Knights winger becomes leader while navigating through grief

That man is by far my favorite Golden Knight. What an absolute amazing human being.

"Keegan Kolesar stepped onto the ice after a recent practice at City National Arena.

On the east side of the rink, 10 to 20 kids were waiting for him. Some wore shirts with the Golden Knights’ No. 55 right wing on the back.

Some were shy. Others were excited to meet him. But they were all there for one reason — they had gone through what Kolesar had endured.

These kids are from Adam’s Place, a nonprofit organization created to help children, youth and families dealing with the loss of a loved one. For these kids, it’s the loss of their parents.

If anyone can relate to what he’s going through, it’s Kolesar.

Kolesar’s father, Charles Peterson, died at age 46 on Sept. 13, 2020, from COVID-19. It was six months into the coronavirus pandemic. Kolesar had never been a full-time Knights player, but he had been part of the team’s taxi crew in the Edmonton bubble when the postseason resumed.

The Knights' season ended in five games to the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Finals the next day.

The game was Kolesar's way of not only getting away from it all but also reconnecting with his father. Peterson was the first overall pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1993 and later a scout with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The bond Kolesar is trying to forge with these kids may not be that long, but it's an olive branch he wants to extend, whether it's through a phone call or a face-to-face meeting.

"I know how exciting and fun hockey can be, and I think kids have a hard time grieving," Kolesar said. "I saw it firsthand with my little brother and sister. They didn't know how to express what happened, and they had to go back and rebuild their lives.

"I think something like this gives kids a chance to express themselves, or if it's a tough time, it helps them reflect."

Kolesar was surprised that his involvement with Adam's Place had exploded so quickly.

The NHL Players' Association asked Kolesar about it in November. He didn’t expect it to get as much attention as it did. Most of his early work was behind the scenes.

“I was kind of a silent investor, I guess you could say,” Kolesar said.

Kolesar approached Kim Frank, president of the team’s foundation, and asked if there were organizations like Adam’s Place or if there were families who were going through a breakup.

He wanted to give back to the community that had given him so much. Kolesar signed a three-year, $7.5 million contract with the Knights on Dec. 13, his second extension with the team since becoming a full-time player in the 2020-21 season.

In turn, the 27-year-old rewarded the Knights with the best season of his career with nine goals.

“It takes a lot to get there, but I think the environment I’ve been in, the people around me and the people who have supported me have helped me get to where I am today. I’m very grateful for them and the opportunities they’ve given me,” Kolesar said. “It’s up to me to continue to improve and continue to improve as I go along.”

“Scoring his first goal of the season on Oct. 19 was a huge weight on Kolesar’s shoulders. Most of the time, he said, he’s only a few feet away from scoring his first goal by December.

Things are starting to come together for him. He’s become more comfortable and confident as the years go by. He thought this season was his time to be different.

“It’s a lot harder now as you get older, you get more confidence in the opportunities you get, and that’s what you need to create,” Kolesar said. “I think that’s what I’ve seen myself doing this year, I’m more creative and I have a better shot at the puck than I probably have in years.

Don’t mistake Kolesar’s quiet demeanor. He's always been a guy who likes to speak up when needed in the room.

He doesn't try to be a leader like captain Mark Stone, center Jack Eichel or safety Alex Pietrangelo. Kolesar acts in a way that he tries to be cheerful, always to have fun.

"There's a sense of humor that often comes from my words," he said.

It's something that Kolesar has always had, but perhaps the opportunity to speak more has come from those who are no longer with the team. While Kolesar jokes that his voice sounds better than Jonathan Marchessault's old "Fringlish," it also has to do with luck.

The departures of Marchessault, center Chandler Stephenson, left wing William Carrier and right wings Michael Amadio and Anthony Mantha have opened the door for Kolesar to take command of the room while also showing what he can bring on the ice.

That opportunity has been a calling card for coach Bruce Cassidy as to why so many players have contributed to the Knights’ 24-8-3 record. Kolesar and left wing Brett Howden, who has a career-high 13 goals, were two players Cassidy thought took the biggest leaps in training camp. Kolesar was a 30-goal scorer in juniors with the Seattle Thunderbirds, then a 20-goal scorer with the Chicago Wolves in the American Hockey League, so Cassidy knew it was there. It was just a matter of if he could be a complement in an offensive role at the NHL level.

Because of upper-body injuries to left wing Ivan Barbashev and center Nicolas Roy, Kolesar has gotten an opportunity further up the lineup from his usual fourth-line role.

“This isn’t happening out of dumb luck,” Cassidy said. “He’s putting the work in, too. I think he has trust in the staff to use him. We’ve always used our fourth line a certain way, but that doesn’t mean you can’t produce in that role because you’re going to get your minutes. Just don’t lose the shutdown game or the physicality. He’s found a way to balance that.

“Now he’s up in the lineup a little bit when guys are out. It’s going to be hard to drop him down, but that’ll be a good problem to have if and when those days come.”

What hurt Kolesar the most was going through the start of his NHL journey without his dad.

While the NHL got back to regular-season games in January 2021 and Kolesar became a full-time player, it was a rewarding experience. But he was still navigating through the pandemic, as well as being isolated for most of it, that it took a toll.

“There was so much downtime, there was so much time away from everything that all you were able to do was think about things,” Kolesar said. “For me, it was my first year in the NHL, too, and I was given an opportunity, and I was kind of like, ‘Wow, I could make it,’ but I really have to grind.’

“I know if my dad was there, he would have helped me along the way, so it was kind of like I had to do it myself almost and go through the things my dad would’ve helped me out with.”

Kolesar also has been an outreach to his teammates.

Center Cole Schwindt lost his father, Jason, to suicide in the summer of 2021. Since that time, Schwindt has been part of three NHL organizations, but has found a home with the Knights after he was claimed off waivers from the Calgary Flames in October.

“He was one of the first guys that helped get me comfortable with the group,” Schwindt said. “Him and I have kind of grown into a relationship for the two months I’ve been here.”

Kolesar and Schwindt have been linemates at times, but without divulging details, they’ve talked about how the other has navigated through that grief. Schwindt called Kolesar “a team’s dream.”

“Whether we had that in common or not, he’s a guy that wants everyone to come together and fit in and be a one-man unit,” Schwindt said. “He’s just a stellar human.”

Kolesar isn’t trying to change the world in one day. Slowly but surely, he wants to try to make everything “maybe 1 percent better.”

The holiday season has helped him reflect on that, especially meeting the kids from Adam’s Place. There was a point where Kolesar thought he was just trying to stay alive in the league

He now knows he’s in a position where he can make a difference in someone’s life.

“People I’ve seen at the grocery store, they’ve come up and congratulated me on the new contract,” he said. “That’s how I know I’m making a little bit of difference in this community.”