When Salt Lake City native Steve Konowalchuk was 17, a coach told him he’d never play professional hockey. Two years later, he suited up for his first of 842 NHL games.
Konowalchuk was the first Utahn to play in the NHL, and although he’s been retired nearly 20 years, he still leads Utah-born players in goals, assists and points.
Only 14 people have played more games for the Washington Capitals than Konowalchuk, who spent parts of 13 seasons there, the last three as the captain.
He’s on a short list of Americans to win a World Cup gold medal in men’s hockey, and he twice received votes for the Selke Trophy as two-way player of the year.
But it didn’t come easily.
Hockey in Utah in the 1980s
Growing up, Konowalchuk and his teammates had to travel out of state on a regular basis, sometimes going as far as Alaska to find equal competition.
“It wasn’t easy for my parents — pretty expensive," he said in an interview with the Deseret News in May. “But they found a way. My dad would be at the bowling alley selling raffle tickets to try to earn money for us, so I always respected that.”
At the time, there were only three ice rinks in the Salt Lake area, making it difficult for Konowalchuk to get enough ice time to keep up with players from elsewhere who could skate every day.
His family had to think outside the box.
Wayne Thomas, who coached the Salt Lake Golden Eagles from 1985 to 1987, would let Steve and his older brother, Brian, skate after Golden Eagles games at their rink until 1 a.m.
The Golden Eagles were then the minor league affiliate of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues. Little did anyone know that, four decades later, Konowalchuk would coach the Blues’ current affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Konowalchuk also recalled that Matt Brickley, the father of eventual Los Angeles Kings defenseman Daniel Brickley, allowed him and his brother to play late-night men’s league hockey when they were young teenagers.
Staying up late like that wasn’t the greatest way to excel in school, but it all paid off when both Konowalchuk brothers were drafted into the NHL.
Road to the NHL
Steve followed Brian to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, at age 15 in pursuit of tougher competition.
In Utah, he was a standout — but in this Canadian farming town of 30,000 people, he wasn’t even good enough to make the local Bantam team. The following year, he tried out for the U18 AAA team and got cut again.
That was when a coach encouraged him to go back to Salt Lake City, saying he’d never have a pro hockey career. Little did anyone know he was only two years removed from his first NHL game.
Steve Konowalchuk finally made Prince Albert’s U18 team at age 17, when most NHL prospects are well into their major-junior careers — or at the very least considering their college options.
“I’ve always loved the game, and that kept me going, but I had no real illusions that I thought I’d play (professionally),” he said.
Being a late bloomer and having a November birthday had always been disadvantages to him, as they meant he always had to face bigger, older competition. But that adversity taught him how to compete.
Once he caught up to his peers physically, he was unstoppable.
A Portland Winter Hawks scout showed up to a game in Saskatchewan that year to see Brian play, but Steve caught his eye instead. His performance earned him an invitation to tryouts the following season, where he made the team out of camp.
Before he knew it, Steve Konowalchuk was playing in the WHL (one of the most common feeder leagues for the NHL).
He led all WHL rookies in scoring in his first season with 43 goals and 92 points in 72 games, and he enticed the Capitals to select him in the third round of the 1991 entry draft.
Brian Konowalchuk was picked third overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 1992 supplemental draft. The supplemental draft was only for college players age 21 and older, and most of the selected players never saw NHL action — including Brian. He did, however, enjoy a four-year NCAA career at the University of Denver.
Adjusting to the NHL
In one of his first preseason games, while facing off against the Buffalo Sabres, Konowalchuk had his “welcome to the NHL” moment.
Coming out from behind his own net, he streaked past eventual Hall of Famer Dave Andreychuk, who was there guarding him. Thinking he’d won the foot race, he relaxed a bit, but before he knew it, Andreychuk had snuck up behind him, stolen the puck and gotten a scoring chance.
“I’m like, ‘Woah. This isn’t junior hockey anymore,’” he recalled.
He always found it cool to play against all-time greats like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, but the opponent that stood out the most was former Golden Eagle Joe Mullen.
The Golden Eagles were his only consistent access to professional hockey growing up, so it was his version of the NHL.
“To me, that was the most special player that I was able to play against,” he said.
Over his 16-year career, Konowalchuk established himself as one of the league’s premier penalty killers while also contributing offensively. He secured a consistent half-a-point-per-game player, give or take, his entire career.
What’s the key to longevity? Preparation, he said.
“To me, it gets tedious over a career, but it’s so important,” Konowalchuk said. “The proper workouts, the proper eating, getting your rest and all those kinds of things that give your body a chance to perform physically.”
That’s something he now has the opportunity to preach as a coach.
Post-playing career
Konowalchuk has enjoyed a successful coaching career since 2009, three years after retiring as a player. That journey has taken him back to every league he played in.
He started as assistant coach with the Avalanche. After two seasons, he took a head coaching job in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds, where he stayed for six years, winning the Ed Chynoweth Cup along the way. He still goes back to Seattle in the offseason.
One year as an assistant with the Anaheim Ducks was followed by three as a scout with the New York Rangers. In 2021, he turned back to coaching as the bench boss for the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels.
Konowalchuk has spent the past two seasons in the AHL — the first with the Colorado Eagles and the most recent with the Springfield Thunderbirds.
In all his seasons as a head coach at various levels, he has only missed the playoffs twice.
Among the many players Konowalchuk has sent from the WHL to the NHL are New York Islanders star Mat Barzal and Stanley Cup champion/4 Nations Face-Off gold medalist Shea Theodore of the Vegas Golden Knights.