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IT’S A THOUGHT we’ve all had at some point.
Where will we be when that life-changing, career-shifting moment happens? How will it feel to know a dream is about to come true?
Karl Taylor was somewhere in Iowa, boarding a bus for a six-hour ride to Milwaukee.
Cole Schwindt was pulled aside by his coach after playing back-to-back American Hockey League games.
Andy Zilch was refreshing his email inbox, trying to will a long-awaited notification to appear.
Each would end up receiving the same message: Their long-hoped-for NHL debuts were coming.
The circumstances weren’t ideal. North America was in the midst of an outburst of the highly contagious omicron variant of COVID-19, with the far-reaching human toll that went with it. While the impact on the hockey world was not nearly as dramatic as it was elsewhere, the NHL saw dozens of players sidelined through league protocols. But from those challenging times, stories emerged about people who had worked and waited for years to reach the pinnacle of their careers. All they needed was an opportunity.
Finally, the door was open.
KARL TAYLOR WASN’T supposed to make his NHL head-coaching debut this past December.
When the Nashville Predators first called Taylor, the longtime bench boss of the team’s AHL affiliate Milwaukee Admirals, it was about filling a supporting role behind Dan Hinote, who had been promoted temporarily from Predators assistant coach into the head job after John Hynes tested positive for COVID.
Taylor had just finished coaching against the Iowa Wild, and not even an NHL call-up could save him from the long bus ride home. He arrived back in Milwaukee around 4 a.m., took a nap, packed another bag and set off for Nashville with Admirals assistant coach Scott Ford.
“We were a backup plan,” Taylor said. “So we just went there with open eyes and prepared to help out in any way we…
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Source : espn
