Winter Classic TV docuseries an ‘unscripted’ opportunity for Kraken growth

Inside the NHL

LOS ANGELES — One thing impossible not to notice my third season into covering the Kraken is how much more difficult NHL players can be to get to know things about than those from other professional sports.

After 16 seasons covering MLB in two markets, a couple more with the Sounders and MLS and even the CFL in Canada, the reticence hockey players and coaches seem to have for anything media-related or promotional on their own behalf has been eye-opening. I’ve heard this phenomenon attributed to hockey being the “ultimate team sport” — which I wholeheartedly disagree with given the existence of football. Somewhat more believably, others chalk it up to a “hockey culture” that drills players from a young age to keep things in-house and not promote themselves over team.

Canadians and Europeans already generally also lean toward a more modest approach than American counterparts. Given the NHL is largely comprised of Canadians and Europeans, it wouldn’t surprise this Montreal native if this was playing into my perceptions. 

That said, all this modesty, trending toward aloofness and even unnecessary secrecy, hasn’t done the continent’s No. 4 major pro sport any favors growth-wise. It certainly hasn’t made things easier for the Kraken’s quest to form a lasting bond within the broader Seattle sports community.

Which is why the NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 1 represents a huge Kraken opportunity beyond playing outdoor hockey in a baseball stadium. If last spring’s playoffs introduced the team to a broader audience from an on-ice perspective, the Winter Classic provides an off-ice platform to reach more casual fans inside Seattle and beyond. 

And one place this opportunity will be reflected is in the “Road to the NHL Winter Classic” television docuseries airing on TNT and Max. It’s a four-part, inside look at the Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights, co-produced by Radan Films and NHL Productions, telling stories of both franchises and players before their New Year’s Day clash.

“We’re trying to show them unscripted,” executive producer Steve Stern of Radan Films told me this week. “We’re trying to sort of let people see a different side of them.”

Unscripted NHL players? I’m hooked. Especially unscripted Kraken players. Does coach Dave Hakstol ever smile? Can defenseman Will Borgen crack a joke? Actually, I’ve seen both with two-plus years of dressing room access. But fans ask me this sort of stuff all the time.

And that’s what the show endeavors to find out. It has senior NHL producer, Jason Katz, embedded with the Kraken full-time, along with a camera operator and sound engineer. They have behind-the-scenes access, including in the dressing room, with microphones on two players at any given time along with smaller Go-Pro cameras in strategic locations to capture what life with the Kraken is really like.

The docuseries is one of two produced annually by the NHL, the other being “Quest for the Stanley Cup” — which follows Cup finalists on their path toward and during the championship round.

“’Quest for the Cup’ is more just about the games and how teams go about preparation and playing during the most intense time in their sport,” Stern said. “Which is unusual, because no other sport actually allows that to the degree the NHL does certainly. To be in the locker rooms, when guys are either thrilled or incredibly disappointed is much different than what you usually see.

“This one is a little different because the guys are a little more relaxed during the regular season,” he added. “And the league itself is a little more open too in trying to show these guys as much as we can off the ice.”

I watched last week’s first episode on TNT, the on-demand version of which is now available on Max, featuring introductions to both teams with a focus on the debut of rookie defenseman Ryker Evans. My initial impression is that Evans is as limited in words on the show as he appears in person, though his parents, who I’ve interviewed before, come across as a hoot.

Kraken fourth-liner Devin Shore, previously on the show with the Edmonton Oilers, is particularly effusive trying to draw Evans out during a car dialogue scene about as natural as Asian giant hornets in a Washington apple orchard. But that’s the limited extent of scripted content.   

Hakstol, meanwhile, does have some of his engaging personality emerge.

Episode 2 airs Wednesday and is centered largely around Kraken goalie Joey Daccord as well as aforementioned defenseman Borgen as both go about some downtime in differing ways.

“Joey Daccord’s in the next one and we like to say, ‘Guys get it’ — well, he gets it,” Stern said. “I mean, he’s a real playful, funny guy. He knows what we’re trying to do and he’s very helpful around it.” 

Stern said the Kraken have been very helpful trying to make the show work. 

That doesn’t surprise me. I’ve found Kraken players, once you get them talking, rarely are standoffish or difficult. It’s getting them away from “hockey speak” clichéd answers — opening up and being themselves — that takes effort.

Anyhow, if I’m still wondering what some of these guys are really like, I can only imagine what fans with lesser access might be thinking. In that regard, this show can be educational. And helpful to the Kraken.

I’m thinking that, with this entire ROOT Sports “cord cutting” debacle now unfolding and imploding, the Kraken in whatever their next TV deal looks like should incorporate something akin to this show. Forget staged interviews. Go with reality TV game-by-game.

Oh, sure, Hakstol and general manager Ron Francis will just love that. But hey, the NHL isn’t the NFL so why pretend otherwise? Wasn’t too long ago many NHL players were working second jobs.

That today’s millionaire players no longer worry about life after hockey is owed in large part to greater exposure. To shun further growth for their No. 4 sport is ridiculous.

As Stern mentioned, the league itself is conscious of that — which is why it allows such access for shows such as his. The problem is the NHL also allows individual clubs and hockey operations staff to dictate their own media policies and some can’t get out of their own way.

The Kraken need as many people following them as possible. This TNT show is a start. If they can continue it in some local form, while championing an “all access” approach as a general policy when they aren’t playing in a Winter Classic, they’ll be better off for it much quicker.