DALLAS — “Should I take off my shoes?”
It’s the first thing that comes to mind after ringing the doorbell at the Hanzal residence. I notice a pair of shoes by the front door, and through a glass door I can see two other pairs in the foyer.
As Martin Hanzal opens the door, he says hello and answers my first question.
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“Go ahead and take ’em off,” Hanzal said. “It’s the European thing to do. I guess that’s why we do it.”
Shoes checked at the door, we head to the Hanzals’ living room, which connects to an open-concept kitchen. There’s a big sliding-glass door that overlooks a backyard with a pool and a concrete play area, featuring a pair of hockey nets and a basketball hoop.
Hanzal wants a bigger backyard for his kids. Back in the Czech Republic his yard is big enough to house a tennis court and a big barbecue area while leaving ample room for the kids to run. But finding a home with that type of backyard space in this area, University Park, where most of the Stars players with families live, is nearly impossible.
On the television across from sliding door, Stars play-by-play announcer Josh Bogorad and color analyst Darryl Reaugh are leading into the game against the Detroit Red Wings. It’s a mid-afternoon game and the Stars are kicking off a six-game road trip that will take them to six cities over 11 days.
Hanzal has been left behind and is watching this trip from the couch in his living room.
“Anything to drink? Beer?” Hanzal asks from the kitchen as the game is about to start.
Sure.
Hanzal passes me a Pilsner Urquell. It’s a Czech beer that was first brewed in 1842 and is considered the world’s first blonde or pale lager. Hanzal claims it’s better than anything he’s found in the United States, and luckily they sell it at the Whole Foods around the corner.
Beers opened and game underway, we settle in to watch the game in an all-too-familiar place for Hanzal.
“It’s frustrating. It’s happened a lot in my career, I’ve been hurt a lot,” Hanzal says as Jason Dickinson takes the opening faceoff against Luke Glendening. “When you’re home sitting and watching the game it’s tough. It’s probably the toughest and hardest part. You can’t help your teammates and you are just watching.”
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Back in March, Hanzal had the third back surgery of his career. He calls this the toughest injury of his career. He has needed quite a bit of time to recover; his first two surgeries were discectomy — the removal of an abnormal disc material — and Hanzal felt good after two months.
This surgery was a spinal fusion, essentially merging two vertebrae together, and seven months have passed since Hanzal played a game. He’s been skating and progressing, but that seven-month timespan is a daunting figure, and he’s still at least a month away from being able to play again.
This road trip is particularly frustrating for Hanzal. He’s going to be alone at the practice facility skating each day, working out by himself, and on game days, watching the team on television. He’s part of the team, but he’s on his own island.
He watches games closely. He listens in on video meetings, doing his best to understand and figure out Jim Montgomery’s system as a spectator. But Hanzal still has no idea how his new coach is on the bench or how he acts during an intermission.
“The guys say he’s great during a game. They say he corrects mistakes as they happen, he doesn’t wait or make you wonder what you did wrong. And he does it for everybody. No matter what level of player, he just wants guys to be better,” Hanzal said. “And I believe them. But it would be nice to be able to answer that question without having to tell you what others said.”
This is an injury that very well could have ended Hanzal’s career. For much of last season, he was dealing with consistent pain that started ramping up around Christmas. In a game in Anaheim on Feb. 21 he took seven shifts, had to leave the game and was done for the season.
“During the game I started feeling some extra pain and my leg kind of gave up and shut down, I couldn’t feel my leg anymore,” Hanzal said. “I just couldn’t skate anymore. That was the turning point. I was like, O.K., I can’t play on one leg. I knew right away and it was middle of the game and I said, ‘I can’t take it anymore.'”
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As he prepared for surgery, Hanzal thought about whether this injury could end his career. Henrik Zetterberg’s career ended after last season because of a similar issue. Hanzal asked the doctors multiple times how this would impact his long-term health, and whether a hit or fall would easily set him back.
“They said once it’s healed I’ll be in good shape,” Hanzal said. “Zetterberg’s career is over, but I’m fighting to keep mine alive right now.”
Hanzal just started feeling more comfortable about three weeks ago. He feels looser. He’s comfortable taking shots, working faceoffs in a controlled situation.
“We’ll see when I start hitting and getting cross checks in front of the net,” Hanzal said. “That’s what kind of scares me right now. I haven’t played a game in seven months. The contact in the faceoffs and the front of the net, that’s unexpected, right? So that’s why right now I wouldn’t feel comfortable playing games, because it would probably still hurt. But they are saying it should be ok now. It’s fused and should be solid as a rock.”
