INSIDE HOCKEY

Over the summer, while hanging out in the Rio Suites Hotel in Las Vegas during NHL Awards week, I was the only member of the press hanging out with a bunch of notable names in hockey for 14.5 hours during the NHL Charity Shootout.  During those long hours you learn a lot of things.

I found out that Jeremy Roenick was retired.  Little did I know that no one else in the hockey realm knew that information (because he hadn’t made the announcement yet).  Only the people in that room and the people that Roenick told knew that he was going to retire.  He made the announcement a month later and I was smacking myself in the head because I could have broken that story that Roenick was going to retire.

Then I thought about it and realized that everything happens for a reason.

Keeping certain information from being published until the player is ready to talk about it to the world weighs some serious advantages.  It establishes TRUST.

After the Awards, I leaked on my blog that there was a situation involving Mats Sundin which may lead to him retiring so that he could become a professional poker player.

Now, most people would think that’s probably the stupidest rumor that any member of the press could concoct…a professional hockey player retiring to play professional poker?  What is she taking, and pass some my way…

Well, I saw a few “Michelle Told You So…” being published around the web after Sundin made his announcement that he was retiring.  It was when I first saw that ‘Told You So’ that I realized that Mats Sundin and his agent had not discussed these things with anyone else in the press realm prior to his retirement.  I was the only one holding on to some very important information with regards to Mats Sundin’s future.  Really, I was the only member of the press that knew the logistics to Sundin’s future.

I leaked that information on my blog.  No one believed me.  I guess Mats (himself) and his agent were not credible enough sources to Mats Sundin’s future?

What got us on the topic of Mats future was the fact that I discovered that he had signed a Pokerstars agreement for a contest where winners would be his guest at a New York Rangers game in December.  That brought up a red flag, because how could he play for any other hockey team in the league but the New York Rangers if he were to honor that Pokerstars contract?  I saw a conflict of interest.

I spoke about this conflict of interest with Mats’ agent.  His agent told me that when Mats signed the agreement, he didn’t know if he even was going to play hockey for another year.  He hadn’t signed the $10 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks yet.  Mats honestly didn’t think he’d be playing hockey when the contest would take place, but how could he turn down a pro-rated $10 million contract just to play hockey for a few months?  You’d have to be an idiot to turn down that kind of money…really it wasn’t twisting his arm.

That conflict of interest was not something that they had considered when he signed the contract.  So it did not surprise me that Sundin would make the decision to retire so that he could honor that Pokerstars contract.  At the time, his agent said that Mats would not break the contract.  He had every intention of honoring it.

Sure, Mats will come out of retirement if another team wants to offer him $10 million for one season.  I think almost anyone would come out of retirement for a quick $10 million.

But out of all of the things I learned while sitting less than two inches away from Mats during dinner was that he was planning to become a pro-poker player when he retired.

Mats is very involved with Pokerstars.  He had already signed several contracts with them in the previous year.  Now, he’s getting ready to announce exactly what I’ve been saying since the NHL Awards back in June…when Mats makes the official decision to retire, he’s going pro.  He’s going to be a pro-poker player.

His publicist contacted us yesterday and confirmed this information with Inside Hockey. He will be announcing his European poker tour with Pokerstars.  His first stop will be at the Baltic Festival in Tallinn, Estonia from October 28-31.  Future tour dates are TBA (he is currently in negotiations for future stops on the European tour). He will then be coming stateside for a stop in New York City and Las Vegas. 

What does this information mean for Inside Hockey?  Who said poker and hockey doesn’t mix? 

You’ll be seeing a few more pieces going forward on the connection between hockey and poker.  You’ll be amazed at how much they’re connected, especially when it comes to developing strategies in a hockey player's mind.  [Now are you beginning to understand why the NHL has a strong connection to Las Vegas these days?]

Some notables that have danced the poker dance: Zach Parise (NJ Devils), Martin Brodeur (NJ Devils), Roberto Luongo (Vancouver Canucks), Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), Scott Hartnell (Philadelphia Flyers), Mike Richards (Philadelphia Flyers), Georges LaRaque (Montreal Canadiens) and Sheldon Souray (Edmonton Oilers)…just to name a few.

Out of all the interviews that I have done in the past couple of years, the one conversation that intrigued me more than any other one was my discussion with Pat LaFontaine and Glenn Anderson on hockey and cards.  I learned more in that hour than I have ever learned in a book on how to perfect your hockey abilities.  Strategizing in poker is a lot like playing highly intelligent hockey.

Poker is the side of hockey that most people have never seen.  It’s the side that develops their mental skills on the ice.  It’s a science that requires mathematical genius in order to be the best.  Anyone can be an amateur, but you have to understand science, math, statistics, etc. of the game in order to become the best in poker.

Sundin is making the official announcement soon that he is now taking his hobby and going pro with it.  I've watched him play both hockey and cards, and I have to say...just as promising as his hockey career was, so is his poker career.