It was the second day of the Edmonton Oilers’ captain’s practices ahead of training camp this past September, and Luke Prokop found himself in a unique situation.
Prokop, 23, an AHL defenseman entering his third full pro season, was excited to be there with his hometown team. But these informal skates were heavy on defensemen and short on forwards, so Prokop was asked to play up front for the first time since peewee.
“I didn’t know what the hell I was doing,” said Prokop, who had signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Bakersfield Condors, Edmonton’s AHL affiliate.
At one point during a scrimmage, Prokop was on the wing during a faceoff. He looked over, and Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl was his center.
“He said, ‘Get your big ass in front of the net and stay there,’” Prokop recalled. “I was like, ‘OK, do your thing.’”
Prokop laughed at the memory. It showed him Draisaitl’s personality and competitiveness up close. But he also shared it as an example of what he’s seen over the past five years since becoming the first openly gay player on an NHL contract: He’s mostly getting treated like anyone else.
“People forget that I’m gay,” Prokop told The Athletic recently. “Which is kind of the way I wanted it to happen. I just wanted to blend in.”
Prokop’s journey hasn’t always been smooth since coming out in July 2021. He’s been on five pro teams over the past four years, bouncing between the AHL and ECHL. Some teammates have been more engaging with him than others. He’s started dating and is still navigating how to integrate his boyfriend of six months, Charlie, into his work life and social circle.
Prokop was also diagnosed with a heart condition last season that required surgery.
Much of this will be covered in a documentary about Prokop that was announced Monday, “The Hockey Player,” which will be released in June, Pride Month. Producer Taylor Prestidge, who also made the Hayley Wickenheiser documentary “WICK,” said his crew had 200 hours of behind-the-scenes footage of Prokop from the past three years. They crafted it together into an 80-minute film that will be available to stream on Amazon Prime and Apple TV and will air in Canada on OUTtv.
The focus is not only a broader look at inclusivity in the sport but also the pressures and challenges for a player — openly gay or not — trying to make it from the draft (a Nashville Predators third-rounder in 2020) to the NHL.
The fact that “Heated Rivalry,” an HBO series revolving around two gay hockey players, has become a cultural sensation since its release in November could drive interest in a “real-life” version of the story, Prestidge said. Prokop added, though, that while there are parts of the show he relates to, life as an openly gay player is much different than the portrayal of Shane and Ilya in “Heated Rivalry.”
“’Heated Rivalry’ has been an absolute blessing for drawing attention to this,” Prestidge said. “Not just documentary aficionados are going to watch this now. We have a whole segment of movie watchers that were fans of ‘Heated Rivalry’ that are likely to check this out now because Luke Prokop is the only real-life version of ‘Heated Rivalry.’
“I will say that I don’t think this is going to be like any documentary anyone has seen before.”
Luke Prokop says, “There were reservations, 100 percent,” about being the subject of a documentary. (Photo courtesy of Taylor Prestidge)
Prokop is naturally introverted, so he had some reservations about being part of a documentary.
When he came out in July 2021, he was blown away by the response and support. He got a phone call from Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews. And another one from Elton John. Players within the sport privately encouraged him.
It was the hardest thing Prokop has ever done. But it was also mentally and physically freeing. He could be himself. He didn’t have to hide.
Still, the idea of having cameras around him and his teammates for this length of time — from his days in junior in WHL Seattle to his most recent stop in Bakersfield — was scary. He didn’t want teammates or coaches to be uncomfortable. He was encouraged by how cooperative many of them were, though.
“There were reservations, 100 percent,” Prokop said. “And the narrative of the movie changed a little bit, why things weren’t going super well for me with my time in Nashville and wondering what my future was going to be like with the organization. It’s been filmed over three years. Is there something I said a year and a half ago that might look poorly on me now? I’m still trying to make it to the NHL. That’s my ultimate goal. And you don’t want to ruffle too many feathers doing so.”
Prestidge, who grew up playing hockey in Milton, Ont., brought the idea for the documentary to Prokop. He was struck by Prokop’s story and has always been interested in the inclusivity of the sport and mental health topics. The initial plan was for the movie to start with Prokop’s time in Seattle and end with his NHL debut. Prokop is still hopeful that he’ll make it to the NHL but feels this movie will show the “pressures behind the scenes that I don’t think a lot of people see” in transitioning from junior to pro hockey.
“A lot of people look at it as an easy transition for a lot of players who are first-round picks, and they hop into the NHL right away,” Prokop said. “Well, for 85 percent of the draft class, that’s not how it goes. You have to play in the minors a few years, work your way up, and the minors aren’t all sunshine and rainbows.”
