Carolina Hurricanes Defenseman Jaccob Slavin Interview (5-2-23)

The Carolina Hurricanes know their opponent for Game 1 tomorrow night. It's the New Jersey Devils, 7 o'clock puck drop in Raleigh, and the Cane's star defenseman Jacob Slavin joins us on WSJS right now. Okay Jacob, other than being at the rink or preparing for the series that starts tomorrow, how have you been spending the layoff since winning the series on Long Island last Friday night? Not doing too much honestly, just enjoying a lot of time with family.

I got a new basketball hoop in the cul-de-sac that we live in, so then playing some horse with the wife and outside of that just hanging with the kids. She was an athlete too, right? A little bit.

She's a good volleyball player and she's played a little bit of basketball too, so she's got a nice layup and a good jump shot. There's some competitive games of horse going on. What shot one horse for you last night? Give me the description of the floor. What spot of the floor did you win? Just a granny shot from the free throw line. Oh, that's always a good play. Jacob Slavin is here with us.

Take me to your home last night. Are you watching Game 7 in New Jersey and how soon after the final horn does preparation begin for the Devils? Yeah, we had the TV on, we were watching a little bit there. After the final horn I went to bed, but then today at the rink we were getting dialed in and just preparing and making sure we're ready to go and do what we do best.

But learning the little tendencies and habits that will help us prepare the way we need to. Getting to you for a second, I see your hometown as Erie, Colorado, which if memory serves being out that way for a while, that's like west of Denver near Boulder? Does that mean that you were going to Buffs games growing up? You mentioned basketball. Was it always hockey for you? It was always hockey for me.

Yeah, we were about 30 minutes north of Denver and about 15 minutes east of Boulder. But we were definitely a hockey family. I had four siblings and they were all playing hockey as well.

So there was no time for Buffs games, but just lots of hockey and lots of miles on the minivan for my mom. That does remind me, the first time I heard your name, I was doing play-by-play for a high school football game in Colorado and this trainer slash coach, his name was Tim Naaman. He learned I was from the Carolinas and said, watch out for this guy who I trained who's on the Charlotte Checkers right now. You're going to know his name in a short period of time.

His name is Jacob Slavin. And I never forgot about that. And since then you become a star and we've learned about your great family and you talk about your siblings, your brothers growing up. At that point of your life, you would have been like 21 or 20 years old. Did you know then you had what it took to be in the NHL?

If not, when did you? At that point of my life, I started my pro career, so that would have been, yeah, I knew it was a possibility. But then growing up, just in Colorado, the hockey was pretty solid. I think it really started to become real for me when, probably when I was in juniors and I'm just the prospect of getting drafted and then my time at Colorado College is awesome and developed a lot then as well. And so there's a lot of growth there too.

But yeah, no, I would think when it became real for me was probably the first year of college. Canes defenseman Jacob Slavin joining us on WSJS. Tomorrow night, it's the New Jersey Devils at PNC Arena starting the second round series. One thing that stands out about you, your faith is very important to you. And this might be my favorite story I've heard about you. I've been told and I read that shortly after fellow star defenseman Brent Burns joined the team, you invited him to church with you and you began attending together.

How did that come to be? Did you guys know each other before becoming teammates? Yeah, so I know faith is definitely the most important part of my life, of my family's life and hockey is a big, easy second to that.

And so I guess I should say third to obviously faith and family before that. No, yeah, I know Burns came into town and we had lots of conversations, little conversations at the rink and I knew of him a little bit from when James Reimer was in Carolina. And then James went on to play with Burns in San Jose.

And so I knew a little bit about Burns when he was coming into the organization talking with James. And so the invite to church was almost a tap in, emptying that goal there for me just to invite him knowing that James talked to him a lot about faith. And so when he came here, he got his kids in a really good school and started coming to church with us and it's great. And obviously during the season, it's a lot harder to get to church. We might not be home on Sunday, so even on the road, still having good conversations, opening up the Bible together sometimes has been a special year for sure.

Right on. Prior to Brent Burns' arrival to defense, it was already the strength of this team and with his addition, the blue lines just become a lot more dynamic. Whether it's something intangible or something on the ice, where has Brent Burns' impact most revealed itself this year? Yeah, I think obviously from an on-ice standpoint, he's a special player, he's unbelievable with the puck, scored some really big goals for us this year at really timely spots and games. And so from an on-ice production standpoint, he's helped us tremendously. But then just in the locker room, he's a one-of-a-kind character and that's only in a good way. And just everyone loves him, he gets along with everybody. I think we got some pretty young guys on our team, but he still might be the youngest guy at heart in that locker room, even though he's the oldest in age.

And so his personality is awesome and just such an amazing character guy. Let's close with this. Jacob Slavin joining us from the Canes.

You might be the perfect person to answer this question because of how many minutes you log on a night-to-night basis. It's been well documented how many injuries you guys have had up front. So I want to just present a hypothetical. Given what we know about Rod Brind'Amour's fitness, if for whatever reason, like David Ayer style, you needed a forward to come into an emergency setting, what could Rod give you at age 52? How many minutes do you think? I don't know in terms of minutes how much he could play. I guarantee he could go out there and win us some pretty important face-offs, whether that be in the D zone or the O zone. I have a feeling that guy would get down in that circle and snap him back.

How quickly he changes after that, I'm not sure. But I guarantee you he'd probably try to go straight to the net front and start trying to screen the goalie and tip some pucks in the net. And I mean, he's definitely one of a kind in terms of fitness and work ethic. And it's contagious and so easily one of the most fit guys in the room.

Yeah, I still bet. With respect to the guys you have down the middle right now, is Rod Brind'Amour still the best at the act of winning face-offs in that building? He could easily throw his hat in extension for that. I mean, he's with the centers every day after practice, working on face-off draws and trying to help them out with that.

And I mean, his forearms are still, I think he could easily snap some back. Jacob Slavin, best of luck. Thanks for making the time for us. And I hope to see you sometime in person sometime soon. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.