NHL players choosing their own goal songs is trending in a sport that has historically emphasized team and downplayed the individual.
The Winnipeg Jets this season are among the latest NHL clubs to let each player pick a song to reverberate through Canada Life Centre after scoring.
“I think the fans have loved it. The players have definitely picked up on it. They’ve put some thought into it,” said Kyle Balharry, True North Sports’ senior director of game presentation.
“It’s bringing a lot of personality to the game.”
Sam Gagner’s choice “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers gets the fans “singing it like crazy,” Balharry said.
The players’ selections generate social-media buzz as fans dissect both musical tastes and how a player’s choice reflects his personality.
“Music is a hot topic always, right?” Balharry said. “It’s impossible to please everyone, but it definitely sparks conversation.”
A team song blares in every NHL arena after the home side scores.
In Calgary, it’s AC/DC’s “T.N.T.” Toronto’s is “You Make My Dreams” by Hall and Oates. Vancouver’s is Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me).”
Winnipeg isn’t abandoning that ritual.
The chronology now is the goal horn is followed by the Jets’ goal anthem “Gonna Celebrate” by The Phantoms, the whoosh of a jet engine and then the player’s song.
That sequence provides just enough time for the in-house DJ to locate the player’s song.
“In hockey, it happens so fast. Probably one of the struggles for years and reluctance from hockey teams including myself and the Jets is how to execute that,” Balharry explained.
“On our scoreboard, when you’re watching the replay, a graphic will come up that says, ‘this is my song’, and we’ll show the player and it’ll show what song he picked,” he continued.
“Then we’ll put a QR code up as well. People can hold their phones up and download the Spotify list.”
The Jets joined the Florida Panthers in adopting personalized goal songs this season.
The Buffalo Sabres introduced signature songs last season following the San Jose Sharks and Washington Capitals in 2020.
Buffalo’s playlist 2.0 offers up a couple of throwbacks.
Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Collin Delia (60) blocks a shot by Buffalo Sabres left wing Jeff Skinner (53) while defenseman Jake McCabe (6) tries to get the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game Friday, April 29, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Joshua Bessex).
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Sabres forward Jeff Skinner switched his goal song from Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the U.S.A.” last season to the more retro-pop “I Want To Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston.
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“I just chose one that was sort of a singalong-karaoke kind of song,” explained the 30-year-old from Toronto. “To me, it’s a classic. Whenever I go to a wedding or a party, it’s usually one that gets the people going.”
Sabres defenceman Victor Olofsson was born 16 years after the release of ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight),” but the 1979 vintage dance hit is his choice at KeyBank Center.
“I just needed something Swedish,” Olofsson said. “I guess I said to my girlfriend this summer, I probably want something a bit more Swedish and she came up with the ABBA song. It’s just a good song.”
Instead of picking their own songs, Flames’ players are assigned their music that follows “T.N.T.” at the Saddledome.
“The Flames did pick one for me, the AC Milan theme song,” Calgary winger Milan Lucic said. “They did a really good job of that, so I’d stick with the one they picked.”
The Vancouver Canucks were early adopters of personalized goal songs in 2015, but discontinued the practice after a couple of seasons.
“I don’t score enough to get my own goal song, that’s for sure,” Canucks defenceman Luke Schenn said. “I’m usually asking who (the puck) hit on the way in.”
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For decades baseball players have picked their own songs to be played when they walk to home plate for their at-bats. NBA players have signature riffs after they score, like Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet’s “Yabba Dabba Doo.” The NHL has been slower to embrace an in-house entertainment element celebrating individual contributions.
“Hockey, especially, has been like that, focusing more on building the team than individuals,” Lucic said.
“The difference is too, you know you’re going to go up to bat, but you don’t know you’re going to score every night, so that maybe has a little bit to do with it as well.
“Thinking about guys coming out to bat, especially when I was at (Boston’s) Fenway going to games, it was a pretty cool thing seeing what songs guys picked and what songs guys like. I think it’s great there’s that individuality now in hockey.”
