Checking in with Nick Holden

Nick Holden is never late for the bus on the road. But it's a wonder. The big defenseman from Alberta is always busy after games, home and away. Holden, it would seem, from the lineup of players who want to catch up after games is one of the most popular guys in the NHL.

It's a tradition in the NHL for players on opposing teams who were once teammates to hang around in the hall between dressing rooms after games to say hi to one another. Players from the opposition will quietly approach an equipment manager or athletic therapist and whisper "Can you tell (insert player nickname here) that (insert player nickname here) is in the hall?"

For instance, when the Golden Knights play the Penguins there is a lineup of players waiting for Marc-Andre Fleury to emerge from the dressing room. Russian guys wait for Russian guys. Swedes for Swedes. And so on and so on. Nationality, however, doesn't factor in with Holden. Everyone wants to see Nick.

Holden has had stints with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Golden Knights. The 32-year-old signed a two-year contract extension with Vegas during this season. Along with his wife Angela and their four children, Holden has stayed in Las Vegas throughout the social distancing period.

Here's Nick Holden in his own words:

Gary Lawless:How are you staying in shape?
Nick Holden:Over my career I've been able to collect gym equipment, so I've got an elliptical, a stationary bike, some dumbbells, and I borrowed a bench and some medicine balls from Doug Davidson our trainer. I've been getting a little program from him and working out in my garage.

GL:How do you feel?
NH:I feel pretty good. It's always nice to get a good sweat in the morning and then with the weather being so nice try and get outside in the afternoon.

GL:It may be a while before you're able to get on the ice again. In your experience, how long do you think it'll take you before you're back to 100 percent?
NH:That's such a hard question to answer because say in the summer you take a month or two off and then you start skating again a couple times a week, you're able to ease yourself back into it. You're not straightaway five or six days a week trying to get ready for the playoff push at that intensity. I'd say after a week of practice and stuff like that at a good pace you'd feel pretty comfortable on the ice just with conditioning and all of that kind of stuff. I couldn't tell you 100 percent.

GL:How are you helping out with the family right now?
NH:With the kids in the morning we're doing homeschool. The schools have been telling us what they want the kids to be doing, so we're both dividing and conquering. We've got grade three, kindergarten and a preschool that we're trying to get their stuff in. Some days I'm teaching grade three math and helping with that and other days I'm coloring. When you're at home with not much to do, we're just trying to stay busy. Most of the time it's just, you've got this, I'll take this, and what are we doing to keep the kids busy. That's most of the days.

GL:Jonathan Marchessault said to me that he and his wife have needed to take an hour nap when they put the kids to bed before they can even think about doing something for themselves.
NH:His kids are a little bit younger. Our oldest is eight and he's the oldest kid on the team. We're fortunate that throughout the day there's a little bit more independence. The other kids just follow Parker, whether it's going outside to play or staying inside. They can all play on their own and we don't have to give full attention to them. That gives us a little bit of an advantage there. Paul Stastny asked me last week, "Are you guys going to bed at 9 p.m.? Because I am exhausted." And I said I'm actually staying up later than when I'm playing. Usually I'm asleep in bed by 10 or 10:30 when I'm playing, but right now I seem to be watching some sort of movie or TV show until 11 or 11:30. It's actually having the reverse effect on me.

GL:Who's the best dancer in the Holden household?
NH:I guess I'd have to say what type of dancing is it? If it's freestyle do whatever you want, it's got to be me or my oldest guy Parker. If it's somewhat controlled or say two-stepping country dancing I'd have to go with my wife, Angela. She's a pretty good dancer. She grew up dancing so I'd hope she's good at it.

GL:What would your father, John Holden, say to that answer?
NH:Oh I don't know, I learned all my moves from him. If I said I was the best he would probably say he was better because he taught me everything, all of the dance moves I know.

GL:How much are you missing your extended family?
NH:My sister and her kids and my parents were coming down and they had to cancel their trip. Ang's mom and dad were coming down and they had to cancel. We always enjoy when family comes down to visit, especially because of the kids. They grow really fast so when they're only seeing them on FaceTime it's nice to have some personal interaction. That's been probably one of the most challenging parts, but fortunately for technology and FaceTime we're able to talk to both sets of parents and siblings almost every day. We're trying to keep each other interlocked and engaged with each other with our families and family time.

GL:f you're cooking all the meals for a day what does the menu look like? And you have to be able to complete these recipes by yourself.
NH: I like to cook. My breakfast would be probably be oatmeal and I'd cook up some scrambled eggs for the kids, mix in some fruit, their choice but they've got to have some fruit. Lunch we would do some sandwiches. We like having some sandwiches. It'd probably just be something simple, ham and turkey on some bread and I'd hit them with some more fruit. We've got to have more fruit. Suppertime, I'll do something simple. I'll go noodles and sauce, which is just pasta noodle and meat sauce where you throw some ground beef in a pan and throw some Ragu sauce in there and call it good.

