Article content continued

“When I was 25 and 26 I played for a lot of great coaches who said I just needed a chance. Hearing that kept my dream alive, helped with my belief system. I needed that,” he said. “When I started playing pro it wasn’t to make money, or to turn down an NHL gig to go to Europe to make more than I was making in the American League. For me, it was all about wanting to get to the NHL somehow.

“The bus rides (AHL) did wear on me but there were good teams there too, and you develop some close friendships. I looked at it as fun. I got to play in Hershey (Pa), the chocolate capital. I had a lot of visitors, family and friends, and remember going to the hershey factory quite a bit. I’m not going to tell you how much I had, but I had quite a bit.”

He got his first shot with the Avalanche for good in 2009, but admits he was always looking over his shoulder.

“I played for a great captain Adam Foote and I’ll never forget what he said when I made the team out of training camp. He said ‘if you think that’s hard, the real job is staying here.’ Making it and staying it are two different things.’ I took that to heart, every single day. I’ve tried to make sure I made a difference in every game I played,” said Hendricks.

He plays smarter now; he’s not itching for fights, not going 40 seconds just to stir things up.

“I manage the game better and I learned some leadership traits along the way,” said Hendricks. “My first year in Colorado, I had a really good camp and had a big short-handed goal my last exhibition game against LA and still got sent down. I remember thinking ‘what could I have done differently?’ The next year’s camp, I played like there wasn’t a puck on the ice. I knew there was a fourth-line job to be had and I didn’t have to prove I could score.”