Jordan Oesterle’s trials went way behind ice time and role in the 2020-21 season
Jordan Oesterle’s trials went way behind ice time and role in the 2020-21 season
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It has been one heck of a calendar year for Jordan Oesterle.
One year ago Monday, he began the postseason with the Coyotes in the Edmonton playoff bubble. By the time Colorado had eliminated Arizona in the second round of overall action, former coach Rick Tocchet and assistant coach Phil Housley had labeled Oesterle their most consistent defenseman in the playoffs.
That level of play carried over into the 2021 season. Oesterle had a goal and nine points in the season’s first month and a half, and he was regularly logging 20-plus minutes a night with a season-high of 24:08 in a win against Anaheim on Feb. 24.
It all spiraled downward from there. His minutes decreased, his production decreased and by early April, he became a frequent healthy scratch. The final indignity came on May 3 when he was in the lineup against the Los Angeles Kings — at forward because the Coyotes were short on bodies. That weirdness occurred in another game, and when I requested Oesterle after a game to discuss the unexpected move to forward, he declined the Zoom appearance.
“It was weird for me as well,” he said when I caught up with him after he signed with the Red Wings last week. “Let’s hope I don't have to do it again.”
It would be easy for Oesterle to hold some ill will toward the coaching staff after that treatment, but he took it in stride because he was dealing with something much bigger. While he was in the playoff bubble, his sister, Nicole, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent treatment and appeared to be OK, but in late February or early March of last season (Oesterle can’t remember), the family received more bad news.
“She had surgery and was pretty much cancer free, they thought, and then they found it was in her spine,” he said. “It was trying times for our family going through that and now it's something where hopefully there will be more research and hopefully they get it out of her body, and if not, she just has to learn to live with her new normal.
“It's the same type of cancer that she was diagnosed with before, but somehow it’s in her spine. Thankfully, it hasn’t grown since it has been in there. Once a month, she goes in and does chemo or treatment and she gets monitored every three months. It’s a new type of life to get used to, doing that every month, and the side effects that come with it for the week, but she has been great through it all. She’s a strong woman.”
Jordan Oesterle wasn't happy with this role on the team in April and May, and he didn’t really understand being all but written off, but his sister’s situation brought perspective.
“My situation wasn’t life and death so it was easy for me not to get too down about it,” he said.
Even some of Oesterle’s teammates were unaware of what he was dealing with.
“I just kept it all personal, to myself, because it is what it is,” he said. “Everyone has stuff going on within their families.”
Oesterle will have a lot more time to spend with his sister and family after signing a deal to return to his hometown of Detroit. He grew up in suburban Dearborn Heights, and his father had Red Wings season tickets until Jordan moved away from home to play for the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede, and then at Western Michigan University.
It’s the third homecoming of sorts for former Coyotes this offseason. Defenseman Alex Goligoski signed a one-year, $5 million contract with his home state Minnesota Wild, and forward Michael Bunting, who grew up in nearby Scarborough, signed a two-year, $1.9 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“We were a pretty big Red Wings family growing up,” Oesterle said. “I was born in ‘92 so I wasn't watching them at their peak, but they won a couple of championships with (current Detroit GM Steve) Yzerman and (Nicklas) Lidström still there.
“I was a big Yzerman fan growing up, but when I started to play more defense and picked that position, I loved watching Lidström. The guy played for so long and made zero mistakes in his whole career. He made it look very easy.”
Oesterle’s agent, Matt Federico, was having conversations with the Coyotes until very late in the process.
“I wouldn't say the door was closed,” Oesterle said. “Bill (Armstrong) was open to me the whole time and my agents with him. It was tough to leave Arizona. I just think with the way they are trying to reload on draft picks and rebuild so heavily, if I came back for a little, it was almost like you worried that if they weren't in the position they wanted to be you were going to get moved (at the trade deadline). The sense of stability and going to a team similar to how Arizona was when I first got there that was attractive.”
It wasn’t until two days before free agency opened that it became clear that Oesterle was going to market.
“I didn’t really know which teams would be interested,” he said. “It was my first real free agency. When I signed with Chicago (in 2017), it was a little different because I wasn't established in the NHL so any kind of one-way offer that came my way, we were taking it.
“I didn’t know what to expect and with the new guidelines for free agency and them getting rid of that window before where you could negotiate, you don’t get too much info from your agent leading up to it so I didn't know the chances of Detroit, but that was a team I had circled to find out their level of interest and if there was an opportunity to come home. It was kind of hard sleeping, not knowing if we were going to get anything from them and when they called me with interest and an offer, I was pretty much completely focused on getting a deal done and signing there.”
That call came while Oesterle was celebrating his honeymoon in Maui with his wife, Ashley. They drove the famed Road to Hana, they kayaked and paddle-boarded, they soaked in the sun and they swam with sea turtles, including one that came to the surface to swim alongside them. A trip whose mission was to celebrate new beginnings ended with the same feeling.
“I wish it would have been before the honeymoon because it would have been a little less stressful but everything worked out,” he said. “The last two days of the honeymoon, after finding out that we were going to be coming to Detroit, were pretty surreal. It made it that much more exciting to fly home.”
Oesterle actually didn’t fly right home. He flew to Chicago because he was standing up in a wedding for good buddy and Blackhawk forward Alex DeBrincat. Oesterle played one season for the Hawks, and now he has to flip the script and play for the hated Red Wings, who were the beloved Red Wings while he was growing up. It’s all very confusing.
“It’s going to be different,” he said. “You can definitely feel it and sense it in the rink when those two teams are playing against each other. There's hatred between them. I am looking forward to every single game I get to wear that Red Wings jersey, but especially games against Chicago and the Rangers and those teams that have such a long history with the Red Wings.”
As for his time in Arizona, Oesterle is at peace with its closure.
“I loved every minute of it,” he said. “That’s where I spent my mid to late 20s; I was there for three years. Getting traded from Chicago, Arizona was an unknown. I hadn’t spent much time there, but my wife and I were pretty upset to leave the team and the group of guys that we had been so close to for those years. But as everyone says, it’s a business. At least we’re leaving Arizona to come back home to Michigan. We couldn't be more excited for that.”
Happy he was able to go home, prayers his sister can overcome this terrible disease
Good for Oesterle to go back home and thanks, Craig, for sharing his difficult story. Players are human and personal situations impact performance as it would for any of us in our own jobs. Will be cheering for him!