GL:You've got to step up your game a little bit. Now the neighbors are coming over and you've got to cook something special. What's Chef Nick's top shelf specialty?
NH:My top, top shelf, this is my favorite meal, steak and potatoes. I'd cook up the steak and the potatoes are oven roasted potatoes. You cut them up and then you cut carrots and onions and you put them in a tin foil wrap. Those are all mixed in together and then you just make a salad, gets some mixed greens in there and cucumber and whatever other veggies and call it good. If the people don't like it then they don't have to eat it.

GL:Which of your teammates do you miss the most?
NH:The guy that I hang out the most with would probably be Deryk Engelland. I'd say Engo, but we have a pretty close group. I just miss being in the room joking with everybody. Engo if I had to choose one, but in the room too with just the big group setting that I miss the most.

GL:What are you reading to your kids and do you do it in any voices or actions to go along with the story?
NH:I don't usually do too many actions, but there's a big variety of books. We don't have just one book that the kids are in love with or read every night. I wouldn't be able to tell you an exact book, but lately the kids have been on a kick of me just making up a story. So I'll start the story off with "Once upon a time there was…" and then I'll stop and ask who the main character is and we'll start making up a story and I'll ask the kids for little details. When I make up some stories sometimes I'll get some arms flailing and body jumping around but when I'm just reading a book there's maybe voices but not any actions to them.

GL:What are the positives to take away from this time?
NH:For me, the biggest thing would be the family time that I've been able to have. Obviously during the season, we're gone quite a bit. I'm at a point in my kids' lives right now where they're at such a cool age learning nonstop. It's cool that I've been around all day every day. It's funny too, you see the perspective almost from how my wife sees it. She's around our kids all day and every day. Before I'd wonder why she'd get so mad at them, now I ask "How are you not killing these guys?"

GL:What have you broken since this started?
NH:I think I'm actually doing okay because I'm a guy that actually breaks quite a bit of stuff, but can't think of anything that I've broken. I've actually maybe done a few jobs around the house and improved things instead of destruct.

GL:What DIY jobs have you done?
NH:The biggest thing for me right now is we're trying to reorganize our garage. My wife likes to decorate for every occasion so I have tons of boxes and bins to figure out where to store. The other day I hung some stuff from one of those racks off the roof. We had moved into a new house so just trying to finish projects and little things. Hanging shelves, pictures and stuff like that.

GL:What is the earliest time of day you've had a drink since this started?
NH:I don't think that's fair because we're in Vegas and it's hot at 11 in the morning. Now that we have a pool available, there has been a couple weekends where noon or 1 rolls around with lunch and me or my wife are having a White Claw or Budweiser by the pool.

GL:Have you considered the amount of uncertainty in professional sports?
NH:I haven't put a ton of thought into it. Something I try to do, and learned early on in my career, is enjoy where you're at in the moment and worry about what you can control. I can't control what is going on. I'm training so that I'm ready when and if things get going again. Besides that, I'm just trying to have the best time I can with my kids and my wife. Sometimes when you're on a Players Association call it'll come up, when things are going to get going or what you think. I'm not one for guessing so I haven't really put a ton of thought into it.

GL:What would a Stanley Cup mean during this season? Max Pacioretty called it one of the hardest to win, while Drew Doughty feels it will lack legitimacy.
NH:I do agree with Pacioretty because every team, for the most part, is going to have every player healthy and everybody available at full speed and fully energized. But I also agree with Doughty. I don't know if I'd say it's not the real Stanley Cup, I think there is something to be said about having to get through an 82-game schedule and mentally having to elevate your game again come playoff time. I'd definitely say I'm in the middle on that.

GL:What excites you the most about getting back to hockey?
NH:The thing that excites me the most, I miss being around the guys in the room. I love that side of hockey. This year, with this team, the excitement that we can do some damage if the playoffs get going. That is my excitement, to see what this team is capable of doing. If we can achieve what we all believe we can. Getting back around the guys in that dressing room is what I'm looking the most forward to.

GL:What do you typically not enjoy that you'd be happy to do again?
NH:You have to go with a bag skate. If anybody tells you that they like bag skating, they're lying to you. That is probably the one thing everybody is dreading when the coach blows his whistle and says get to the line. I think right now, everybody would be loving the opportunity to even just get on the ice and get to the line.

GL:If social distancing ended tomorrow, what would you want to do?
NH:Get my kids back to school. Then probably go to Home Depot and buy some stuff to do some other projects. There is something about just walking around the store that just makes me feel good. Go cruise to Home Depot for a couple hours.

GL:What is your favorite tool?
NH:I think I'm going to go with a hammer. It's good multi-purpose, you can do a lot with a hammer and make-shift a lot of stuff with it.

GL:What would be your message to fans?
NH:Biggest thing for everybody is just to stay healthy. Hockey will be back at some point. Let's make sure that everyone is here and healthy to come and enjoy it. Take care of each other and support each other.

GL:Who is the best to text and FaceTime with on the team?
NH:Both of those are going to go to Marchy. When you see his name pop up on a message, you think this is going to be good. The unpredictability of him on a FaceTime call just makes for an interesting time.