Comrie can afford to wait

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This article was published 21/09/2015 (3696 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Let’s be clear right off the hop — Eric Comrie is going to be just fine no matter what happens with the Winnipeg Jets.

Comrie is an heir to the Brick furniture empire, a company his father, Winnipeg-born Bill Comrie, built from the ground up and sold in 2012 for $700 million.

All of which is to state the obvious — Comrie doesn’t need the paycheque, NHL or otherwise.

Yet to hear Comrie tell it at the MTS Iceplex Sunday, there is no one among the 55 players the Jets have in training camp who wants it more right now.

“At the end of the day for me, it’s all about passion for this game,” says Comrie, 20. “I’m always one of the first ones to get to the rink and one of the last ones to leave. I just love being around the rink and being around the guys.

“It’s what I grew up wanting to do my whole life. I grew up watching NHL games every single day and I grew up always being around the game. I think it’s made my commitment to the game and love and passion for the game so much greater than most people.

“I know everything about this game and I strive to play every day.”

That right there is the problem. While Comrie, 20, has all the raw materials to eventually be a starting netminder in the NHL — he’s smart, he’s talented, he’s passionate and he has hockey in his blood — he also has the misfortune of playing for a franchise that has depth at the position.

Comrie is a distant fourth on the depth chart at goaltender — behind Connor Hellebuyck, Michael Hutchinson and Ondrej Pavelec — and it’s difficult at the moment to envision Comrie as a starting netminder for the Jets soon.

But he will take at least the first step towards that dream this season. Comrie says the front office has already told him to get a house in Winnipeg, suggesting he will start the upcoming season with the Manitoba Moose as the backup to Hellebuyck.

That could mean a lot more watching than playing this season, but Comrie says he’s taking comfort in some advice he got from brother Mike Comrie, who had a 13-year NHL career.

“He told me to never go to a camp looking at who’s ahead of you. All you can do is work the best you can and if you play unbelievable and stop everything, you’ll earn a spot no matter what.

“It doesn’t matter who’s in front of you — they’ll always make space for a guy who’s succeeding.”

That, coincidentally, is exactly what Jets head coach Paul Maurice has also told Comrie and the rest of the young prospects in camp.

“These are all clichés but for a good reason — because they’re true: the only thing they can do is prove themselves ready for an opportunity,” said Maurice.

While that might sound like lip service, Maurice went on to tell the story of defenceman Nolan Pratt, who played for Maurice in Carolina in the late ’90s.

“We sent him down and he was in tears in the office and he said, ‘There are 10 defencemen in front of me.’ And he was right: there were 10 guys ahead of him.

“And by November, he came up due to injury and he never played another American Hockey League game and went on to win the Stanley Cup.”

‘I have not spent a dollar of anything I’ve made so far, I’m one of the cheapest guys you’ll meet’

A second-round draft pick by the Jets in the 2013 draft, Comrie spent the past four seasons with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, although he did get into five games with the St. John’s IceCaps the past two seasons. He was also a part of the Canadian team that won gold at the world juniors last winter.

His genes scream NHLer. Consider: Of Bill Comrie’s four sons, his two eldest, Paul and Mike, have played in the NHL, while the other two, Eric and younger brother Ty, who was in the L.A. Kings rookie camp this month — are both well on their way.

It’s not the Sutters, but it’s getting closer. Eric Comrie attributes the family’s hockey success more to nurture than nature.

“I don’t think it has much to do with genetics,” he insists. “We’re not the most genetically gifted people, but my dad really instills a hard work ethic at a young age. He provided us with all the tools to succeed…

“He grew up with a hard dedication lifestyle. He worked hard to make the company he made and he instilled that in us at a young age. And we understand how much work ethic and how much determination it takes to reach that high level. And he made sure to push us along the way at each step.”

Comrie says he’s renting a house in Winnipeg for now and is determined to continue to live a frugal lifestyle that gives no hint of the wealth from which he comes.

“I have not spent a dollar of anything I’ve made so far,” says Comrie. “I’m one of the cheapest guys you’ll meet.”

If Comrie ever does hit it big and live his NHL dream, he’s got some great role models to keep him grounded. In addition to his brothers, Comrie’s former sister-in-law was American actress and singer Hillary Duff, who was married to Mike Comrie for five years until the couple split up earlier this year.

Comrie says Duff is a model of how to deal with fame and celebrity.

“She’s awesome. She’s been unbelievable to me and just an excellent human being,” he says. “She’s just a good family person. She’s really kind-hearted, mellow and not arrogant at all. She’s super sweet.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek