Scrivens and NHL free agency

With 144 NHL games over six seasons of professional hockey, Ben Scrivens has played in three leagues and four organisations for eight teams. Holding the NHL records for saves in a shutout, Scrivens has moved from team to team and city to city with his professional career developing in a series of starts and stops with the Canadian looking for the next opportunity to prove he's a solid NHL-caliber goaltender.

“Everybody who is at that level is competitive,” Scrivens said. “It’s obviously difficult up and leaving a group of friends and guys you’ve been playing with for a while but at the end of the day you’re a professional. You’re expected to play hard no matter what team is in front of you whether it’s the NHL or you’re sent down to the AHL and even the East Coast it doesn’t really change all that much. Part of being a pro is bringing your A-game, every game if you can.”

According to QuantHockey.com over half of all NHL players play less that 100 games during their career and for approximately five percent of players, their first NHL game is also their last. Making an impact in a short amount of time is not always about proving yourself on the ice, but also how you contribute and connect with a team off-ice.

“Most of the time, it’s the individuals,” Scrivens said. “The hockey world is so small that you’re going into a locker room where you know somebody or you know somebody who knows somebody so there’s one degree of separation in every locker room.”

“You played Junior with someone, or played College with someone, who played with someone, so there’s always a connection. It’s more the older guys that are a little more comfortable; they’ve been around a bit longer so they tend to be the first ones to reach out anytime there’s been a trade or even just a friendly text, ‘Hey, welcome’. Every team is a little bit different and I don’t want to say one’s better or worse or anything like that, it’s probably more on the individual than the team.”

Traded mid-season, Scrivens was one of three goaltenders the struggling Montreal Canadiens locker room rotated through after their star Carey Price went down with a knee injury in November.

“[Montreal] was great. I’d played with Jeff Petry before and I’d played against Mike Condon in college so there’s a couple of little of those immediate connections,” Scrivens said. “I played in the minors against a bunch of guys when they were in Hamilton [Bulldogs] and I was with the [Toronto] Marlies so there was an instant familiarity with those guys so it’s a matter of being yourself, working hard and earning a little bit of respect from them.”

Scrivens was ultimately placed on waivers but has more than shown he can be a capable backup particularly during his time in Toronto. Excluding that upper echelon of targets like Steven Stamkos that was courted-league wide, Ben Scrivens story resonates for most unrestricted free agents who exit June still wondering about their next home. But entering July 1 means surrendering to the unpredictability of a rather basic experience—looking for employment.

“Free Agency is not different then being out on the ice,” Scrivens said. “Sometimes you have bad bounces and sometimes things just don’t go your way. If you play it hard and play the game honest you like to think things will work out for you but at the end of the day if you ask yourself, what can I control and if I can’t then there’s no point exerting any energy trying to control it.”

“I’ll be in the gym, [Ice Hockey Classic] has been great to get some rust off early. I’m feeling good on the ice, I’m seeing the puck pretty well and you can’t replicate game situations in practice easily so it’s been good to get out there and play some actual high-level hockey. My plan is just to continue skating, continue training, and do what I’ve been doing the last couple of seasons.”

Publishing two articles this off-season, Ben Scrivens pieces for the Players Tribune, “Please, Please, Please, Don’t Call Me Athletic” and “On to the Mental Side” are a great insight for players and fans from a passionate goaltender who loves his hockey.