I also have a chance to change who plays this game. My parents moved here from the Caribbean. I didn’t always understand what I could accomplish. It was only when I got to the NHL and people said to me, “You’re an inspiration to me, an inspiration to my kids.”

You don’t just play the way others do, you play differently. Where does that come from?

I always wanted to be a good hockey player. I wanted to be like the guys on TV. It wasn’t until I was 9 or 10, when I realized I was one of the best players in my age group, that I started to develop a hunger. Once I got to the NHL I wanted to be the best NHL player to ever play the game. Nothing was going to deter me.

My dad made sure I had the right mindset. He bought me the Best of Bobby Orr tape, and I watched it thousands of times. I didn’t aspire to be like Bobby Orr, but to have an impact on the game like he did. When I step on the ice, especially in playoff games or critical times during the season, where we’re in a slump and need a win, or battling for a division title, I always wanted to be like Bobby Orr. It’s not just about winning, it’s about being the best player on the ice and leading my team. Those are the moments I thrive in the most. That’s why I play this way.

What does having “the right mindset” mean?

It’s your approach. If you go into a game thinking, oh, I need to make this move or play that way, you try to do too much. Before the playoffs this year, Serge Savard gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever received. He said, “P.K., play the clock.” Play the situation. If you do, you’ll be the best player on the ice. Because you can have all the talent in the world but if you don’t know when to use it, nothing works.

What struck you in the Bobby Orr tapes?

His ability to take over a game. There’s a lot of high skill talent in the NHL, but you can count the number of dominant players on one hand, maybe two. Bobby Orr could flip the switch on, and it was game over. He could skate, shoot, pass, hit, defend. He was a great teammate. He also made a lot of mistakes. My dad read his book and said Orr talked about how for every great play he made, 10 didn’t work. But he had the ability to turn the page, elevate his game and not let any of that stuff affect him.

Before Orr, defenceman were defenders. Orr decided you could defend by having the puck or by being quick enough to get back when things went wrong. He forced his teammates to go up the ice with him, forced average skaters to be better skaters, forced bad passers to learn how to pass. He changed the game. Changed it forever.

You want to be one of the best ever. You want to change the game. How will you do it?

A lot has to do with my personality. First, playing with the Montreal Canadiens, there’s so much history. I have an opportunity to bring back a feeling to a city that is so hungry for it. This is the greatest organization in hockey. I want to keep the legacy going.

I also have a chance to change who plays this game. I know where I’m from, my parents didn’t grow up in Canada, they moved here from the Caribbean. I didn’t always understand what I could accomplish. It was only when I got to the NHL and people said to me, not “You’re a great hockey player” but “You’re an inspiration. An inspiration to me, an inspiration to my kids.” People from all different races, backgrounds and cultures.

Do I carry all this with me when I play? I think about it. I know when I step on the ice I have this opportunity to share the experience I’m having with people who weren’t even born in our country. Not only share it, but have them live it, and have their kids live it. When I leave the planet and pass away and move on, in this way I’ll feel I’ve accomplished something. So many people that make a lot of money and have a great job are unhappy. They don’t have a sense of accomplishment. You need that sense of fulfilment. When people come up to me and say, “P.K., you’re an inspiration” or “My kid plays hockey because of you,” I don’t want to let those people down.

I’ve chosen to do things not so much in a different way, but in a way that’s comfortable for me. A lot of people think you need to eat, sleep and breathe the game to be successful at it. You don’t. In life you need to have balance. During the lockout I decided to go work on TV because that’s what interests me. But still, there’s nobody who wants to be more successful at hockey than I do. A lot of those things get misconstrued. People don’t understand. But I’m going to achieve what I want to achieve. I’m going to win. I never shy away when people put roadblocks in my way or say things. It’s just another challenge to meet. If you’re not being utilized the way you want, it’s a challenge. If the fans don’t like you, I find my own way to get fired up and get excited to play. If your teammates — maybe you’ve got too many endorsement deals, maybe they’re jealous — that’s another challenge. I’m going to find a way to get my endorsement deals and make sure my teammates are happy as well. The most important thing is just being aware of everything. Being aware of your goals, of what you want to achieve, of what you’re going to have to fight through, of what’s poking at you. Because if you’re aware, then you’re prepared. And I’ve prepared myself to have success — only success. There’s nothing or anybody that’s going to stop me from doing that.

Tell me about your mom and dad.

I have a great relationship with my parents. I talk to them every day, in the summer I usually see them every day, I talk to my dad after every game. There’s a respect, they are my parents and, yeah, we’re not always going to see eye to eye, but when it comes to my parents I do more listening than talking. When I was a kid growing up, my dad found ways to make sure I stayed on the right course. He came up with these little sayings. One was: Your job as a person is to maximize your potential. Everybody has potential. It’s those who maximize it that are successful, and have fulfilment.

So after my rookie year in the NHL, my dad says to me, “P.K., I believe you’re winning at hockey. You had a great season. You put up 38 points or whatever it was, congratulations, great. But always ask yourself this question, it’s the most important one, and your answer to it is the most important answer: are you winning at life?

