PRESSURE PAID OFF FOR PREDS’ WILSON
Forward hopes to live out the family dream by hoisting the Stanley Cup with Nashville
Like most kids growing up in Canada, Colin Wilson dreamed of playing in the National Hockey League and one day winning a Stanley Cup. Heck, he even practised scoring the winning goal.
Unlike most kids, it wasn’t so much a dream as an expectation — the league has become “the family business,” as the Nashville Predators forward joked.
Wilson’s dad Carey played 552 games with the Calgary Flames, New York Rangers and Hartford Whalers. His grandfather Jerry Wilson had a cup of coffee with the Montreal Canadiens and is partly responsible for bringing Swedish players to North America. His uncles all played major junior or college hockey.
Even from a young age, when Wilson was helping his dad run a hockey camp in Winnipeg, there was an understanding that he would follow a similar path.
“I certainly put a lot of pressure on myself to make it to the NHL, being from a hockey family,” said Wilson, who was born in Connecticut when his dad was still playing for the Rangers, but moved to Winnipeg when he was two. “As a kid, I was getting such good advice from my family that I certainly knew it was attainable from a young age somehow.
“I don’t know if I was arrogant as a kid, but there is certainly pressure. I remember, when I was drafted, people on social media saying I was only drafted because of my dad. I certainly wanted to hit some milestones that my dad has and surpass them.”
Wilson still trails his dad in goals, points and games played. But heading into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final on Thursday night in Pittsburgh, he was two wins away from achieving something his father and grandfather never got close to: having his name etched on the Stanley Cup.
And yet, when the final series began, Wilson wasn’t sure he would even get into a game. A lower-body injury suffered at the end of the Western Conference final against the Anaheim Ducks forced the 27-year-old to miss the first four games of the final.
Selected seventh overall in 2008, Wilson was the third forward taken in a draft that’s become known more for producing defencemen such as Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo. Erik Karlsson and Wilson’s teammate Roman Josi.
He’s never scored more than 20 goals and managed 40 or more points just that one season, 2014-15. Even Wilson said he was “thankful to (the Predators) for sticking with me to this point.”
Maybe that was why he wanted to get back into the lineup so badly:
Wilson was tired of waiting. He was tired of watching. After all, he’s been dreaming of this moment for a long time. In a lot of ways, his entire family has dreamed of it for him as well.
“Very few players get to stay with one organization for eight years,” he said. “I think being here on the team since ’08, the way that I’ve seen the game grow, our organization grow, our players stepping up and developing, I’ve at least gained a perspective that other people haven’t. It’s amazing how much it’s been built. Everyone sees it on the ice and outside the rink how much it’s grown. It’s amazing to see.
“I have a pretty good relationship with our management … I’m hoping that I can repay them and win a Cup here.”