hockey prompt

I think I only follow a single hockey player social media account (on twitter) though I follow the teams I support. I'm not big into social media in general, so that particular lack of presence by NHL players doesn't bother me. Hockey is always going to struggle to be a personality driven sport, regardless of social media. Just wearing helmets makes them stand out less during a game (though goalies get the opportunity to show personality with theirs, of course).

Also, an individual hockey player is just less impactful on a team's success. The NHL can and should do more to promote faces of the game, but McDavid, Eichel, Zegras, and whoever simply don't impact quite like LeBron, Curry, etc. Star NBA players can literally be on the floor for an entire game, but barely anyone except goalies plays even a full third of a hockey game. And in football and baseball, you tend to get "fame" for the star positions (quarterback, receiver, running back, pitcher, designated hitter) but the more role players don't break through as often. So I guess I'm a little surprised that more goalies haven't become well known?

But, ultimately, a lot of famous athletes have questionable personalities and we know hockey players are no exception. So the players I do enjoy are ones like Justin Abdelkader who started a reading program for kids and Zach Hyman who actually writes children's books.