Domi soaks up NHL lessons "like a sponge"

Arizona Coyotes prospect Max Domi joined Sportsnet 590 on Monday.

On if his mindset is that he now belongs in the NHL after having spent the past three seasons with the London Knights:

“Yeah, it’s been a long few years here. I mean obviously been to the Mem Cup, like you said, three years in a row, it’s been a long haul. But learned a lot in London, played with some great players, and obviously working hard still. So hopefully this year I’m ready to go for the next level, but I’ve still got about a month left here so I guess we’ll see.”

On if not making the NHL last year was a blessing in disguise, since it allowed him more time to season:

“Yeah, I agree. Going back to a great team and obviously a great opportunity of hosting the Mem Cup again and just kind of mature a little more, and get a year older. Get faster, stronger, and just overall better at hockey. I kind of took that as a positive and worked really hard at it. So like I said, hopefully I’m ready to go for this year. But yeah, that’s something that helped me out a lot.”

On if the Coyotes talked to you at all about their expectations for you, headed in to land a spot with the team:

“Not really. I mean, I think it’s usually the same thing for everyone in the sense that you just go to development camp and then they tell you just work hard all summer and come to camp in the best possible shape and ready to work hard for all of training camp. Obviously you’ve got to get a little lucky and get on a little hot streak in the games and stuff, I feel like I’m ready to go. I had a great summer and I guess we’ll see.”

On if he finds there are things he needs to tweak once he gets to the NHL:

“Yeah, everyone does. You’ve got to be changing stuff in your game year in and year out, especially when you’re trying to crack the NHL to start with. There’s a lot of stuff you can do in junior that you can’t do at the next level and the Hunters have addressed that and showed me what I had to do. Like I said, just kind of working at all three zones, to play more in my defensive zone and be a little more responsible. But that comes with a little maturity and more and more experience. So this year has done that and I’ve worked on that a lot, so I guess I’ll go into camp with that same mentality.”

On if development camps have yielded words of wisdom:

“Yeah, of course. I just think that everyone in the whole organization, it doesn’t matter where you’re playing – whether it’s the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Florida Panthers – I mean, everyone around the organization has had that experience and been around the NHL players. So whether it’s the equipment manager or coach or ex-player – for me it’s everyone, just kind of soaking it all in like a sponge and just asking as many questions as you can and just kind of observing and trying to learn that way.”

On what it’s been like to play in this sort of market, not even as a player as much as just a person:

“Growing up in Toronto and being from here and being able to experience my whole dad’s career playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs was  a pretty special experience. For him to do that gave me the opportunity to just kind of observe and like I said, act as a sponge as much as I can and learn from guys like Mats Sundin, Tomas Kaberle. The list really goes on. Pretty fortunate for that opportunity and really embraced the whole situation. It’s a little different in Phoenix obviously, but I can’t wait for that.”

On if he views his experiences having grown up the son of an NHLer as a positive, and if he’s taking advantage of those experiences:

“Yeah, there’s definitely pros and cons to it, but I try to stay as positive as I can about it and, like I said, use it to my benefit. There’s so much that comes with it and I’m pretty blessed to have that opportunity... growing up with a professional hockey player as my father. So whether it’s him as my coach in minor hockey or going to the rink watching practice or playing a game, it’s been pretty special and it’s pretty much formed me as who I am today, both on and off the ice.”

On if players expected him to be ‘Player X’ because of the name on the back of his jersey, but he ends up being ‘Player Y’:

“I mean yes and no. Obviously the last name is one thing, but we’re two different players and two different people. We’re pretty different. At the end of the day, he played 17 years in the NHL and he didn’t do it the easiest way. He had one of the hardest jobs out there and he found a way to stick around and be a great teammate. So whatever the qualities that he used in his career, I mean, obviously I’m not much of a fighter or anything like that, but there’s a lot of other things that go along with playing in the NHL. I just take whatever bits and pieces I could from him (to make me better).”

On if he takes the opportunity at BioSteel hockey camp to talk with NHLers about their experiences:

“Yeah, definitely... I got the invite from Matty Nichol a few days ago and I used to train with him. So I’ve watched these camps for a few years now and pretty excited to be a part of it. Like you said, guys like Cammalleri, and P.K. Subban, and Seguin. You just see how hard they really work in the off-season to stay where they are and continue to get better. It’s pretty cool for a young kid like me to be able to come in and just watch them and learn from them.”

Source: Sportsnet 590