Extreme Makeover: NHL locker-room edition
Last Updated: Saturday, October 24, 2009 | 6:11 PM PT
CBC Sports
When Mike Gillis became Vancouver Canucks general manager back in April 2008, one of the things high on his list of priorities was giving his team an extreme makeover in the locker-room department.
Now the Canucks' dressing room and lounge might be the envy of the NHL.
"We had a chance to do anything we wanted," assistant coach Ryan Walter told Hockey Night in Canada's Elliotte Friedman.
Now a large oval dressing room greets the Canucks after every home game.
"In the old Montreal Forum days, it was a small room, you couldn't believe how small that room was. New arenas come with huge dressing rooms," said Walter.
"The one thing I think misses with the big dressing rooms is that intimacy. … So round dressing room, smaller space, more intimate."
Star goalie and captain Roberto Luongo had some input too — his stall is right at the apex of the oval, along with backup goalie Andrew Raycroft, directly facing the large Vancouver logo in the middle of the room. The defenceman sit on one side of the goalies while the forwards are on the other.
"Louie [Luongo] wanted it, so it's great when you get a chance to look at your No. 1 player where he wants to sit and build around it," said Walter.
High-tech gadgets
There's also a high-tech big-screen TV hooked up to a smaller touchpad monitor in the room to analyze key plays from past games.
Gillis had the lounge rebuilt as well. It's now outfitted with a large-screen TV, couches, a kitchen and a computer room, among other things.
"We know the pressure that's on [the players] in a city like Vancouver," Gillis said. "We designed it so that every player has to come through here before they get to their car.
"We just tried to recreate that element of camaraderie in this space."
Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa says the room brings the team together.
"A lot of guys just wake up and come right to the rink and shower and eat breakfast here," he said. "It's very accommodating that way and after practice we'll hang out for a half hour to two hours in the lounge there."
In the new salary cap world filled with team parity, amenities could mean all the difference when a team's trying to land a free agent.
"In the NHL it's so competitive now to get players to come to your team that you have to make sure you're covering all bases," said Canucks coach Alain Vigneault. "And having a first-class facility is definitely one of those things you have to do."
More players will notice in February as the Canucks' dressing room will act as Team Canada's home base for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Another benefit of the new space: players can't hear the coaches yell during not-so-great video sessions, as the video room has been moved away from the dressing room.
"A lot of times in the mornings in our [old] offices, coaches would — I don't want to say yell or swear, but would be talking about certain players, and the players would be walking in the hallway," Vigneault said with a chuckle.
"So we just thought it'd be a better idea if we did all the bad language on this side."
