just wanted to pass that along.

NORSTROM: “Well, thank you.”

Question: Can you maybe just give an update as to what your life is like these days?

NORSTROM: “Well, my weekends are off. [laughs] It’s a little bit like that. I never complained about (NHL) scheduling and traveling, because the guys that do, I tell them, `Retire then. Do something else. There’s options out there. Don’t do this, and complain because it’s hard, with the travel and being away from family.’ I got to the point, at 36, where I started thinking like that, so I said, `OK, it’s time.’ What I’m doing right now is what a lot of people kind of long to get away from. It’s that Monday through Friday working. Drop off the kids at school. I’m part-owner in a three-man business that works with athletes, artists, songwriters — all Swedes — who work outside Sweden or in Sweden. We help them with everything from planning to insurance and help them with their financial planning, taxes. For me, I jumped into that because I have absolutely no knowledge of that, and no education in that area. But I’m the guy on the other side of the fence, because I’m working toward helping that group of people that I am. So I’ve been doing that, in January, for two years. It turned into what I thought it was going to be, a full-time job. It’s Monday through Friday, and weekends here and there, but it still gives you the opportunity, when Friday comes around and somebody invites you over for dinner, I can say, `Yes, I can make it.’ It wasn’t like that for a long, long time.”

Question: Did you think, or do you still think about, staying in the game? When you were playing, people saw you as a potential coach one day. Does that ever appeal to you?

NORSTROM: “I won’t say it will never appeal to me, but it wasn’t something I was itching for right away. I think that once you’re a hockey player, wherever I go and whatever I do, I’m going to be remembered as a hockey player. So I think somewhere down the line I’m going to be back in hockey, in some way. I don’t see myself as a head coach, at least at a top level. I see myself maybe working with teenagers, on that part of it, developing them. I can probably pass along more that way. I think I have more to give a 14-, 15-, 16-year-old who decided, `I’m going to give it a shot and give it my all,’ more than I have to give to players who already made it to the league. That’s how I feel, but maybe other people have a different look at me and might say, `No, I think that would be wrong for you.’ But if you ask what I want to do in hockey, I feel like it’s that area.”

Question: I know the time change can be tough in Sweden, but do you still keep track of the league pretty closely?

NORSTROM: “Yeah, definitely. I got asked the other day, and I said it’s almost like a disease. All of a sudden I find myself with a morning coffee, going through NHL.com to check standings and scores and keeping track, especially of old friends, where they are and how they’re doing. It’s never a lost love. I still love the game of hockey. For me, I felt my role was done when I retired. Pass it on. Let the young kids take over.”

Question: Any thoughts on the Kings these days?

NORSTROM: “It’s exciting to watch. I really like the group, and now they’re showing it too, during games and in the standings, that this is a team that not only is around, but they can do some real damage. It’s fun to see how they, year by year, got better and better. This season, for sure, will be real interesting to follow.”

Question: I know you enjoyed your time here and probably would have been satisfied to say in L.A. Is there any regret about being traded, or any feeling like you wish you could have stayed longer?

NORSTROM: “When you go through a career — for me, 15 years professionally in the AHL and NHL, mostly in the NHL — I went to the rink, whether it was the Binghamton Rangers, the New York Rangers, the L.A. Kings or Dallas Stars, I went down there and had fun. I did have fun. I loved what I was doing. If you love what you’re doing and you’re having fun, there can’t be any regrets. It’s a business. If you win, then you stick around. That goes for management and players. I knew that when Dean (Lombardi) came in and Dave (Taylor) was gone, there were changes in the coaching staff. You look there first, but then you start to look at your players. When you’re not winning and making the playoffs, changes will be made. The only thing — and I won’t even call it a regret — but I wish we had performed better as a team. That’s what keeps teams together, the winning. That’s the reality. I had 11 great years here that I enjoyed, and I also came to a team in Dallas and I got to get a taste of playoff hockey. I enjoyed every day there, too, coming down to the rink and just getting an opportunity to compete in the best league in the world. For me, no regrets. I’m not disappointed or sour. I just wish that the team had performed better.”

Question: The way you played the game was not easy. You played a hard-nosed game and sacrificed yourself often. What advice would you give to a young player — maybe a teenager, like you mentioned — in terms of playing such a hard-nosed game?

NORSTROM: “It’s hard. It’s so hard to give advice. If you look at individuals, you have some very skilled defensemen. For me to tell a guy like that to play more desperate, and the way maybe I played the game, I don’t know if I’m helping him or hurting him. There are different roads to the same goal. For me, there was no other option, other than to play that way. Because if I didn’t play that way, I really felt that I wouldn’t even be playing in this league if I tried to play a different game. So it’s very individual, what you bring to the table. To tell Drew Doughty to change his game and to try to be more desperate, he brings so much to the table already. If he focuses on the wrong thing, I think he will lose who he is as a player. For me, it was pure desperation growing up. I felt, because I was lacking in many of the skill areas, that the only way for me was playing with that desperation. For me, it worked. I played myself onto different teams at different levels, and also my style was an asset that was always appreciated, especially by teammates. So in that way, it was rewarding for me to keep playing that way. But advice to someone, about how to play that way, I almost like at my own career sometimes and think, `I wish I was a different player,’ because it looks more fun to be a skilled guy and putting pucks to the net. [laughs] But you kind of play the hand you’re dealt.”

Question: You started out with the Kings when Rob Blake was captain, and then you took over that role after he left. What was that transition like for you, moving into that captain role?

