HALIBURTON, Ont. — The wind whirls past Jay Woodcroft’s head as he grabs the brim of his grey ballcap. He smiles and advises his co-pilot to do the same. One hand clenched on the steering wheel as he readjusts, Woodcroft overlooks Grass Lake on the most picturesque summer day.
This isn’t really the hold-onto-your-hat kind of afternoon, but the wind always seems more forceful when zipping across the water in a motorboat. So, Woodcroft, at the controls at the starboard side of his sparkling blue fishing boat with a 150-horsepower outboard motor, couldn’t care less. There’s hardly another vessel around on this late July weekday. He’s at peace. This is where he’s happiest.
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“This is the best place in the world,” he says.
There’s a reason Woodcroft and his wife, Jaclynn, choose this place when they were looking for a summer home to call their own in 2010. Woodcroft grew up in Don Mills, Ont., now amalgamated with Toronto, so Ontario cottage country was always a desired location to spend downtime in the offseason. They looked around the region in places like Muskoka and Parry Sound. But it was Haliburton that offered the perfect combination of great fishing and privacy and relaxation to create memories for their now-8-year-old twin girls.
It also presented the ideal mixture of detachment from and focus on hockey.
“The big thing is that going to Halliburton is a mindset for me,” Woodcroft says. “It means that it’s time to refresh and renew. And it’s a time to review. It’s a review time for the year that occurred and to try to find ways to get better.”
Woodcroft enters his first full season as coach of the Oilers, a team he was partially responsible for revamping upon being promoted from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors in February. The Oilers went 26-9-3 for a .724 points percentage in 38 games, a 119-point pace, and then reached the Western Conference finals. It was the longest playoff run for the team in 16 years.
The expectations are even higher now. Woodcroft, rewarded with a three-year contract extension for his work last season, is the man at the controls again.
Through the way he uses his summer to unwind and prepare for the season ahead, Woodcroft feels ready to take the Oilers to the next level.
Before the boat hits the water, Woodcroft needs some fuel. He sits down for lunch at McKeck’s Tap and Grill, a pub once owned by former NHLer Walt McKechnie.
Over an appetizer of hot wings and a main course of a burger and fries, Woodcroft is eager to chat about hockey and life.
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The conversation flows naturally, mainly because Woodcroft asks more of the questions whether that’s about upcoming summer plans or opinions about the Flames’ revamped roster. It’s not just to make small talk, either. He’s more interested in the potential of learning something new from someone else than he is in hearing his own voice.
“How you get better is through your work or study — and so that goes back to that process,” Woodcroft says. “And it’s not just hockey related.
“It can be reading a book that makes you think a little bit differently. It could be listening to a podcast that opens up a channel of thought in your brain that might not have been there before. It could be the work you do on a computer, video-wise to recognize patterns in your team game or recognize patterns of what’s having success in the National Hockey League. Or it can be studying numbers and analytics and trying to find patterns that way.
“So, to me, that’s how you get better.”
Woodcroft seldom misses an opportunity for enlightenment.
He’s a voracious reader. The three books he read from the end of the season to the end of July were “The Eye Test: A Case for Human Creativity in the Age of Analytics,” “In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of its Survivors” and “King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero.” That’s quite the range.
He makes it a point to speak to what he calls “learned people” in hockey and away from sports altogether. Speaking to business leaders about their process and their changing industries was an emphasis after the Oilers were eliminated from the playoffs.
“There’s a lot of cross parallels amongst successful people,” Woodcroft says. “You can draw inspiration from a lot of different sources. Learned people got that way for a reason. When they’re willing to share some of their experience, if you ask the right questions that you can apply it to your own situation.”
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Woodcroft is regarded as an effective and thoughtful communicator — polite, disarmingly funny yet direct.
As he leaves the restaurant, he holds the door open for a group of elderly people entering.
“C’mon in, love,” he says to the last straggler. “I’m going to start carding people soon.”
The group laughs and Woodcroft walks across the street to a coffee shop where he orders a cup of joe with a shot of cappuccino for an afternoon pick-me-up.
Next, it’s off to the A.J. LaRue Arena where jerseys and pictures of local legends McKechnie, Bernie Nicholls, Ron Stackhouse, Cody Hodgson and Matt Duchene adorn the lobby. There are beautifully painted murals of each player on the outside wall of the rink.
Woodcroft watches youth players from a hockey school do a couple drills for a few minutes. It reminds him of why he’s in this.
“I’m trying to strengthen the relationships with the players that are on our team,” he says. “I continue to do that throughout the summertime.”
Exhibit A in that regard is Warren Foegele.
Foegele’s first season in Edmonton after coming over from Carolina in a trade had more downs than ups. He killed penalties with the Hurricanes but never got that chance with the Oilers under former coach Dave Tippett. He played more right wing than left in Carolina but solely was used on the left side in Edmonton.
Woodcroft turned to players he knew from his Bakersfield days like Kailer Yamamoto and Ryan McLeod to fix an ailing penalty kill after his promotion. Foegele seemed to drop down the depth chart, so far to the point where he was scratched for three playoff games.
