The Capitals goaltender, who had a long road to the NHL after going undrafted, is now an Olympic athlete.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — Just a few years ago, Logan Thompson was ready to call it quits. Now, he's an Olympian.
He'd heard multiple times, from the likes of Kelly McCrimmon himself and other critics, that he'd never go pro. McCrimmon even bet a case of beer on it. And, after going undrafted after four years in the WHL and unsigned after a development camp look, he'd believed the doubt himself and took the advice handed to him: go back to school.
So he did, attending Brock University and reuniting with coach Marty Williamson, one of the few who still believed Thompson had potential.
"I was just kind of over it," Thompson said. "It was definitely upsetting. I just thought I was right there. I just never seemed to get any attention. No one really seemed to believe in me, whether that was my play style or, I don't know."
He'd chosen to major in sports marketing to remain in the industry, and started scouting out jobs. Uber Eats was among the possibilities, but his beat-up car wasn't up to the task.
Something in Thompson told him not to quit, though, so he chose to bet on himself. It paid off, as he shined at Brock and earned himself an ECHL contract.
From there, it was a straightforward, surefire path to the Show.
"Once I figured out, 'Hey, I can play in this league,' this hunger for more was always there," Thompson said.
His standout play forced one of his critics in McCrimmon to put pen to paper, signing him to his first NHL contract. Thompson's still waiting on the case of beer he was promised.
Years later, he's the Capitals starting goaltender with a .915 save percentage through 28 games, the third-best mark among Canadian netminders this season. That, and his standout campaign last year that had him end up fourth in Vezina voting, has led him to the Olympic stage, where he'll represent Team Canada along with Tom Wilson.
"I wanted to be known as a big-game player and a game-changer in this league. You talk about a lot of goalies like Hellebuyck, Shesterkin, Vasilevskiy, Bobrovsky," Thompson listed. "I wanted to push myself and I wanted to be in the conversation with those guys. That’s the standard I hold myself to.
"I'm happy I stuck with it."
The full feature can be found on The Hockey News:
How Capitals' Logan Thompson Went From Nearly Quitting To Becoming A Top NHL Goalie
No one believed in Logan Thompson, so he bet on himself. It's put him among the NHL's best as he makes waves with the Washington Capitals.