Interview With LA Kings Legend Bernie Nicholls

By Jeff Duarte
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Updated: November 30, 2015

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First of all, I just wanted to thank you Sir for being here today and granting us an interview for CaliSports News!

You got it!

As a child, what was it about hockey that made you want to pursue it as a professional career?

I guess being Canadian has a lot to do with it but as kids, all we knew was hockey. I played hockey in the winter time, summer time, on frozen ponds, all I ever wanted to be was a hockey player. For me it just came natural and I just played it everyday. I was fortunate to grow up in a small town where hockey was available to me all the time. It was all I wanted to do.

In 1980, you were drafted by the Los Angeles Kings. What was your initial thoughts and reaction to not only being drafted into the NHL but to be drafted by a team like the Kings?

I think first was where the hell is LA? And then you get thinking who they got on their team?” You know when you get drafted you hope that they’re not loaded in the position that you play, obviously they had Marcel Dionne but there was a great opportunity for me to play there so after knowing that, you’re excited. I grew up from the smallest town in Ontario arguably to the biggest city in the U.S. It was a big change but it was a great place to play and a great place for me to go.

In 1982, you were called up to the Kings from the minors and did so well, that you were never sent back down to the farm. What was your experience like to finally play in the NHL and for the Los Angeles Kings as a rookie?

You know, I think you’re really excited about just the opportunity to play. For the most part, you feel like you’re good enough to play and you should be there. I think it took them a little time to realize that. I think maybe it was because they had other guys back then under contract but I think they realized that I should’ve been there so they gave me the opportunity and I took full advantage of it. I played very well for the 22 games that I was up and then had an opportunity to play in the playoffs.

You definitely played well with 14 goals and 32 points in those 22 games. Those ’82 playoffs included the “Miracle on Manchester” comeback game and playoff series against the favored Edmonton Oilers team. How was that as an experience, especially as a rookie participating in his first ever NHL playoff series?

To play in the playoffs, you know and have one of the greatest comebacks in playoffs history, that was exciting. And knocking off the Edmonton Oilers at the time with the Great One [Wayne Gretzky playing for them], they were a young team but just enough to play them and beat them was a lot of fun!

After that rookie year, what were your most cherished memories as a Kings player, as well as living in California?

Well living in California was obviously different for me being Canadian. [There was] no snow, warm weather. It was easy to get used to. I said many times to people that playing in California was great and it’s great to this day. Warm weather I think is healthier for people. You know, just playing there the years before Wayne [Gretzky] came, we had our 12,000 fans there every night. A lot of loyal fans, great fans to play in front of. We didn’t have great teams but we were competitive. It was fun. I think obviously when Wayne came he turned hockey upside down in Los Angeles. He obviously made a big impact for hockey in California. That was great for everybody when he came there.

Speaking of that first year that Gretzky played in Los Angeles, the 1988-89 season, to this day, and in my opinion for a very, very long time to come, you hold the record for the most goals in a single season in LA Kings franchise history with 70! What do you remember most, or cherish the most about that magical 1988-89 season?

Yeah I think for anybody to have the opportunity to play with Wayne was very special. I only got to play with him for a year and a half and I said to different guys that I couldn’t imagine playing with him for another 5 or 10 years. It just would’ve been unbelievable but for the short time that I had, it was obviously awesome. Obviously how great Wayne is [on the ice], he is a super person off the ice. I hung with Wayne every day. Every road trip I was with Wayne, we were together all the time. For a year and a half it was a lot of fun for me to have the opportunity to hang and play with Wayne.

That same season, the Kings played the defending Stanley Cup Champion Edmonton Oilers, which was also Gretzky’s former team, in the playoffs again. In that series, the Oilers were up 3-1 before the Kings turned it on and came back to win it 4-3 in seven games. Can you take us back to that series and tell us your personal experience, playing in that memorable playoff series?

Yeah, it was one of the most exciting series that I’ve been in. Obviously there was a lot of emotions at that time with Wayne getting traded. They were up 3 games to 1 on us and we had to win game 6 up there [in Edmonton]. The Oilers still had a great team but I just think the emotion that was into it for us with the three guys that got traded, Wayne, [Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski] made it a series I think was as good as a series that you would want for Canada and with Edmonton trading Wayne to us in LA, all of North America was watching it and it was very exciting that way. For us to come back being down 3 games to 1, that was obviously very special for us and Wayne.

To this very day when I play hockey, and if I’m lucky enough to score a goal, I still mimic your famous “Pumper Nicholl” fist pump into the air. Could you tell us how that move originated, a move that became such an iconic ritual that is still mimicked by and talked about by LA Kings fans today?

I was just excited to score goals! To me scoring a goal in the NHL is great but hard to do. I love seeing people to this day get excited when they score and they should. For me I got excited and I showed it that way. It was Bob Miller on TV, he named it the “PumperNicholl” and it just stuck. It worked out well.

In a moment that was heartbreaking for me as a Bernie Nicholls fan, and no disrespect to the players that were exchanged as they had great careers and played great for the Kings but in 1990, you were traded to the New York Rangers for Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato. What were your feelings and thoughts about being traded away from the Kings, especially at that time when everything seemed to be finally working well for the franchise?

Well it was obviously the toughest part of my career. Like we talked about, playing with Wayne Gretzky, next to playing in the NHL was the highlight of my career. I had a lot of fun playing with Wayne and to have that cut short … I was just told by the [Kings] owner [Bruce McNall], not 3 months before that he was never going to trade me.

Ouch!

