Ian Cole came to Pittsburgh in a midseason trade in March 2015 that sent Robert Bortuzzo and a draft pick to St. Louis.
Cole was a key part of the Penguins' blue line for the next two seasons and the back-to-back Stanley Cup runs.
The Penguins traded Cole to the Senators in February of the 2017-18 season, and three days later the Senators flipped Cole to the Blue Jackets, where he finished that season. Cole signed with the Avalanche in the summer of 2018, and he stayed in Colorado until he was traded to the Wild in January of this season.
Cole is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Tom Reed, Dave Molinari and I spoke with Cole for our 66 to 87 podcast last week to talk about his memories of his time in Pittsburgh (including the post-Cup pool parties), his time with the Wild this season, and his future, an interview that starts at the 30:30 mark of this episode:
Here is the full transcript of the interview with Cole:
Reed: Before we walk you down memory lane here, we want to talk a little bit about your team that you played with this past season. What was it like being part of that turnaround in Minnesota, and what do the Wild need to do to take that next step toward Cup contention?
Cole: Yeah, when I got traded there, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I mean, obviously, you know, the Minnesota Wild have a reputation, and I think rightfully so over the past decade or so. But I was very pleasantly surprised when I got there with the infusion of young talent, with the culture, with the personnel they have. A great coaching staff, great teammates, all the guys. They kind of moved on from some of the older players that had been there for a long time and infused some young talent there. And really, I thought we were a very deep team. You know, maybe we didn't have -- past the obvious guys -- didn't have that super high-end talent, like say maybe the Avs or Vegas, but a very deep team that could roll four lines and roll six D pairs. And I thought we did that very well. So with an infusion of some more high-end talent -- which is always easier said than done -- I think that's the future looks very, very bright there. I mean, they have two great goaltenders. There are a lot of things there to be very, very positive about.
Reed: You've played with some really dynamic players over the years, (Sidney) Crosby, (Nathan) MacKinnon, (Artemi) Panarin. Tell us a little bit about this kid Kirill Kaprizov and what makes him so special.
Cole: Yeah, he really is, he's a special player. First, personality wise, he's awesome. I mean, he loves he loves to be at the rink. He loves to work hard. He's always smiling. He's always having a great time. And I mean, he's on the smaller side, but he's put together. He's built. He's so strong on his skates and loves to compete, doesn't shy away from contact and doesn't shy away from hard games. You saw, you know, when you're that good teams sort of key in on you. You see with Sidney Crosby, you see it with elite players all over the league. And it's tough to battle through that -- for lack of a lack of a better term -- bullcrap, right? I mean, guys are slashing you, they're hacking you, they're whacking you. And he's so good at that. He doesn't get frustrated, just keeps playing right through it. And he has the skill to make plays, and he has the strength and the speed to play through it. A really special player, and has the right mindset. He just wants to win hockey games. And he doesn't care about all the extra stuff. He doesn't care about wearing the right brands, or having Louis Vuitton luggage. He cares about the things that matter, which is winning hockey games, and playing well and getting better and going to the rink every day and working hard. So as far as skill level goes, as far as personality goes, as far as basically everything about him, I think he has a very bright future, and I'm very excited for him and for the Minnesota Wild to kind of see that come to fruition.
Reed: Did you have much of a relationship with Bill Guerin when you guys were here in Pittsburgh? And how much credit does he deserve for what's happening right now with the Wild.
Cole: I think he deserves a ton of credit. He kind of, like I said, moved on from the old guard, if you will. Some people weren't happy about that, whether it's fans or people in the NHL or whatever, right? He knew he had to make tough decisions, and he made them, he stuck to his guns. And I think he deserves a ton of credit for having the spine to say 'Hey, look, this isn't working. We're kind of just treading water here. How do we streamline things? How do we move forward? How do we get better as a team and get better in the long run?' I think he said it this year at the trade deadline. He's like, 'Hey, listen, we're not in there. Yes, we've had a great year. We've we've overachieved, we've exceeded expectations, but you know, now's not the time for us to go all-in. And there will be a time for us to go all-in, and it's just not right now.' And I think that that really shows his commitment to his vision. As a team, would we have liked to add two All Star players that deadline? Yeah, absolutely, of course you want to win. But he stuck to his guns and let us as a team try to figure it out. And I think we did a great job as a team. But I think his vision only bodes well for the future of this team. And he, like I said, he sticks to his guns, and he's not afraid to piss some people off to get it done. And I think that's what you need in a GM. He's not there to make friends. He's there to create a winning hockey team. And he certainly has taken the first steps to do that, for sure.
Haase: You're a free agent this offseason. Would you like to remain a part of the Wild? Or just what do you see happening this offseason for you?
