When Nathan MacKinnon and Team Canada lost the gold-medal game against the United States, many Canadians viewed the silver medal as a failure. Nathan MacKinnon was likely one of those Canadians, as he stated in the build-up to the first NHL-Involved Winter Olympics since 2012, “We’ve talked to some other athletes, but to be honest, I just want to win gold here. It’s fun to get to know people, but at the end of the day, we’re just trying to win.”
Nate MacKinnon doesn’t care what you think or about
the plushie — He wants another cup
So when the final horn sounded, and we saw Nathan MacKinnon handed a silver medal and a plush toy, then be visibly taken aback by such an offering in that moment, many fans and pundits (myself included) said something along the lines of, “Oh, this is going to make him unleash on the NHL.”
As my access to the team has improved, so has my understanding of many of the players on a deeper philosophical level—the sort of thing that’s bound to happen after transcribing hundreds of sound bites for written and broadcasting endeavors.
The exposure has led me to believe something wholeheartedly about what motivates Nathan MacKinnon.
He’s not inspired to train, prepare, and play hard by the highs and lows of catchy headlines and meme culture, or where he lands on journos’ list of top whatever players of all time. In fact, all of that seemingly means next to nothing to him.
So what is it? Well, it’s super simple.
Nathan MacKinnon has a deep love for the game of hockey at an existential level, and the ultimate prize is winning the Stanley Cup as far as the sport goes.
It’s never been deeper than that (from my point of view), and it never will be.
This humble and gracious mindset is why we see MacKinnon give more spirited, detailed answers when the press asks about his teammates rather than about whatever individual accomplishment he’s recently achieved.
It’s also why he doesn’t cut a single corner as it pertains to being physically and mentally prepared for games.
You might see Paul Bizzonette greeting Nate in swim goggles fresh off a leaked swim session and laugh, but flippers or not, he’s in that pool to win hockey games.
Nikita Zadorov may have quoted MacKinnon as saying he’s hard on teammates for what they eat, but as funny as banning chicken parm sounds, he eats with discipline to win games.
Put plainly, Nathan MacKinnon eats, drinks, sleeps, and swims with winning habits.
Now we know he definitely sees or hears about the narratives, as former teammate Erik Johnson did ask MacKinnon about the infamous plushie, and I’m sure he knows people have taken liberties with that missed net in the Olympics.
A mantra in my family is, “there’s no shame in being human, and no strength in denying it,” and yes, Nathan MacKinnon is human, despite the incredible feats he achieves on the ice.
As a human being, you’d think that public opinion, and ultimately his standing in the annals of league history, would play a factor for Nate.
From where I sit, he doesn’t care even a little bit about any of that.
Think back to when Vegas eliminated the Avalanche in 2021, and MacKinnon hit us with this all-timer, “There’s always next year. I’m going into my ninth year next year, and I haven’t won shit. I’m definitely motivated, and it just sucks losing four in a row to a good team.”
Remember that, even then, MacKinnon had already won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, the Lady Byng Trophy, and was clearly a future superstar in the NHL.
Yet, in his eyes, he had accomplished nothing.
Here we are today, ready for another series against Vegas, but this time, he’s gotten the cup monkey off his back and wants to add to the hardware from 2022.
What did he say ahead of the final in 2022 when asked about his legacy at media day?
“Legacy for who? You guys? I’m just having fun day by day. Doing the best I can for my team. That’s all I’m thinking about.”
MacKinnon knows that winning a Stanley Cup is incredibly difficult and isn’t willing to leave anything he can control to chance. That makes sense, since it is just like the Olympics: anything short of the ultimate prize will be viewed as a failure.
Not necessarily by you or me, but definitely Nathan MacKinnon, who also had this to say to EJ ahead of the playoffs, “It’s Cup or bust… definitely pumped to get going.”
Let us know how you feel about Nathan MacKinnon’s mindset in the comments!
