Former Canadien Torrey Mitchell adjusting well to life after hockey

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Life after hockey can be a tough adjustment for NHL players when they hang up their skates.

“You’re kind of finding yourself for a good amount of time,” former Canadiens forward Torrey Mitchell said. “I’m so used to having an itinerary, I’m so used to being told where to be and at what time and having a set schedule. And then, all of a sudden, you’re not at training camp and you don’t have that anymore. It definitely is a little weird at first.

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“Then the season starts and you’re watching games and you’re wondering if maybe I could still be playing,” Mitchell added. “You have some weird thoughts, but there’s also a sense of relief where you don’t have the pressure on you anymore. But as you sit at home more and more, you start realizing that the pressure is something you miss and then you give yourself your own pressure with whatever you start in after hockey. Everyone has to do something and you just create your own pressure for yourself. After being so competitive your whole life, you kind of create some pressure for yourself where you start being competitive again with something and that’s what makes the day more fun for guys that are retired.”

Mitchell played 10 seasons in the NHL, including four with the Canadiens. He retired after suffering a concussion while playing for Lausanne in the Swiss-A league during the 2018-19 season. He was 34 at the time.

“If you’re lucky enough to play until you’re 35, you still have some very healthy years ahead of you — more than half your life,” said Mitchell, who turned 39 in January. “You don’t just sit around all day. I saw (former Canadiens teammate) Dale Weise is doing real-estate stuff now. Whatever it is that guys do, they go all in.”

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Mitchell, who grew up in Greenfield Park on Montreal’s South Shore, now lives in Vermont with his wife, Brindy, and their three young daughters. The couple met when they were both attending the University of Vermont.

Mitchell keeps a busy schedule these days between attending his daughters’ soccer games and operating the ELEV802 Performance company he started in 2019 that specializes in private training for young hockey players. ELEV802 has a rink in Vermont, two in Massachusetts and one in New Jersey. Mitchell said the company expects to open a second rink in Vermont, along with rinks in Denver and Las Vegas, within the next 3-4 months.

Recently, Mitchell launched a new podcast, Pre-Game Twirl, with his friend and co-host Connor Wood. They have eight episodes online now with guests including Mitchell’s former Canadiens teammate Brendan Gallagher, former San Jose Sharks teammates Jeremy Roenick and Jason Demers, and Canadiens GM Kent Hughes, who was Mitchell’s agent throughout his NHL career.

Gallagher is the only player still with the Canadiens from Mitchell’s time with the team and they share some prank stories from the locker room on the podcast.

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“He said: ‘I’m going to tell the nipple story,’” Mitchell said about Gallagher’s response when asked to be a guest on the podcast. “I’m like: ‘All right.’ ”

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Former Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin traded Mitchell to the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 23, 2017, in exchange for a fourth-round pick at the 2018 NHL Draft.

“He was very well-loved,” Mitchell said about Gallagher as a teammate. “I had him when he was in-between … he wasn’t an old veteran and he wasn’t a young guy. So the older guys loved him and the younger guys like (Nathan) Beaulieu and (Jacob) De La Rose loved him, too. I think he was probably 25 or 26 when I got there, which is the perfect age on a team because you can go out to dinner with the young guys or go out to dinner with the older guys. He’s just a super-lovable guy. Great personality, super-honest, great character. How he plays on the ice is crazy competitive and then he can shut it off and be a lovable guy in the locker room.”

Mitchell said he enjoys watching hockey now as a fan and describes himself as a Habs “fan boy”.

“I’ve watched more hockey in the last four years than I watched when I was playing,” he said. “I just like watching hockey now more than ever before, which is odd. So I’m kind of up-to-date with hockey news and it’s fun to talk about. The two episodes we’re doing per week of the podcast, I look forward to that the most throughout the week.

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“When you’re playing, you’re watching video all the time with coaches at the rink and the odd night off you might tune into a game, but you’re not really a fan,” Mitchell added. “It’s healthy when you’re playing to get away from the game and do other things to take your mind off hockey, like enjoying time with the family or going to a movie so you can show up at the rink refreshed the next day.”

Does Mitchell see the podcast as a possible road to more media work in the future?

“Are you hiring?” he said with a chuckle. “I’m just having fun doing the podcast. I don’t know if it leads to anything else. That’s not on my mind.”

scowan@postmedia.com

x.com/StuCowan1

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