Cole: Yeah, it's tough to say. I mean, with the salary cap not moving, I think there's only what, five or six teams that aren't basically within a million dollars in the salary cap? It's going to be tough, money is gonna be tight. So it's tough to say. The Wild have I believe the number is like $22 million in cap room going into next season. And they have to sign Kaprizov, (Joel) Eriksson Ek and (Kevin) Fiala, three top-notch elite players. So it's gonna be tough, it's gonna be tough for them to find money. Would I love to go back to Minnesota? Absolutely. I had a great experience. They're a great team, great bunch of guys. And like I said, I think a great future. The team has a great future there. But it's tough. I mean, I would love to, but it depends if we can get a deal worked out. So kind of open to anything at this point. I think it'd be foolish to be too focused or pigeonhole yourself on one thing given the financial landscape of the league right now.
Haase: Obviously, a shot blocking is a huge part of your game. Do you keep a running total of how many bones you've broken doing just that over your career?
Cole: You know what? So I was thinking about this. I have not -- until this year -- I had not broken any bones at all from blocking shots. I mean, other than my teeth getting knocked out, which broke my jaw. Which, I guess that was a broken bone. But that was more of a fluke, to be honest. But until then, I hadn't broken a bone in 11 years in pro hockey. But I broke a toe this year blocking a shot. So that was the first one that I broke. So I say overall, it's a pretty good run.
Haase: You won two Cups in Pittsburgh did one of those stand out more than the other for you looking back?
Cole: I think that they were both unique in their own right. I mean, '16 was such a great experience. We just jelled as a team at the right time. We were just rolling. We were rolling and such a confidence in our team as far as, oh, yeah, you know, we got to win, we're going into Game 6 against Tampa facing elimination. But there was still a ton of confidence that we could win Game 6, win Game 7 of that conference finals. It was just a ton of confidence in our team in our game. And I think that speaks to the culture of that team. So that was a ton of fun with the first one. It was just like, a whirlwind that led to just a huge party, and it was awesome. The second one was, you know, we had won. And while it was obviously incredibly hard to win again, there was a ton of fatigue built up. It was hard. It was really tough going there. And it wasn't like we were, you know, Presidents' Trophy winner that year. I mean, we were good, but there were still some highs and lows in that season as well. But I think that the experience you get from the first year, really can help in a second year. And I think it leads to a confidence in your team game in a different way than you are when you're just rolling. You seem like you can't lose. In that second year, it was, OK, like yeah, we might have lost, you might not have played well, but we know we can still get this done if we come out and play our game and have confidence in our guys. It was just a little bit of a different feeling. And then by the end of that, it was -- and I've said this before -- it wasn't as much of a party. I mean, it was, but it was more like, holy crap. I'm exhausted. I just want to go to sleep. So we'll have a couple beers, which we'll drink out of the Cup, that'll be great. And then I'll go take a nap for for a couple days. So definitely a different feeling when we won, but equally great.
Molinari: Aside from the the nap stories, is there a moment in one of the Stanley Cup celebrations that stands out to you, that is a particular favorite for you?
Cole: (laughs) There are a lot of them. I don't know, what rating does your podcast have?
Molinari: Oh, we're triple-X, so go for it.
Cole: Oh, well, (laughs) I probably have some of those too, to be honest. But it was a ton of fun. The Penguins' tradition is to is to take the Stanley Cup into the pool, right? Whether it's at Mario's house or at Sid's house. And the first year we were at Mario's house, and Sid was like, 'Yeah, let's take this in the pool.' And the Cup handlers were there. I forgot which ones at the time, but they were like, 'Yeah, we're not going to the pool this year. Don't even think about it. We're definitely not going to the pool. We can't have filled with water at the bottom of the pool again.' And Sid is like, 'Oh, yeah, totally, definitely not doing that.' And they're like, 'Yeah, no, seriously, we're not going into the pool.' He's like, 'No, no, definitely not. I'm just going to go and grab a drink.' So he grabs the Cup, went and grabs a drink. Like a couple minutes later he walks out in his bathing suit, and just walks straight into the pool and jumps in. So they were just like, "Oh, God," like, facepalm, what are we doing, we're back in the pool again with the Cup. But luckily, everyone was still coherent enough at that time to not let it sink to the bottom of the pool. Because you know, it's got the bottom on on the Cup, but it's not airtight. So when that thing fills with water, it's full of water and the water is not coming out very easily. So that 35-pound Cup turns into about 100 pounds filled with water. And it is tough to get out. And, you know, it was just a ton of fun in the pool. I mean, Mario was bringing out cases of Dom Perignon, guys were spraying it everywhere. I mean, that pool was probably half Dom Perignon by the end of the night. And it was a ton of fun. It was a super awesome time.
Molinari: In a future podcast, we can get into whether Sid has an above-ground or in-ground pool.
Cole: It was above ground. And we all ran in circles and created a whirlpool.
Molinari: You kind of touched on this indirectly. How big of a deal is it to you that you were part of the only team to win back-to-back Cups since the Red Wings in '97 and '98?
