#and told them he thought he'd be in the echl soon

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Jake Evans was on the Good Times Ahead podcast with two of his best friends

He has a lot of interesting conversations with them, I've transcribed/summarised some of it below the cut

He was not expecting to be called up for his first NHL game, he had the day off and had been up late playing Fortnite and didn't wake up to the phone call. His roommate had to wake him up to get the call-up.

He was called up because guys were sick, not because they wanted to call him up to see him play, so for his first game his mindset was that "there's no expectations on me so I'm just gonna enjoy the experience, who knows if is my only game".

Who helped him out in the beginning? "I played with a few of the guys in Laval, like Dale Weise was there, so it's kind of easy to chat with those guys that are there and have been there for a while." He also sat next to Gally and asked him a lot of questions, "he definitely was a guy I was kind of leaning on the first few times just because I didn't really want to overstep anything". When he was playing with Domi "he was great. Some guys could be 'Oh, I'm playing with this AHLer today, screw this' but he was excited and said 'let's go have some fun and enjoy it'".

When it comes to the younger guys he feels like he's the in-between guy on the team, "I help out if I need to but I don't feel like it's my place right now to offer all this advice and stuff, it's still somewhat fresh to me". He lets the older guys chime in and help them but "little things like system stuff or what time meetings are and what to wear to games or travel stuff" he can help with.

Nick (one of the hosts) points out that the one thing in Jake's life that did take a step up when he started playing in the NHL was his car. He was walking to games "and that's when I knew I needed a new car, I was too embarrassed to drive it to games".

Talking about the playoffs last year, "everyone that's gone on a cup run would say the same thing. It'll never be as you expect". When they were down 3-1 in the first round "guys still believe in each other on the team but it's kind of like, you know we're one goal away from packing our stuff up and going home."

In the playoffs you're playing every other night and you're travelling so much, "it was a lot of fun but I could see it on a lot of guys". "I was obviously quite banged up but a lot of guys were playing through some wild injuries that people don't really expect."

During the playoffs last year the team was "the closest team I've ever been, like, there's just no bad guys, everyone's cheering for each other. I remember I got put in the lineup for game six in Toronto and Tatar got taken out, who's been in the NHL for like 500 games, he's been first line with us for a while, and he was a great guy still afterwards. Like, he's supporting everyone, always the first one there. It's almost like a brotherhood where everyone's just cheering for each other."

"Especially with us, no one believed in us besides us and it's kind of fun, like you're almost laughing, you're just taking down all these favourites and favourites and favourites. I'd say just how close we were like, I would want to go and have dinner with everyone on the team or go hang out with them and I think that's a huge thing."

The Vegas series was the biggest challenge, one of the reasons they lost the first game was the shock of going from total lockdown to a building full of fans. That was "the first time I've seen more than 20 or 30 people in the same room, 20,000 people screaming, so that was a huge shock for everyone".

He got a dog named Winnie in the offseason and "she brings a lot of joy when we're not winning a lot".

"Growing up a die-hard Leafs fan it was actually quite an easy transition, I thought it would be a little harder. I can't stand playing Toronto now ... beating them in game 7 was the best win I've had, honestly it just felt so good."

Last year he became close with Toffoli because they lived in the same building and "one of our only lifelines was the Toffoli clan". This year he lives very near Lekhonen, Gally, Toffoli, and Armia, and that's who he's gotten really close with. He's also close with "a couple of the younger guys like Suzuki and Caufield and Poehling, kind of going up through the ranks with them".

Who can talk to anybody? "Gally just runs his mouth, he could talk to a wall for an hour."

Was he a little star struck coming on to the team? "All these guys, you play video games that you're controlling them, like I'm always trading for them in NHL and trying to make the best team ever, and Price is my number one goalie to always pick up, and now you're playing with him so that's cool. You just kind of... you don't creepily watch them, but sometimes you just like get lost watching them on the ice, you're like, wow this guy's good, right?"

How about guys like McDavid and Matthews, is it like, "holy shit I've got to cover this fucking guy tonight"? That's another very cool thing about the NHL, going against guys like Crosby and Ovechkin and obviously Matthews and McDavid ... it's cool to be able to say that you played against them or you're matched up against them".

One of his first plays was a face-off against Matthews, Jake thinks he "proceeded to skate right off on to the bench probably. I remember our coach said try and get off the ice when you see them jump on because you don't want that in one of your first games, you're trying to gain some confidence and that won't help".

Talking about developing in to a defensive role, "Everyone in the NHL was always one of the offensive guys that was at the top of their team until however long, and then the guys that make it in the NHL I think are the ones that figure out their spots." He was given a more defensive role in college and "took pride in taking big face-offs or being on the penalty kill and just shooting it down the ice".

"I don't care very much about points, I want to obviously put them up and every time I'm on the ice I want to score but there's other things in hockey that to most fans you don't really notice but I take pride in. I don't really care if I'm putting up two points a game, I'd rather be an even or +1 and shut down top lines."

How does he deal with slumps, when there is no winning at all? "I'm not going to act like an expert on it because I'm not, but I just try and have fun with it. I just find when you're in a drought or you're not playing well and you just grip your stick, you're not having fun, you don't feel good on the ice and it's just going to keep going and going." He tries to have fun and stay positive, particularly in practice, and look at the chances he's creating because one will eventually go in.

He took a pottery class in college, thinking it would be a cruise and he could just hang out but it was tough, "I had to get in there and get all messy with your clay and you actually had to put up some good work, and I put up some terrible work. Those bowls and mugs I made were 20 pounds and could fit a couple nuts in them and that's it. I think all the people closest to me have some artwork."

He gets asked what he thinks he'd be doing if he didn't play hockey no much, "and I don't know, I went to school for the reason where I didn't have to worry hopefully afterwards and something will pop up, but I have no idea, I just could not tell you". He's been watching the show Friday Night Lights again and thinks he might be a small-town high school football coach.

Talking about his concussion during the playoffs last year, "That was my second major one, they're all obviously serious but that was the second one I've been stretchered off on." He was talking to the doctors the next few days asking, "What are your thoughts on my head? I'm starting to be really concerned that this will have some serious long-term effects" He was very lucky that most of his symptoms went away within the first two weeks.

At least on his team, it's more open about concussions now and there's no pressure from anywhere to play through or come back too early. "Let's say you get hit pretty hard in a game and then you go in the next day and they don't think you have a concussion, but if a guy has a headache he'll go in and just say it because guys are starting to realise there's serious issues that happen after hockey or even a few weeks later that might arise if you don't say anything". In Laval he got hit weird and didn't even know if he had a concussion, he might have been overthinking it, but he said "screw it, I'll sit out a week and not risk anything" because if you don't take care of your brain it's going to affect you for the rest of your life.