TORONTO – Devin Setoguchi didn’t want to quit hockey for good, but he was finally prepared to do it.
In the fall of 2014, Calgary took a chance on the troubled and talented alcoholic, signing the Alberta native to a one-year contract. Cocky by his own admission, Setoguchi flamed out in his home province, burning bridges and tarnishing his word when he failed to deliver on a promise to stay sober for the season.
His career as a Flame ended after 12 pointless games.
By April of 2015, a humbled 30-goal scorer who couldn’t last in Adirondack had hit rock bottom. He’d shot whiskey to the point of coughing up blood. He entered rehab in California.
Clean, sober and newly married, Setoguchi tried out for the Toronto Maple Leafs in September of 2015. Then 28, he believed it was his last chance to make it as an NHL player.
Training camp went poorly in Toronto, and Setoguchi was unable to make what would become the league’s worst team. Today, the forward remains grateful to Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello for giving him that brief thanks-but-no-thanks look last autumn.
“I didn’t have a good camp. I knew that. I had a couple games, and I didn’t play very well. It’s simple. Lou was straight up with me. He said, ‘We’re going to let you go now so you have an opportunity to go overseas,’” Setoguchi says.
“So he did me a pretty good solid as far as letting me go early, knowing I wasn’t going to make it.”
When veterans hang on to a tryout too long, he explains, the European professional opportunities dry up. Setoguchi was cut early enough to secure one of just four spots on HC Davos allotted to foreign skaters.
The Swiss A league was perfect for him. Less checking, more time with the puck. The big-ice style placed an emphasis on the speed and conditioning he’d need to rediscover if he were to ever crack another NHL lineup. He scored 24 points in 30 games, then added another eight in seven playoff contests.
“I got to play hockey,” Setoguchi says, beaming. “I was severely overweight in the summer [of 2015]. I didn’t have the training I needed [when I arrived at Leafs camp].”
His time in the Swiss league even included a few tilts against an 18-year-old named Auston Matthews.
“Playing overseas, it’s a lot of speed, a lot of skating, a lot of handling the puck. That’s a huge confidence boost,” he says.
So when Setoguchi inked a PTO this fall with the Los Angeles Kings—last chance, Take 3—he arrived at mid-season weight (205 pounds) and with a fresh perspective.
“If hockey’s not in my future, if I wasn’t there anymore physically or mentally, I was fine being able to drop it,” he says. “That’s really the only [invite] I had was in L.A. I didn’t have any other options.”
If the Kings sent him packing, well, Setoguchi says he’d do what anyone else would do: go on a six-month golf hiatus and figure out a Plan B.
“He earned a spot in training camp being on a tryout. Some of the coaches pushed for it,” says Kings head coach Darryl Sutter. “It’s a good story. He’s a guy you want to see do well.”
Six surgeries, three 20-goal seasons and one epic bout with the bottle later, the 2005 first-rounder isn’t taking anything for granted.
Stay hungry and he’ll join the 500 Game Club later this season. On Saturday, versus Calgary, he notched his first NHL goal in more than 32 months. Then he scored again.
He was greeted by an outpouring of messages; he calls it a huge personal accomplishment.
“But now it’s forgotten. It can’t just be a one-game thing for me. Ronnie Wilson [who coached Setoguchi in San Jose] always said: ‘One game’s a fluke, two’s a streak, three is hard work.’ He was always on me,” Setoguchi says.
Setoguchi is smiling, shaking his head. He is resisting contentment.
“I’m here now, and I put everything I can into it,” he says. “If it works, it’s a bonus.”
If not?
“It’s been a good ride.”
