Expected by Whom? - An Analytics & Eye Test Hockey Podcast · Winged Wheel Podcast Network

Expected by Whom? RETURNS! ft. Willie Desjardins - Ep. 33

·33 min·2 clips

Desjardins says junior players must learn to defend because NHL fourth lines are judged on not getting scored on.

Sean and Prashant bring Expected by Whom? back for a conversation with Willie Desjardins. The discussion ranges from the University of Saskatchewan to Japan, Olympic teams, NHL teams, and the Texas Stars championship Sean remembers, with Desjardins walking through how coaching became a real possibility for him. He keeps coming back to risk. Desjardins says he would not have gone straight into coaching without the farm to fall back on, because coaching is risky and life changes quickly when you are raising a family. He says he probably would not have had the courage to jump right in without something behind him. That answer opens into his university years. He explains that he applied in engineering, accounting, and education, and that Dave King changed the way he looked at coaching after taking a 3-21 team to the national finals three years in a row. Coaching did not really become the path until he was 25 or 26. Once he started looking at it seriously, he says he liked the work with the players. The conversation also lingers on how ideas become part of you. Desjardins says you pick things up and do not always know where they came from, but they become part of who you are. Sean and Prashant give that answer room to breathe, and the pace lets Desjardins explain why education mattered, why he needed the fallback, and why coaching felt like a path that had to be earned rather than assumed. The closing stretch returns to the present. Prashant thanks Desjardins for joining, wishes him luck in the playoffs, and hopes another championship is on the horizon. Sean says they never promised to be doing this on a regular basis, and they still cannot promise that now, but they are going to try. Desjardins says it is always good when people get information, and tells them to call anytime they want to chat. The final exchange stays calm and practical, ending with thanks, good wishes, and a hockey conversation focused on how coaching actually gets built.

As heard by us

A patient look at Willie Desjardins' coaching path, from Saskatchewan to Texas to the NHL.

Expected by Whom? returns to Willie Desjardins with a conversation that treats his coaching career as a chain of choices, not just a line on a resume.

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Why you'd press play

Willie Desjardins turns coaching into a practical career story, with enough dry honesty to keep it grounded.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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