Next generation of Footes land with the Lightning
Former stars’ sons want to make their own mark
Cal and Nolan Foote made a request coming into training camp: They wanted to room together. The Lightning shot that down, just in case of any brotherly squabbles.
The Lightning’s last two firstround picks (Cal in 2017, Nolan in ’19) shared something better than a hotel room Wednesday night. The sons of former 19year NHL player Adam Foote shared the Tampa bench.
Nolan made his first appearance with the Lightning in Wednesday’s 2-0 pre-season loss to Carolina. Cal was a late addition to the roster, giving them a chance to play an NHL game together. Cal recorded five shots on goal, Nolan two.
“It’s crazy,” Cal said before the game. “I’m very excited for him. Him, my family and I, have been waiting for this, and I’m excited to get to be there.”
Cal wasn’t originally slated to play in Wednesday’s game. He mentioned to a few other players that maybe he’d try to come along on the trip to see Nolan play. Then he got word of a change to the roster and now he’ll be on the roster with him.
When rookie camp first started two weeks ago, seeing Nolan across the dressing room didn’t seem quite real to Cal. This was something they’d dreamed about since they were kids but didn’t really think would happen.
They joked about the possibility going into the June draft. Cal had been in the Lightning organization for two years and wouldn’t it be cool if they drafted his little brother as well?
When it actually happened, when the Lightning drafted Nolan on Jun 21, that didn’t seem quite real either.
“We were just so happy,” Nolan said. “We were just like ‘there’s no way this just happened.’”
The brothers, almost exactly two years apart in age, have always been close. They played together growing up and in juniors with Kelowna of the Western Hockey League. When Cal played for Syracuse last year, they talked in some form (text, Snapchat, FaceTime) every day.
Of course, there were some fights growing up — Cal, the bigger older brother, always won — though, Nolan insists that wouldn’t have been an issue sharing a room now. Most of their battles in recent years have been on the ice.
With Nolan at forward and Cal on defence, working out against each other was a natural fit. Even when rookie camp started, and drills didn’t have too much oomph behind them, Cal and Nolan kicked it up a notch when they paired up.
There’s always an extra jab for a brother.
Nolan is odd-man out in the Foote family.
Despite a father and brother at the blue line — Adam played 19 years of defenceman in the NHL, most with Colorado — Nolan naturally gravitated toward forward.
He said it was neither a matter of intentionally doing the opposite nor his brother having requested someone play opposite him in the driveway.
“I just love scoring goals,” Nolan said.
“I just loved being on offence, always having the puck on my stick, shooting.”
Nolan is also the only lefty in a family of righties, as Cal was quick to point out.
Cal was able to give Nolan an idea of what to expect from training camp and the coaches, but he also wants to give Nolan space to do his own thing.