Cole: I think it just shows the culture of the team. From Sid on down, the confidence that we had in our team, the guys that we had to do all the little things to win. I mean, you can have all the skill in the world. But if you lose puck battles, and you don't get the puck out when you have the opportunity, or get the pucks in when you have the opportunity, and just make silly plays, too often you get burned. At the same time, guys are going to make mistakes, it's going to happen. It's stakes, right? But are all the other guys on the ice able to make up for your mistakes or cover for you or get the job done despite your mistake. And that's where I think there was such a great culture there. Over the quarantine last year, the NHL Network was showing games from those two Cup runs. And I'm just sitting around doing nothing, so, you know, I taped them and I'd watch them at night. And I mean, it was awesome to see how great everyone played. Sid played awesome, Phil (Kessel) played great, (Evgeni Malkin) played awesome, (Kris) Letang played great. (Matt) Murray and (Marc-Andre) Fleury were both unbelievable. But even the guys you don't think about, like Eric Fehr was so great in '16. Chris Kunitz is doing his Chris Kunitz things which, you know, obviously he has the skill to play and make plays, but I mean winning every puck battle, getting every puck out of our ends. It was pretty awesome to watch. As a defenseman, you put a puck up to the winger, there was about a 99 percent chance that puck was getting over the blue line and getting out of our zone and easing the pressure, easing the momentum the other team had. Those pucks weren't coming back in. And that says a lot about our forward group, how great they played, how dedicated they were to getting the job done. I mean, Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen. And even defensemen, Olli (Maatta) played great. Ben Lovejoy played great for us. Ron Hainsey came in and played awesome. Trevor Daley was fantastic. All these guys that might not have the names of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel, maybe not were equally as instrumental to us winning, but without these guys, we would not have won. Like I said, you can have all the skill in the world but if you don't have the depth and the players to back up the skill, you're not gonna be able to get the job done when the good teams have four lines of good players and six good defenseman. So it was really cool to watch, and something I knew, but really, I think was cemented during this quarantine when I was able to rewatch the games again.
Molinari: Both of those Cups you won, like all of the Penguins' Cups before them, involved going through Washington. What were those battles with the Caps and Alex Ovechkin like for you guys and for you in particular?
Cole: I think you know the players they have on their team, their roster. The reputation of the Penguins were oh, they're smaller, skilled, you know, go run them, go try kill all the guys you can. I think we had a great mindset as far as like, just play play through it, right? Play through it, just play, get the job done. Regardless of what happens, go back out, jump over the boards, get the job done. They were coming to hit us and they were coming to run us, and Ovi would get pissed that they're losing, or he tried to run around and hit everybody that moved for a period or two. And I remember one time he came to hit me and I was just like, 'Really? That's it? That's all you got?' and he was all pissed off. And I was just like, 'Man, you're -- I don't want to swear -- but I was like, man you're kind of a sissy, I'll take that hit all all series long. Are you kidding me? That was nothing, like a little baby.' This is me changing some words, by the way, in case you couldn't tell. I think just that being able to take the abuse and then being able to go score at the same time was was huge for us, You got Ovi on the far side on the power play there doing his Ovi thing, taking one timers, and that was a huge responsibility that I was given to go play the right side. And you know, I was playing the left all year and PK on the left side. Basically it was 'Hey, go play the right side and go block Ovechkin's one-timer every time you get a chance. Leave a little early, get out there, block the shot every time.' And I was like, 'Perfect, no problem, done.' So you know, I do my job net-front, I do everything else I was supposed to do. And then as soon as it looked like he was about to maybe start to get over there. I was full speed out down on the shot lane. And if he was going to try to miss me with the shot hopefully it would go wide and that was kind of where my head was at. And then when it hit me, it hit me great. And not that we shut down their power play completely, because I think that's impossible with the personnel they have on it, but I think we did a good job of limiting them and not letting their power play control the series, which is a pretty tough ask with the guys they have on it. So it was a great experience both of those years, it was great. It felt so good to beat those guys. Then obviously they had their time in the sun the following year, the year after.
Reed: We'll get you out of here on this. Give us your favorite Phil Kessel story. You were teammates for a couple years. Phil's kind of a folk hero, as are you in this town. What's your favorite Phil Kessel story?
Cole: Man, that's tough. That's tough. Too many, too many good ones. ... I can't think of one in particular that that really sticks out as a great Phil Kessel story. Because there are a bunch. You know, there was a group of us that would go to dinner on the road a bunch, probably 10-12, upward of 14-16 guys, that would go to dinner pretty much all the time on the road. And he was there all the time ordering his Caesars every time we sat down. Guy loves the Caesars. We had some great conversations, he's certainly an interesting cat. But obviously a great player for us and we couldn't have done it without him. He was so instrumental for us in winning both of those years. And, you know, obviously I think that things maybe went downhill after those two years with him and Sully, but a fantastic player that we definitely couldn't have won without him.
Haase: Caesars over hot dogs? No hot dogs?
Cole: I think preferably it would be the hot dogs in Caesars, as a garnish. Yeah, I would say that if you asked him, he would say Caesars over hot dogs, for sure.