While in Ontario, Woodcroft visited Foegele after a training session at St. Andrew’s College in Aurora. The two sat and chatted over coffee.
Woodcroft explained to Foegele that he was going to try him out as a penalty killer, that he’d give him the opportunity to earn what he calls “privileged ice time.” Foegele would get a shot at right wing at training camp, too.
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“That meant a lot that Jay went out of his way to see me. He didn’t have to do that,” Foegele says. “That just speaks volumes of how he cares about each and every one of us.
“When you’re honest with someone else, you just want to prove them right or give them your best effort. You play for guys even harder when they’re honest with you, and that’s what Jay did for me. I want to prove him right and do what I can to help the team win.”
He’ll call or text players offering suggestions or making requests. To McLeod, it was something he’s harped on for years — to work on his shot and to continue going to the net with vigour.
“It’s nice to have a coach who communicates very well,” McLeod says. “You know what to expect and you know what he wants out of you. It makes my job a lot easier.”
Woodcroft has learned to communicate with players based on their needs, a result of having twins with very different personalities. It’s a fine line for the coach, especially in the offseason, but one he feels like he’s found a good balance.
“You want to give people your space. You don’t want people to feel suffocated,” he says. “But you also want them to know that you’re thinking about them, you’re touching base.
“Strengthening the bonds of the relationships that you do have with current players, I think it’s important, too.”
Woodcroft walks northwest to the corner of Highland and York streets and down a hill adjacent to a bustling farmer’s market. He finds his boat that he docked on the shore of Head Lake and is set to hit the water.
He steers his fishing craft to the west through a narrow, grassy channel, where he requires his passenger to sit atop a chair at the bow of the boat to keep an eye on logs and rocks. The bottom of the vessel must not be scratched, nor can debris be caught in the engine.
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The boat enters Grass Lake. As it speeds along, Woodcroft, hand on his ballcap, points to the spot where the fish were biting for him the previous weekend.
He hosts a fishing derby every summer and Woodcroft had the catch of the day, a 4.9-pound bass. He wasn’t the overall champion this year — that goes to the person was the most cumulative weight — but Woodcroft interjects before he can be questioned.
“I’ve won in the past,” he says, smiling. “It’s something that I love to do. It’s my release.”
Fishing was something Woodcroft barely did as a child. Boyhood family friends like Brendan Shanahan, Adam Graves and Mike Ricci spent their summers golfing and fishing, Woodcroft’s brother, Todd says, but money was tight in their household.
Instead, the Woodcroft boys — Jay, Todd and their oldest brother, Craig — worked at hockey schools in the summer to make extra cash and work on their craft.
Todd got his love for fly fishing later in life from former Minnesota Wild executive Doug Risebrough, his boss at the time. Jay became a self-taught bass fisherman after he bought his cottage.
“If we go bass fishing, he’ll take me to his spots,” Todd says. “But he’s trying to beat me for sure.”
The two Woodcrofts are arguably each other’s closest confidantes. They share ideas. They’re both well read and discuss anything from leadership books to movies. “Glengarry Glen Ross” is a mutual favourite. They’re also into Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann flicks.
Naturally, the best conversations are about hockey. Todd, a former NHL assistant coach, now runs the University of Vermont men’s team.
“If we’re on the water together, if we’re fishing, we’re actually talking when we’re fishing,” Todd says. “Most of the conversation would be about hockey or the game or something you learned. I’m asking him questions. He’s asking me questions. We’re trying to help each other, trying to push each other.”
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Woodcroft sees so many parallels between fishing and hockey, in terms of both the game and his coaching career — a journey that took him from NHL video coach to assistant to minor-league bench boss before he got the Oilers gig.
Anyone who’s ever listened to Woodcroft speak knows how much he values the process and respects others who’ve done the same. There’s something to be gained by following a sequential path, he feels. The same goes for fishing.
“It probably took me a solid summer before I learned how to catch fish on this lake system,” he says. “So, I had to learn it, but I couldn’t skip the stage. That’s where I learned about things. And not that I’m an expert fisherman in any way. But I do enjoy it and typically have some success.”
Both brothers believe there are aspects of fishing that make them better coaches.
Perseverance is a virtue on the water just as it is with getting messages through to players. Sometimes the first cast of the rod or explanation on a whiteboard doesn’t end in the desired result. Mindful persistence is the key.
“The presentation of what you’re offering is important,” Todd says. “Is your team going to bite what you’re selling? Do you have the patience and the endurance to do it when the water starts getting choppy, and now it starts getting rainy?
“For coaching, you’re doing the same things day after day after day after day. But success is being repetitive, finding the things that are the simplest. You’re most direct with your message — whether you’re presenting to fish or whether you’re presenting to your players.
“Can you do it consistently all the time? You’re looking for new ways to present things. But you’re really presenting the same bait.”
Woodcroft takes an even further analytical view.