Luke Prokop played 55 games for the ECHL Atlanta Gladiators in 2022-23. (Photo courtesy of Taylor Prestidge)
Prestidge said one of the most interesting parts of the documentary is the relationship between Prokop and his father, Al. It doesn’t focus on Prokop’s parents’ reaction to his coming out but on Prokop feeling pressure from his father from an early age. Al was his first coach.
Then there were Prokop’s health issues. He admitted he was scared last season, when he was with AHL Milwaukee, when his heart rate would spike — and stay up for long periods — even after relatively easy exercises like lunges. During a February game in Rockford, he was in the trainer’s room at second intermission, resting for a half-hour, and his heart rate was still at 175 beats per minute. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital and diagnosed with ectopic atrial tachycardia (EAT), an arrhythmia that affects the top chambers of the heart.
An hour-long surgery fixed the issue, and doctors told Prokop it shouldn’t affect his hockey career.
“It was scary because it was my first surgery, and it was heart surgery,” Prokop said. “I’m just happy we were kind of able to catch it and fix it.”
Prokop has mostly been single since coming out in 2021, but that changed when he met Charlie.
They connected online on the opening day of Oilers training camp. Charlie lives in Saskatchewan, so it’s been a long-distance relationship. They would FaceTime and call at first. Then Charlie came down to Bakersfield to surprise him around Halloween. The first game Charlie attended, Prokop scored two points.
“It’s just been nice to have someone to talk to,” Prokop said. “You look forward to texting them in the morning and talk throughout the day.”
Prokop is still navigating how to integrate Charlie into his world. For example, Prokop went with teammates to the team’s Halloween party and met up with Charlie afterward.
“I want to make sure that he’s comfortable with everything,” Prokop said. “If I bring him to a team dinner, or just a dinner with another teammate and his girlfriend, I want to make sure he’s OK with it. It’s a bit nerve-racking, going into a situation where I’ve never done that before. It’s definitely a hurdle that I’m going to get over at some point. I’m an overthinker, and he’s always telling me not to worry about it and, ‘Everything will be fine,’ and ‘It doesn’t matter what other people think.’
“I still get into my own head about it sometimes.”
Producer Taylor Prestidge says of his upcoming feature on Luke Prokop, “I don’t think this is going to be like any documentary anyone has seen before.” (Photo courtesy of Taylor Prestidge)
That’s partly why Prokop was initially skeptical about watching “Heated Rivalry.” He waited a couple of weeks after it came out before starting it.
“I was living in this reality and didn’t want the perception of other people — to think that was how I was,” Prokop said. “And I was a little bit scared to kind of watch the show because of that. I was getting asked so many questions about it.”
Prokop went in with an open mind and thought the show was great, calling it “worthy of the hype” and “great for hockey.”
He did worry about the reaction to the sex scenes — about viewers interpreting steamy television as reality.
He also didn’t see much of himself in Shane and Ilya, the top draft picks who carried out their romance while playing for rival teams. He did relate to another character, Scott, who was closeted and carrying out a secret relationship with a barista, Kip.
“I could see myself in both of those guys,” Prokop said. “When I first got home when I was 17, during COVID, I was seeing a guy, but I hadn’t come out yet to any of my family. So I could relate to the hockey player side of it. I couldn’t come out yet. I was scared of what everyone was going to think. And then from Kip’s point of view, where I wanted to come out publicly, but the guy I was seeing at the time, he didn’t want me to. That’s what tugged at my heartstrings.”
Was revisiting that period hard for him?
“It wasn’t super traumatizing,” he said. “I never had to turn it off.”
Coming out was scary for Prokop, but he said he has had positive experiences in hockey and life since.
“I didn’t have any bad reactions from family members or friends,” he said. “No one exiled me from their life. It was all super positive.”
In hockey, some teammates ask more questions than others, but for the most part, it doesn’t really come up.
“I’ve had no conflicts with it,” he said.
Luke Prokop is surprised an NHL player hasn’t come out yet. (Photo courtesy of Taylor Prestidge)
Back when Prokop became the first openly gay hockey player to appear in an AHL game in 2023, he said his decision would mean even more if there was someone in the NHL who did the same.
That has yet to happen.
“There’s two sides of the coin,” he said. “If I was an established NHL player making millions of dollars, why would I want to change that?
“I cannot speak for someone who’s in the position — if there was a player in the NHL who was ready to come out. I can’t tell him that he should or that he shouldn’t. But it is a little surprising to me.”