NORSTROM: “If you look at it, I probably played big minutes with Rob, being fortunate enough to be his D partner. When Rob played a lot of minutes, I played a lot of minutes, because we were paired up. So that role, I think I had. It’s not that I was given the `C’ and then played big minutes. I think I had pretty much the same amount of ice time, if you look through the stats for seven, eight years there. So the transition was easy because of having Rob as a captain before. I looked up to him and saw how he was leading this team. Maybe they ran out of options. A lot of guys disappeared. [laughs] Being with the organization for a long time, you represent the organization. I think you hear the same boring answer from every captain, that `I do not lead alone.’ In my case, I think that was very true. I did not want to change my personality because they put a `C’ on my chest. I tried to be the same guy I was before I became captain. I was fortunate enough to have guys in the locker room like Luc (Robitaille), like Lappy [Ian Laperriere], who gave me a lot of support in that role. So it’s not that you get the `C’ and things change. You try to be the same, especially to keep the respect of the guys, so that they don’t see a different person as soon as you get a letter on you. And I was assistant (captain) before I became captain, so it’s not that I went from here to there.”

Question: Who were some of the players you looked up to, or learned from, either back home as a youngster or when you got to the NHL?

NORSTROM: “The players I really looked up to, watching, were players like Scott Stevens and Ray Bourque. I never got close to that, but players like that who were in their prime when I was kind of a teenager. Before that, a big idol growing up was Borje Salming. He played a game, in Toronto, where he sacrificed his body. He was very skilled defensively, too, but he would be the first one blocking shots and paying the price to play the game. Coming into the league, I was fortunate enough there to play with Brian Leetch. A totally different defenseman than I am, but the way he played the game was hard. There was nothing easy about how he played. He made it look easy, but there was nothing easy about it. He worked so hard. I was really impressed by him, and at the same time they had some older D that I had so much respect for. They took care of me, breaking into the league. Jay Wells, Kevin Lowe, Doug Lidster. Instead of seeing me purely as competition, they helped me understand what it takes to make it in the NHL. So I’m grateful for that. Coming to L.A., it’s not a big age difference, but the guy I respected, with how hard he played, was Rob. Being teamed up with him, as his D partner for many years, that helped me tremendously.”

Question: Based on your time with the Kings, is there anyone you wish you could have played more with?

NORSTROM: “This is very personal, but I hated to see Rob go. That was tough. At that age, he was still in his very prime. A lot of players went in and out, but I would say Rob. At the time, I remember it, I couldn’t understand why, from owner to GM to coaches. It’s hard to say anything at the time, other than (to think) maybe I’m wrong if I feel this way about it. I couldn’t grasp how you give up a guy like that, two years after he won the Norris Trophy. We were actually having something pretty decent going at the time. That was the toughest guy to see go.”

Question: You played with a lot of personalties here. Is there any one that stands out as the funniest or the most memorable?

NORSTROM: “I think there’s just one name: Avery. [laughs] In that sense. I’m not saying it was positive all the time. I’m saying, if you want a personality that stands out… Talent-wise, Ziggy Palffy, if you’re talking talent (also), but if you’re talking personality, it would be Sean Avery.”

Question: Was it always positive? Sometimes positive?

NORSTROM: “Right in between. [laughs] It could never be always positive. But it’s not always negative, too. You look at him from the outside, and it seems like it’s only negative energy coming out of that guy, but it’s not. For sure, though, he is right in between. It’s a lot of both.”

Question: Looking back, what stands out in your career? What achievement stands out to you?

NORSTROM: “It’s tough, because there was only one goal, and that was to win the Stanley Cup. For some weird reason, I thought that the older I got, the less important that would be, because there would be other goals. Playing well, or good teammates, but for some reason I got more and more desperate about that. It’s not that you feel like you’ve left something behind. It’s more of a personal thing. It’s the ultimate prize, but I never got there.”

Question: You mentioned Doughty earlier. The Kings are trying to build things here, in large part, around these young defensemen like him and Jack Johnson. If you could sit down with them, what would you tell them about being an NHL defenseman and what the next 15 years could be like?

NORSTROM: “I don’t know them as people. I’ve never met either of them. Tomorrow will be the first time. As players, for the organization it’s a dream scenario. It’s been proven how hard it is to find that 1-2 punch on defense that the Kings are fortunate to have right now, with Doughty and Johnson. Looking back, the teams that have success, you look at the Devils with Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer. Look at the Rangers, with Zubov and Leetch. Maybe when Dallas won the Cup, with Zubov and Hatcher. They’re different kinds of players, but it’s important to find that. Maybe last year too, with Seabrook and Keith. It’s a heavy burden to be the one guy who has to do it all on the team. But if you have that 1-2 combination… They’re both elite defensemen in this league. I would say Drew for sure, he’s very elite. At his age, to be nominated for the Norris Trophy, that says it all. From the organization’s standpoint, it’s a great situation to be in. It’s proven that they have done it right, I feel. You’ve got to start — goaltending is very important — but defense, it’s proven that it’s not easy to find defensemen who play for 10, 12, 15 years. It’s not that easy anymore. It’s a couple good years, and then they’re off to a new organization. To give them any tips, I don’t know. You can never forget that you only get judged by your last game. With the pressure, you have never accomplished anything. If you keep that to yourself, and look at it that way, I think you’re fine. If they get content and happy with where they are and what they’ve done already, in their younger years, they’re in trouble. But if they can always remember the last game, and judge themselves by that, then 15 years will go by fast. You’ll end up looking back and saying, `Wow, what happened?”’

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