“Sometimes, you’re required to be patient in order for the payoff,” he says when asked about the similarities between fishing and coaching. “There’s a lot of study that goes into being a good fisherman, learning what fish are biting on, learning where they’re at, and having a keen sense of how fish move and operate. So, understanding that there just because you caught some fish in a certain spot last year doesn’t mean you’ll get them the next year.
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“You have to pay attention and stay current with what is having success.”
After about 20 minutes, Grass Lake turns into Kashagawigamog Lake as the boat travels southwest. A grey cottage with a white-fenced side deck pokes through the trees, while a dock with a kayak and two blue Adirondack chairs are anchored along the shoreline.
This is home for Woodcroft — even if just for a few weeks each summer.
This summer was particularly short, which is a good thing for an NHL coach. Though his wife and daughters were in their offseason haven for six weeks, Woodcroft didn’t even get in a month’s worth of time.
The Oilers were playing hockey until early June, a pleasant change for this organization compared to years past. Woodcroft then needed to get his contract situation resolved, attend the draft in Montreal and development camp and the opening of free agency in Edmonton, and go back to Bakersfield, Calif., in August to complete the move north.
The summer was an exciting time for the Woodcroft family. Jaclynn is from Edmonton; Woodcroft met her at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, where he was a centre on the ice and she was a softball pitcher. The girls are aspiring soccer players, apparently getting the athletic genes from their mom.
Alberta’s capital is home to all sorts of relatives that they haven’t had a chance to see much for the better part of the last four years while living in Bakersfield. Jaclynn and the girls stayed there to finish out the school year after the Oilers called for Woodcroft in February.
“Everything happened very quickly. It was like a whirlwind,” he says. “I didn’t even get a chance to physically say goodbye to them because of how fast it happened. And then I didn’t get to see them a lot over the stretch run and playoff run. That was probably the hardest part for me personally.
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“My family is a source of energy.”
Woodcroft uses his summers to make up for lost time with his family. He goes on walks with Jaclynn. He takes the girls out on the water, whether it’s the motorboat, a kayak or a canoe.
That’s all for the daytime.
Woodcroft often rises with the sun and takes his computer out to the deck or gets comfortable on one of those blue dock chairs. On lousy weather days or at nighttime, he’s got a desk in the loft.
He doesn’t want to miss out on family time, but he can’t resist work, either.
“I’ll look at certain areas of our team game. I’ll review it first. And then I’ll start looking for patterns, and patterns of where we might improve,” Woodcroft says. “I pay attention to what trends are happening with the best teams in the league.”
Woodcroft is meticulous in his approach. He’s a thorough notetaker and is keen to discover something that he might be able to put into practice.
“There’s no substitute for doing the work,” he says. “You could ask someone else to do it for you, but I find comfort in actually doing the work. And I think when you do it in a relaxed environment, it’s not work. It’s just what you do. For me, some of your greatest insights come from the work you do in the summertime.”
Woodcroft and righthand man Dave Manson implemented a slew of structural changes gradually over the last 38 games upon their promotions. Those alterations helped save the Oilers’ season and laid the groundwork for a long playoff run.
But Woodcroft isn’t an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it type of guy. The Oilers players have noticed that Woodcroft has provided detailed instruction in practices and video sessions for improving their forechecking and neutral zone play.
“It’s not a complete overhaul now,” forward Derek Ryan says. “He’s adding more to our structure that he wanted to change that probably wasn’t possible in the middle of the season.
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“The NHL is such an environment that everyone’s trying to get better every year. Everyone comes in with high aspirations. It’s no different here. If you’re just trying to keep it the same, then you’re probably going to get left behind. That’s the mentality that he has, and I’m sure that everyone else agrees with that.”
Woodcroft has been using training camp to hammer home the trademarks of the Oilers’ game from the end of last season, just as he’d planned. Backchecking and organization in the defensive zone are those primary concerns.
“We’re cognizant of what we believe are some of the staples of our game that led to us having success, and we want to build on those,” he says. “We’re not going to change those. There are smaller parts of our game that we think we can refine. There won’t be drastic changes.”
Woodcroft says he’s heard from Oilers players that they believe in this team and where it could be going. If there’s any perception that the Oilers overachieved months ago, that’s not how Woodcroft thinks.
“For most people, they would have exceeded expectations. I don’t think Jay would tell you that they exceeded any expectations,” Todd says. “He still is very driven for one goal and one goal only. That’s not to be in a final four. It’s not to be the final two. It’s to win — to win the Cup.”
Woodcroft feels revigorated thanks to his time at the cottage and on the water heading into what he hopes will be a long season ahead.
He picks away at things in the summer, always envisioning ways to improve during the time he’s in his favourite place.
“That’s where I do some of my best thinking — outside of my typical environment,” he says.
And now we’ll find out if all that thinking with a fishing rod in his hand or while sitting on the dock Woodcroft did has the Oilers ready for the months to come. He’s confident in the payoff.
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“If you do (the work) over time, it’s like when you were a student, and you didn’t just cram at the very end before an exam; you kind of work methodically over time and you feel prepared when it’s time to take the test.”
(Photo: Daniel Nugent-Bowman / For The Athletic)
