Brodie Chats with McKinney

Brodie Chats with McKinney

hey Cole welcome to the San Jose Sharks and waiting till day two I’m sure is not the preference but how did last night go and how did you wake up this morning feeling like all right this is gonna happen
yeah I mean it’s a super surreal feeling definitely um I mean this is kind of something you look forward to your whole life um and I’m couldn’t be happier with how it went and I’m just super excited
did you have any inclination it would be the Sharks for you did you have any idea where you might end up
um I mean honestly I didn’t have too much of an idea of where I was going um obviously talked to my agent a bit but I’m just I’m so happy um to be where I am right now so
is this one of those greatest days of your life so far type moments is that is that what you’re realizing in this in this moment
yeah definitely especially now it’s kind of starting to hit um but just being able to share this moment with my family and um it’s incredible and I couldn’t be happier
playing on the national team right now I know you have some choices to make about next season and beyond but how did you get to being part of that team and I think a point per game type success from this past season yeah I mean for me that’s kind of a goal I had when I was younger um obviously I saw some guys who I kind of grew up playing with take that path and how successful it was for them and it was kind of something that I knew I wanted to do and when that opportunity presented itself I knew I had to um take my chance so
a Chicago native what got you into playing hockey in general and and how did your path go from there yeah so actually so I was born downtown Chicago and then me and my family moved out to the suburbs of Lake Forest um which is about 30 mi north of the city and there’s a kids club there um that me and my siblings would spend all our summers at and uh in the winter they freeze the tennis courts and ice rinks and my dad kind of threw us out there me and my brother fell in love with it my sister not as much but um it’s kind of something we stuck with since then so that was it’s a story
i’m trying to do the math on your age and timing is it safe to say that you were inspired by like the Kane and Taves era of of Hawks hockey yeah definitely yeah Kane’s definitely always been kind of my role model and guy that I look up to so you know just kind of reading the uh the reactions of pundits and what they’re saying about you and how they’ve watched you a little bit more intricately during your your playing career so far a doit all type forward what do you think they mean by that
yeah I mean I think just a player who can play in all situations um can succeed in all situations play a 200 foot game and uh contribute offensively so
I don’t know if you’ve heard this yet but on the broadcast they were also talking about how you’re a type of player that’s not afraid to uh be physical with an opponent or maybe have have some words with an opponent you’re you’re more of a spicy type player can you can you describe that part of your game
uh yeah I mean I think it’s kind of something that I use to maybe throw all their guys off their games and honestly it kind of gets me more involved in the game too um so I love and it’s kind of something I’ve always done um have that little grit to me so it’s definitely something I’ll continue to have and use well you should meet Sharks assistant general manager Ryan Klo because that’s the exact type of player uh that he was for the Sharks and obviously in the front office in terms of decisions you’ll make moving forward what’s the timeline on that and how far down the road is that
yeah I mean honestly I don’t know i mean obviously hockeyy’s a lot different and kind of just taking year by year um see what happens and have the talks with the Sharks obviously but I mean for now it’s just day by day year by year so
what do you know about the Sharks i mean you you’ve obviously watched all the teams and you had no clue you’d be going there here today but the core group that they’ve got they’re building what they’ve already drafted this year what do you know about San Jose
yeah I mean obviously it’s such a great organization um and obviously like you just said the young talent that they have I mean it’s a super exciting place to play and I mean I couldn’t be happier to be drafted by them and I’m just really looking forward to getting to work so
who’s with you uh here in Los Angeles right now
yeah so I’m here with my mom my dad um my sister Elliot and brother Oliver um so the whole whole five of us family came down here so it’s it’s been an incredible time and super exciting for sure
from now until eventually let’s just say it eventually when you get into the NHL how do you want to grow as a player what are the things that you look at and say “All right I’m I’m good here but here’s where I see room for improvement.”
Yeah i mean honestly it’s everywhere right i mean the NHL is such a fast game and I think that’s kind of definitely something I’ll continue to work at just getting faster bigger stronger um the normal things but I think it’s it’s just something you kind of really have to kind of look at and no matter whether your strengths or your weaknesses are just trying to get better in all those um spots so
two more things do you know anybody in the Sharks organization have you played with anybody teammates friends with anybody um not personally um no so
all right well when you when you get out here next week for dev camp we we’ll introduce you to some people so that’s good
yeah that’s great the other part about it was do you have any friends that have been drafted yesterday and or are set to be drafted today a lot of people you must know there in Los Angeles
yeah definitely i mean lots of my teammates um couple went yesterday and some today as well so it’s I mean it’s super exciting to see and kind of see the smiles on their faces puts one on mine so it’s I’m so happy for them and everything we’ve gone through the past two seasons together it’s been incredible so I couldn’t be happier for them
all right last thing for you forget all the hockey stuff the stats the um you know skills you have on the ice if Sharks fans want to get to know you who you are as a person how would you write your own biography
yeah I mean I’d say I’m just a very outgoing um caring person who likes to smile make jokes and have fun so
all right well I think that’ll fit in well in San Jose congratulations Cole really appreciate this thank you so

Brodie Brazil chats with the Sharks 53rd overall pick Cole McKinney after being selected in the second round of the NHL Draft of June 28, 2025.