I thought what’s going on? He said, “You’ve been back in Toronto for two weeks. I don’t know what you’re doing, but you came home at 6 in the morning. I’m not sure you’ve started training again. What about your lifestyle? How you’re living, how you’re treating yourself.” I was so excited. I’d had a great season. We went to the Conference Finals. I’m young. I have everything in front of me. I looked at him like he had eight heads.

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The next year we came in 15th place. I didn’t have a bad year, but I wasn’t in the best shape to lead my team. People still said, “P.K., you’re winning at hockey,” but I said, “No, I’m not winning. Because life and hockey intertwine. I want to be good at both.”

Was there some moment when you were young when you realized, I don’t have to be like everybody else? I can be whatever is in me to be?

One was when I was drafted to the OHL. I was one of the top players, but I got picked 105th overall. I remember sitting in front of my computer that day and watching name after name after name go by. My dad comes into the room and says, “P.K. I think you should go and get something to eat.” I told him, “I just want to sit here, I want to watch.” He almost picked me up and carried me out, because I wouldn’t move. It wasn’t so much that I was upset — I knew my parents were, and my sister. I asked my sister years later why she was crying that day. She said, “You don’t know this, but I watched you day after day on the backyard rink. I watched you in the basement shooting 2000 pucks a day, I watched you do 3,000 skips a day, I watched you do 500 push-ups and sit-ups a day. I watched you drive to Kitchener, 45 minutes, at 6 a.m. to train, then drive back again in the afternoon and train again, then drive back again in the evening to play hockey with the pro guys at the Cambridge rink. I cried,” she said, “because I watched you work your ass off and not get what you deserved.”

But I was never concerned. I knew how good I was. When George Burnett, the junior coach, called me and I said to him “I’m going to make your team,” I wasn’t being cocky. I was just saying I’m better than everybody else and I’m going to be that much better. I wanted him to know exactly who he was dealing with, and the type of player I wanted to be. You only understand who you are when your back’s against the wall, when you have only one option. That’s how I look at it every time a puck’s dumped in my court. Just me against that other guy. I’ve only got one option and that’s to win the puck. I know he wants it, but there’s no chance he’s going to beat me. That’s just my mentality in life. There’s nothing I can’t do, nothing I can’t conquer. So when I made the junior team, it gave me the confidence to say I can be who I want, be just as good as I want, because I have the ability, the drive, and the discipline to do it.

I had the same feeling after my first year in the NHL. I knew then I could play at the NHL level and thought, wow, I haven’t even scratched the surface of what I can do in this league.

Why do you think you were drafted so late? What didn’t teams see or understand about you?

Maybe there was something in my game. All I know is that it doesn’t matter. I wore number 6 as a junior because I was drafted in the sixth round. I embrace the fact that people didn’t select me. It’s not that I have the mentality that it’s me against the world — because it’s not. It’s me against myself. I challenge myself more than any other player, any other coach, any other scout or GM will ever be able to do.

What was it like not to play in the big games at the Olympics?

I’ve always been able to turn everything into a positive. I am a good teammate. I don’t think I get enough credit for that, but I always support my teammates. I also knew I could play on that team, that I could probably be one of the best players, or in fact the best player, in the tournament. But then I didn’t play. So I had to adapt to the role I had, and had to be the best person in that role I could possibly be. Did I want to play, was I dying to play? Of course. But one of the best things that happened to me was not playing. Because when I came into the league, there were a lot of things said about me as a person. Then, at the Olympics, to be with all the best players in the world, Team Canada, and not play, but for them to see me in a role and to conduct myself the way I did, not many people could have done that. At the end of the tournament, for them to come up to me and say “You’re a great teammate,” that’s even better than winning a gold medal.

So the Olympics for you was another test to meet, and another game to win?

Yes, I would agree with that.

What keeps you up at night with excitement, what keeps you up at night with anxiety?

What keeps me up with excitement is leaving for a vacation the next morning. I never get much sleep the night before a vacation. And what keeps me up with anxiety? Not many things other than maybe if I got into a disagreement with my parents, but that hasn’t happened in a very, very, very, very, very long time. Not a lot of things rattle me. I find that the more that’s going on, the better I sleep. I sleep pretty well.

You may have 15 more years in your career. But even if you do, after that you’ll still have more than half your life ahead of you. Half your life not as a hockey player. How will you keep “winning at life?”

Well, if I do continue on this path, continue to be the person I am and give more than I receive, I’ll be in a hell of a position at the end of my career. I’ll be able to do whatever I want. To be honest, I still kind of do that now when I have free time. I’m not scared of trying something different. Whether it’s working on SportsNet or hosting the red carpet at the NHL awards, these are things that active players have never done before. But now you’ll see more of that. Show your versatility, and not only that, prove to yourself you can do it. Think outside the box. I find doing all that stuff helps my performance on the ice, helps me play better. Because you can’t involve yourself in hockey 24/7. When my time comes to retire, I’ll be ready to have a family, kids, and for the second part of my life to start. Whether that’s in hockey or not, I don’t know. But I can tell you this, it will be something I want to do and something I’m comfortable doing. And seeing my hockey career end after 18, 19 seasons doesn’t scare me one bit. It really doesn’t.

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