Hanzal will skate with Stars Player Coordinator Stan Tugolukov while the team is out of town. Sunday was supposed to be a day away from Tugolukov, but their sons play for the same team and on Sunday morning Hanzal’s 7-year-old son, also named Martin, had a game in Euless.
“Every day I see Stan,” Hanzal said. “Even on days when I don’t want to see him, I see him.”
Watching his son play on Sunday was one of the few benefits of not traveling with the team at this point. Hanzal sits in the corner of the stands when the younger Martin plays and tries his best to avoid any crowds with his 6-foot-6, 230-pound frame — not because he’s an NHL player, but because it’s how he can best remind himself that his son is only seven, and for him, hockey is all about having fun.
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Our conversation turns to a tough subject: Hanzal’s propensity to injury. He blames the physical nature of his style of play, saying it’s both a blessing and a curse. His work in front of the net, in both ends, as a defensive-minded center is both the reason his body has broken down and the reason he continues to collect an NHL paycheck.
“I was always a really offensive player, like a playmaker,” Hanzal said. “Even when I went to Red Deer one year in the WHL, I was a really offensive player. I wasn’t the defensive forward that I am now. Even my first year in Phoenix I was playing offensively. At the end of my first or second year, they said, ‘Ok, he’s a big guy, he can play tough. That’s kind of put him a third-line, second-line role, play him against the other team’s top players.’ That’s when it all turned.”
You can thank or blame the Great One. Seriously, Wayne Gretzky was the coach in Phoenix when Hanzal was re-cast into the role he’s played for more than a decade.
“He was good, but we didn’t use as much video as we use now,” Hanzal said. “Sometimes we didn’t have a video at all before the game. It was just a couple-minute talk and then, ‘Let’s go!'”
I’m guessing Gretzky didn’t use much video as a player either.
“Yeah, he knew everything on the ice when he played,” Hanzal said. “He didn’t need video.”
After spending a decade in Arizona the Hanzal family feels at home in Dallas. The weather is slightly different, but Hanzal sees similarities in the market and heard great things about the city before signing as a free agent in 2017.
“I reached out to Ales Hemsky,” Hanzal said. “I asked him how it was here, and he couldn’t say one bad thing about Dallas. He was really happy when he played here. Then I reached out to Radek Dvorak because we are from the same hometown and he said it’s awesome. When I had to make a choice it was pretty simple, it was set for Dallas.”
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Hanzal is part of a small Czech contingent in Dallas with Radek Faksa and Roman Polak. On the TV, we see Faksa win a faceoff clean, and Hanzal starts to discuss the younger Czech center.
“We are very similar players, the way he works hard. On the penalty kill, he’s very responsible. You can put him there two minutes before the game for the faceoffs. Every penalty kill against every top line and he won’t disappoint you,” Hanzal said. “That’s very much my eight, nine years in the NHL I played this role. So I know there is a lot of pressure on you, because every game he played against the top players and it’s hard. Sometimes people don’t see it. They look at the points, goals, and plus/minus. but they don’t see the dirty work he is doing.”
Faksa did get some Selke Trophy votes last season.
“That’s awesome,” Hanzal said. “What I had was the same as Radek. And I don’t want to say it, but we were underrated. But I always fly under the radar. I never had 60, 70, 80 points, I only had one 20-goal season. I see the same thing for him.”
The market probably doesn’t help either. Playing in Dallas or Arizona won’t get a player the same attention he’d receive as a shutdown forward in a Canadian market or the Northeastern United States.
“Exactly. If you don’t understand hockey and just follow the points and the wins. And if you say this guy has only 10 points like Esa (Lindell),” Hanzal says while motioning toward the TV. “But if you understand hockey and you know what he does on the penalty kill and every shift. He plays physical and he’s so valuable for your team.”
“He’s hard to play against,” Hanzal says about Lindell. “In practice, I remember last year, you couldn’t beat him one-on-one pretty much. He’s right on you. He’s strong, that’s a player you need. You just don’t need six (Erik) Karlsson’s on your team. You need an Esa or a Marc (Methot).”
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We’re interrupted as the Red Wings appear to take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Anthony Mantha. In real time it looks like the Red Wings forward kicked the puck to his stick. When the overhead replay shows the goal, it’s clear the puck never touched his stick and went straight from the foot into the net.
“It’s a quick review, so it should be good,” Hanzal says as the referee is about to reveal he is indeed correct that it was a kick.
In watching the replay we start to discuss Miro Heiskanen’s play on the disallowed goal. Yes, the puck went into the net, but Heiskanen lifted Mantha’s stick at the right moment and stopped the Red Wings forward from getting a stick on the play.
