Oilers, Devils, Jets among teams using sports psychology to boost mental health 

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.

This week explains how motivational techniques in the NHL have evolved in 75 years from a lone hypnotist in 1950 to the widespread use of sophisticated psychologists.

With the Edmonton Oilers competiting for Stanley Cup Playoff positioning in the Pacific Division, coach Kris Knoblauch is relying on more than Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the team for motivation.

Behind the scenes, the Oilers, like most teams, employ a pair of mental specialists to help give them an edge.

"Our team has two sports psychologists," Knoblauch said after a 4-3 loss at the New Jersey Devils on March 13. "One is remote, and the other is in Edmonton. Plus, half -- if not more -- of our players probably have their own personal psychologist."

Different motivational professionals have different titles. The Oilers list George Mumford as a mental performance coach and the New Jersey Devils employ Steve Nightingale as a sports scientist and performance coach.

Devils radio analyst Glenn "Chico" Resch, who played for the 1980 Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders, said that there were no team "shrinks" around 45 years ago.

"Now," Resch said, "every NHL team has a psychologist of some kind."

Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff told me, "We have a group of doctors available to players. They deal with the mental health of the individual player -- or family member. Also, we've used groups who work with us on team building and leadership."

Even major junior teams like Portland of the Western Hockey League use motivational pros.

"We have sports psychologist Paul Henry working with the team," Winterhawks general manager Mike Johnston said. "He's a trained psychiatrist and very beneficial, especially working one-on-one with our young guys."

Henry runs his own private practice. He's worked with the New York Rangers, Florida Panthers, Hockey Canada and Halifax of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, where he helped develop Devils forwards Timo Meier and Nico Hischier when each skated for the Mooseheads before they were selected in the NHL Draft.

Meier, chosen No. 9 by the San Jose Sharks in 2015, played in Halifax from 2013 until he was traded to Rouyn-Noranda on Jan. 6, 2016, and helped the Huskies win the President Cup as QMJHL champions. The Devils made Hischier the No. 1 pick in 2017. He was the highest-drafted Switzerland-born player in NHL history and named New Jersey's 12th captain Feb. 20, 2021.

"I help players sort out their feelings," Henry said. "Most players I deal with have never looked at their feelings. They're taught at an early age to just 'go and play.'"

Psychologists like Henry are a far cry from the Original Six era, when until the fall of 1950 they were as rare as masked goalies. That's when the Rangers opened the season 1-7 with six ties and GM Frank Boucher, encouraged by his publicist, Herb Goren, looked for help.

"I knew a hypnotist, Dr. David Tracy, who worked in baseball with the St. Louis Browns," Goren said. "I told Frank we should try him on our guys and my boss agreed."

In his autobiography, "When the Rangers Were Young," Boucher recalled being startled upon meeting the hypnotist.

"Tracy had a peculiar eye with a white dot in it that made him look very odd," Boucher wrote. "He started hypnotizing our forward, Tony Leswick, staring into his eyes and talking quietly while Pentti Lund, Alex Kaleta and Buddy O'Connor sat listening closely. He spoke to the players -- quietly and purposefully -- stressing positive attitudes."

The press loved the gimmick and gave the game against the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 15, 1950, a big play. Hy Turkin's pregame story in the Daily News was headlined, "RANGERS NEED VICTORY, GET DR. TRACY INSTEAD."

The Rangers lost 4-3. The hypnotist, among his rationales, claimed that he could have used more time to better hypnotize goalie Chuck Rayner.

"The ghoulie (Tracy's words) was not relaxed," Tracy lamented, "and really wasn't paying attention."

Boucher was.

"I concluded the experiment," he said, "because Tracy couldn't put the puck in the net -- nor keep it out -- any better than I could!"