Yeah, I was at the All-Star game at the time I was traded so that was not fun. You know your first trade is always the toughest trade but like I said, when you’re playing with Wayne Gretzky now and you just scored 70 goals the year before, you think you’re going to be there for awhile. When they made that trade, it was very tough.

What did you find were the similarities and differences between playing in Los Angeles and then playing in New York City?

New York is an amazing place to play. I enjoyed my time there. An original six team, great following, great blue collared fans, they love the game and love the Rangers. Playing in Madison Square Garden was really exciting. Big difference was they didn’t charter as much as they do in LA. In New York, we spent 30 more nights in your own bed than we did in LA. So obviously travel in the east coast was easy. They bussed to “Philly,” they bussed to the Island, they bussed to Jersey and bussed back to Washington. Traveling in New York was great.

Now post career, you got to return to the LA Kings organization in 2012 as an assistant coach and you were a part of the first LA Kings’ team in history to win the Stanley Cup! How was that experience and did you ever imagine that you would end up returning to the Kings organization and contributing in such a historical fashion, they way it ended up?

No not really. I always felt closest to LA, being drafted there and I spent the most time there. I had great friends there so when the opportunity came when Darryl Sutter took over, and I had been talking to LA before that and wanting to work with them on the power-play and stuff and I knew when Darryl took over, I just gave him a call and asked him if I could come out and help and he said, “Absolutely,” and it turned out great! I was there from January right through to winning the Cup. I always said that I never won it as a player, I couldn’t imagine what that feeling would be like? Having that opportunity to watch the guys go through the grind and the playoffs and what it took to get there and how well they played to win it and I kind of [related to] what they were going through but to not win it as a player, it was obviously second best to be a part of it in the coaching staff.

One serious problem in Hockey and the NHL and not just there but also in other professional sports in general, is the issue with concussions and post concussion syndrome. You ended up suffering some serious concussions and post concussion syndrome that not just affected you during your playing career but still affects you to this very day in your everyday life. What was the difference between how the NHL handled concussions and its consequences then compared to today?

When I was there in [Los Angeles in] in 2012, I’d seen what the NHL have in place now for the players, it’s great. Any kind of impact to the head, you are right in the “quiet room” and you’re tested. You have to pass a concussion test before you can come back to play. You know we didn’t have that and I think that’s the problem and the reason why there’s the lawsuit now [against the NHL]. Guys thought that they were maybe mistreated. As players we want to play and I know I’ve been hurt before, I’ve had needles freeze my body parts to play but it’s all through being okayed by the Doctor. Today they explain the long term effects that it will have. We never had anything to do with our head as far as what Doctors would say when we “got our bell rung.” Now you shouldn’t play right away, there’s things you should do, you should rest or whatever has to be done right now and it’s awesome. The guys are well taken care of and I’m happy for that. For me, I didn’t have that and I think that’s why they’re going through with the lawsuit now.

One thing that I thought was very touching and impressive that you did last summer was when you came back to Los Angeles and participated in the Be The Match Charity Hockey Game. What does it mean to you to be involved in such events that truly help other people and that helps create and spread some awareness?

I think that for the most part a lot of athletes do that. A lot of hockey players do. I’m just actually coming from one right now. There are a lot of kids that are having a lot of tough times and I can only go mostly by the NHL but a lot of NHL players do a lot of charity work and when it comes to kids or helping people out, you know that’s what it’s all about. We lost a young Kings’ fan with bone marrow so they asked if I could participate in the game there.

That Kings’ fan was Tanner Raboin, correct?

Yes Tanner. You know for me, I travel everywhere to do these things just because I think about what I was given through Hockey and I want to give back in however way I can do it, especially with charity stuff. It doesn’t matter, anytime there is an event to help people, a lot of hockey players do that and I think it’s great.

How do you think the Los Angeles Kings will do this season, after not making the playoffs last year as the defending Stanley Cup Champions?

I still think they are as good a team as any. My opinion is that they have the greatest goalie in the world with Jonathan Quick. They have Drew Doughty. He’s never won the Norris Trophy and he should. He doesn’t get the points that other people get but he plays 30 minutes a game and he’s as good as anybody. [Anze] Kopitar is so skilled. They are so deep, they are so strong, no one wants to play them. Every team in the playoffs last year was so excited that the Kings weren’t in it. I still don’t think anybody can take them in a seven game series. I think they’ll bounce back because they’re so deep and they’re so strong and they play such a good defensive system so I still think they’re the toughest team in the league. You got to get in the playoffs before you find that out and obviously they didn’t do that last year but I’m sure they’ll be back this year and do great things.

Once again, thank you so much for doing this interview for CaliSports News and for me, a long time LA Kings fan and a long time Bernie Nicholls fan. Interviewing you was a dream come true.

Yeah no problem! You got it, thanks!.

Bernie Nicholls might not have his famous number 9 retired by the Kings but he was still honored by the club and organization with his own Legends night at the Staples Center. It was well deserved. As a long time LA Kings fan, who became a Kings fan because of players like Bernie Nicholls and Luc Robitaille, to experience and witness the Kings finally win the Stanley Cup in 2012 is hard to fully describe in words but another wonderful story that came from winning that Cup was to see Nicholls and Robitaille together again and be a part of that historic championship moment, on that ice with the team, lifting up that majestic chalice. Sure it wasn’t as Kings’ players as I had originally hoped for as a kid but in the end, they both still found a way to get that accomplishment done and with the Los Angeles Kings. Now that is beautiful!