“Great play by him to just block the stick,” Hanzal said. “I think he’s going to be an unbelievable player. Even now he’s one of the best players. He kind of reminds me of (Niklas) Lidstrom. Because he skates well, he’s got great vision. Smart player that supports the offense. I think he’s going to be like Lidstrom.
Hanzal is equally impressed with Heiskanen as a human being. European teenagers in their first season in North America are supposed to go through growing pains. It’s supposed to happen to everyone, but it typically manifests in a junior league, like Hanzal played in during the 2005-06 season.
“I remember my first month I was just crying,” said Hanzal, who appeared in the USHL as an Omaha Lancer. “I didn’t understand anybody, right. So it’s tough. First time without your parents. I think every hockey player has to get through this. First month is always the toughest part. After that you start to understand a little bit, about the culture, the food.”
We start to discuss Hanzal’s friendship with Polak. Hanzal is halfway through a story about them playing together on the Czech under-17 national team when Gemel Smith screams across the television and gives the Stars a 1-0 lead.
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“Ooh, nice goal,” Hanzal said. “Hopefully it wasn’t offside. Did the other guy lift his leg?”
They show the review on the TV.
“That should be OK,” Hanzal said. “That’s a goal, that’s good. Good for Smitty.”
As the first period comes to an end, our talk turns to fatherhood. This a fresh subject in my mind, as while I’m watching hockey on this Sunday afternoon with Hanzal, my wife is back home watching our nearly-four-month-old daughter.
I ask when an appropriate time would be to teach my daughter, Evangeline, to skate.
“I think my son, he was two-and-half,” Hanzal said. “It was probably a little bit too early. But he was watching the games and he was watching me skate, and he loved it. So we put him on the ice and he loves it.”
The younger Martin and his three-year-old sister Natalie are among the main reasons their father is continuing to battle back, attempting to resurrect his NHL career.
“That’s awesome; I love that the older one now actually understands when he goes to the game,” Hanzal said. “The other day he asked me how come I’m not playing? ‘I’m hurt, I’ve got to get better and get back in shape so I can be with the team.’ He says, ‘Well, when is that going to be?'”
“Hopefully, soon,” Hanzal says. But that isn’t going to stop his son from asking every time there is a Stars game without a Hanzal in the lineup.
“I want to prove I can come back and be strong again and play in this league so my kids can watch it and remember it,” Hanzal said. “That’s one of the things that has been pushing me ahead.”
Hanzal didn’t grow up in a hockey household back in the Czech Republic. If anything, it was a table tennis house — his mother played the sport professionally for a short time.
“My dad never played hockey, his dad never played,” Hanzal said. “But he put me and my brother in hockey and soccer. It’s interesting because my dad never played, they didn’t have the money back then. It was too expensive. I’m thankful (he) gave me that chance.”
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Hockey became Hanzal’s passion as a child. He collected cards from players in the Czech league and traded them with his brother. He wanted to see himself on a trading card someday. His only exposure to the NHL as a child was through a VHS tape about someone that would become his future NHL coach.
“We didn’t have much money so we had one tape, I think it was called, ‘The Great One: Gretzky,'” Hanzal said. “I was watching it every week. It was the only thing I saw from the NHL. We didn’t have cable or anything. I think the first time I watched an NHL game was when I was 14 or 15.”
The second period begins. Our discussion turns to the 1998 Nagano Olympics, where the Czech Republic won the gold medal in the first Olympics that NHL players participated in.
“I think for such a small country, like Czech Republic, it won’t ever happen again,” Hanzal said. “If the NHL players go back, we won’t have a chance anymore. I’m not saying that to be negative, but that was unique and I know that.”
Dominik Hasek was also unique.
“That helped,” Hanzal says with a laugh. “I remember in Nagano he was standing on his head every game.”
Dallas forces a turnover and Smith has a scoring chance. I ask Hanzal what he thinks of the system the Stars are trying to play under Montgomery.
“It’s good, I think it’s really offensive, but at the same time like when I look at the Toronto, they are just ‘go, go, go.’ So much skill on their team that they can score five, six goals every game and allow three or four,” Hanzal said. “In our way, I see we want to play offensively and aggressively style. But at the same time, we still want to be really hard to play against. Or at least we are trying to be the way that we are hard to play against.”
Hanzal starts to make observations about the game in front of us. How the Stars are supposed to put pressure on the puck carrier right away, how much higher the forwards are in the zone and pressuring point men, and how on the penalty kill, the top forward has more free rein to pressure the puck.
