so @tangerinick and i were having a *moment* over that draisaitl jersey number article…..
let’s say connor is leon. hear me out. so connor’s dad is a junior’s coach, notably kent parson’s juniors coach before he gets traded to jack’s team. there’s an age difference there for sure, but connor figures its not a big deal like, say, a crush or anything. he just thinks the guy is cool.
kent kinda sucks on that first team tho. but he’s really kind. humors connor in a way the other players don’t, in a way that doesn’t have anything to do with his dad being the coach. connor just thinks the guy is cool.
kent gets traded to jack’s team, and there’s a lot that changes. his number first of all, and then his growth as a player takes off. soon enough he and his best friend are trading off first and second in draft projections
then jack’s gone and its just kent. kent with the aces who want him to play immediately because he’s already been drafted and what was that time in juniors if not development, kent who never had time to process anything with jack before being thrust into a limelight he doesn’t think he deserves with a front office that clearly doesn’t think much of him and a coaching staff and team who want nothing to do with him or his “antics” beyond the points he can give them (seguin @ boston vibes but add recent trauma to the mix)
and when he can’t even give them that after two seasons of spiraling, he finds himself sent down to the ahl. a “draft bust” waiting out his elc so he can get the fuck out of dodge.
connor still goes to samwell. realizing you’ve got a very not mentor/mentee crush on one of your dad’s players as a preteen and then experiencing Hockey Culture in juniors will push you towards more accepting spaces. at least it does for him.
he does well, makes friends, plays some of the best hockey with some of the best people he’s ever met. and then he gets picked up by the canucks.
a few years down the line, kent’s finally out of his contract and taking business classes at uni because business is safe and kent’s a safe kind of guy now. connor is making a name for himself as vancouver’s rising star, a diamond in the rough who had no real chance in the draft but came out of samwell a top 6 player
then the article. “its a good number. i like how it looks,” he tells the athletic, “also was the number of a guy on my dad’s team when i was a kid.” which is a little bit juicier than simply liking how it looks, so the article continues, “he was a cool guy. just–really cool.”
a fan does some digging. kent parson? the name sounds familiar. kinda shitty stats on that juniors team, interesting that connor would idolize a guy like that for so long, but–oh. then he went first in the draft. and now he’s… where is kent parson now?
the media catches on. “Canucks Winger Connor Whisk Wears Draft Bust Kent Parson’s Number” it becomes a Thing.
kent is torn from the relative anonymity he’s enjoyed over the past few years, save for the occasional “Top Ten Draft Busts” or “2009 Redraft” videos. it kind of sucks.
but it sucks a little less when connor whisk shows up on his doorstep with a bouquet of grocery store apology flowers in hand, and his heart on his sleeve.