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“He doesn’t want to be just passive, like skate back and wait for them to come at us,” Hanzal said. “Be one step ahead. He wants us to kill their offense before they get to the blue line or red line, that’s how I see it. Every team has their breakouts, right? And if you can take away and disrupt those lanes earlier, it makes things harder for them.”
Hanzal is in his element when talking about the penalty kill. He’s also in his element when discussing faceoffs. The big center won 55.1 percent of his faceoffs last season when healthy and has won 52.1 percent in his career.
There is an offensive zone draw in left faceoff circle as Hanzal starts to explain his approach.
“First of all we always have some kind of set play,” Hanzal said. “Then the first thing, I look who I play against. See if I play against left-handed or right-handed, you have to adjust that. And understand how you played and how you want to win. Then you look at if you’re playing in the D-zone faceoff or offensive zone faceoff. Obviously, in the D-zone, you’re going there to make sure win it or tie it up so it’s a tie, so your defenseman can pick it up. In the D-zone you play it more not to lose so they can’t get a one-timer right away.”
“So there is more pressure on you when you take the defensive zone faceoff or really on the power play in the offensive zone, you have to win it so they don’t get the puck and kill 30 seconds right away,” Hanzal added.
We start getting deeper into the weeds when it comes to faceoffs and Hanzal’s approach. He watches video on each center before each game and points out a couple tendencies of Detroit players on the television. For example, Hanzal is left-handed and prefers facing centers who are righties.
When we talk about faceoffs and players taking them on their strong side, Hanzal explains why that approach is beneficial. It has everything to do with the linesman, who is positioned on the side closest to the boards when dropping the puck.
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“It’s huge actually, most of the centerman are stronger on their backhand,” Hanzal said. “And if the ref is standing on your left side (for a lefty), then he’s not in your way. So you can use your feet and trying to use your power and strength against the other guy’s stick.”
Hanzal motions to the TV.
“When the regular fan is watching this and they hear (the broadcaster) say he’s taking the faceoff on his strong side, they have no idea,” Hanzal said. “And sometimes the weak side can be an advantage. Let’s say I’m playing against a right-handed center on my weak side (the right side), the ref is in his way, too. So it’s not as hard to play against a right-handed center in that case. But if I’m lefty vs. lefty on my weak side, that’s always the toughest spot.”
Montgomery has made faceoffs part of his process, a checklist he wants the Stars to complete every game. Each game Montgomery wants the Stars to win 56 percent of the draws, and Hanzal pointed out how deep the Stars are when it comes to faceoffs.
“I think it’s designed in the lineup that we always have two guys that can win (faceoffs) on the ice,” Hanzal said while watching a defensive draw on the TV. “Like you can see here where Smitty took the faceoff. He didn’t lose it clean. He lost it, but he lost it in a way and tied it up so that we could get out of the zone. That’s huge.”
I mention how Montgomery doesn’t use traditional faceoff stats, instead looking at how the play develops five seconds after the draw.
“I like that, that’s smart,” Hanzal said. “On this play, the guys up top probably put it for Detroit. But we actually ended up in a better spot and that’s a win in my mind.”
Learning to cheat is also an art in the faceoff circle. Getting an extra jump or advantage to bend the rules separates a good faceoff specialist from a great one according to Hanzal.
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“And I think that’s why they keep changing the rules,” Hanzal said. “Now they are really strict about the feet on the lines. I think it’s good, but it’s an advantage for the other guy. Like here, Radek has to put his stick down first and the other guy can try to cheat and come down quicker. He almost forces the referee to drop the puck and he’s already in the motion and has a head start.”
“If you find the little extra inch or timing, that helps,” Hanzal said. “The other thing I like to point out, the top guys like (Sidney) Crosby and (Evgeni) Malkin, I think they get away with the cheating too. The refs, I feel like they can give them a little extra.”
During our faceoff discussion, the rest of the Hanzal family has returned home from a local celebration for the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s independence. The former nation peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993 but both sides came together to celebrate a century of independence on Sunday.
Hanzal steps away from the game for a minute to help carry a dollhouse outside for Natalie, while his wife Lenka offers me a Kolache that she purchased at the celebration.
I accept and Lenka passes me a plate with three kolaches. The professional athlete in the room declines; he’s trying to stay in shape and is not going to eat a kolache and drink a beer on the same day.
Hanzal is an avid jersey collector and during the second intermission, he shows me his collection, which features close to 40 signed authentic jerseys. In most cases, Hanzal tries to buy the real thing directly from the other team’s equipment manager and then gets it signed. When that approach fails, he goes to eBay.
Typically it’s a pretty clean exchange. However, there are times asking another player for an autograph doesn’t work so well after a game. When Hanzal was trying to get Crosby’s autograph the first time, he was turned down since he had gotten the Pittsburgh center with a high stick during the game.
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“I had to wait a long time to get it then, we only play Pittsburgh twice a year,” Hanzal said. “The next time he signed it before the game, that morning, and said, ‘Don’t get me in the face with the stick this time.'”
Hanzal also brings out his collection of his cards. Hanzal owns every NHL trading card he’s even been featured on and also has cards dating back to his time in the Czech league, with the lone exception being his time in the WHL with Red Deer, which he’s still looking for.
“I find them on eBay,” Hanzal said. “I really like these one that are numbered or limited, like this one. Some of these cards with the jersey pieces attached, they go for like $400.”
That’s right. The person outbidding you for a Martin Hanzal card on eBay is likely Martin Hanzal.
Our attention returns to the game as the third period begins with the teams tied at one.
“Ok, let’s go,” Hanzal says as the puck drops. “It’s gonna be a tight one.”
I bite into the second kolache.
There is less conversation during the third period. Hanzal has dialed into the game more, but starts offering the occasional comment about certain players, starting with Ben Bishop.
“He’s been real good, we need to talk more in the defensive zone, at least we really needed to last year,” Hanzal said. “He’s doing it more and makes up for that sometimes. We have to help him more.”
Dickinson wins a defensive battle and carries the puck out of the zone. Hanzal motions toward the TV.
“Monty trusts him more now,” Hanzal said. “And he wants to show him, like ‘I trust you, now show me what you got and just play as good as you can.’ And I think now (Dickinson) has the confidence to know how to play to earn his spot. He’s playing really well right now.”
Blake Comeau gets the next compliment.
“I really like him, he works hard and you can play him anywhere,” Hanzal said. “He’s tough to play against. Look, he can really make a difference in this type of situation.”
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The broadcast mentions that this is Jason Spezza’s 999th career game and he’ll hit 1,000 next game.
“That’s really hard to do, 1,000 games,” Hanzal said. “It’s even more impressive when you think about how it’s become harder and harder to do it. Guys can really play in the league at 18 right now, so guys are getting pushed out sooner and sooner.”
Detroit’s second goal, which takes a weird bounce off the boards and leads to a near empty-net goal leads a conversation about where the Zamboni door should be placed on a rink. If it’s immediately behind the net it’s not in a position to create a weird bounce that leads to Tyler Bertuzzi’s goal.
“If that decides the hockey game, that’s stupid,” Hanzal said.
The conversation switches back to family, as a friend who also attended the Czechoslovakian celebration comes into the house to grab an apple and then quickly retreats to the backyard.
Martin and Lenka met when they were 17 in the Czech Republic. She was a cheerleader for another team and met Martin at a game. They’ve been together ever since. In the early part of Hanzal’s career, Lenka would split time between the Czech Republic and Arizona as she finished up law school back home.
Once Lenka finished school she moved to Arizona full-time and the two started a family. At home they speak Czech, while the kids speak English at school. Hanzal thinks it’s a good mix, as their children get to see multiple cultures.
“It’s awesome for kids, because they are so smart when they are young, they can pick up two languages so fast,” Hanzal said.
The Red Wings have since scored to make it 3-1 and we start discussing another player missing from the lineup — Alexander Radulov, who missed his fourth straight game on Sunday with a lower-body injury.
“When the game starts and he’s just a different person, just focused solely — every shift he does everything 100 percent,” Hanzal said. “He’s fun to watch. Even in the press box, he’s laughing and excited when we score. It’s fun to watch him watch a game.”
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I mention Radulov’s love of the backhand shot.
“I think he’s got one of the best backhands in the league,” Hanzal said. “Like his passes. I was skating with him the other day and he was cross-passing from one end of the ice to the other zone on the backhand. Right on my stick. It was unreal.”
“I think Jamie and Tyler are missing him right now,” Hanzal said. “That line with him is the best in the league. It’s very good without him, but with him, it’s better than any other line in my view.”
The Stars end up cutting the deficit to 3-2 with 37 seconds remaining after a goal by Faksa after pulling Ben Bishop for an extra attacker, but they can’t complete the comeback. The Red Wings score into the empty net.
These are the moments that hurt most for Hanzal; the tough losses in which he feels like he could have done something to help the team.
After returning my kolache plate to the kitchen and retrieving my shoes, I head out. Hanzal asks when I’m flying out for the Stars’ current road trip, and I let him know I’ll catch the final three games, starting with the game in Washington against the Capitals.
“Wish I could be there,” Hanzal said. And then he closed the door.