2 weeks Ago
It was a cold winter’s day when Alex Iafallo’s unique call for help appeared in the Winnipeg Jets player group chat. “Does anybody have a chainsaw?” he asked. At first, no one knew what Iafallo wanted the chainsaw for.
He’s a known outdoor adventurer and camping enthusiast, but it was the middle of winter. He also lives in an apartment building: Iafallo isn’t in charge of his own landscaping. Advertisement One teammate, speaking anonymously for a Jets player poll, tried to explain things.
“I would say Alex Iafallo (is the best at playing outside) and it’s really not that close,” he said. “He was asking me for a chainsaw earlier in the year to go cut out some ice, and I said, ‘Dude, just get an ice auger.’ He said, ‘No, no, no.
I want to do it old-school.’ I guess chainsaws are old-school, but the guy is out there building igloos and stuff.” Iafallo is a unique character, soft-spoken in a scrum but playful and lighthearted with his teammates.
In Los Angeles, where Iafallo regularly played on the top line with Anze Kopitar, he once sent a single roll of toilet paper to a teammate’s house — via drone — back in 2020. In Winnipeg, where Iafallo scored the goal that tied Game 1 by driving the net and burying Mark Scheifele’s rebound, he’s known for his hard work on the ice and his appreciation of Manitoba’s outdoors. Iafallo denied the igloo theory behind his chainsaw request, but the actual reason is just as wild.
“I wanted to jump into the river, like for a cold tub,” Iafallo told The Athletic in a recent interview. In Winnipeg? In winter ? “Yeah. In the Red,” Iafallo said.
“A stupid idea, but ...
I couldn’t find the chainsaw.” This is the story of how an undrafted collegiate player with a unique sense of adventure became a clutch scorer for Winnipeg, stepping up from the fourth line to the first when Gabriel Vilardi was hurt. The more you speak with Iafallo, the less surprising it is that he wins his on-ice battles on a nightly basis or scored the goal that he did in Game 1.
He’s used to getting things done the hard way. He tends to insist upon it. Julianna Iafallo is a physical therapist, a retired NWHL hockey player and Alex Iafallo’s little sister.
She described her family’s upbringing as “outdoorsy,” but said her brother took that to the extreme. While the average Iafallo summer vacation meant hiking, camping and visiting national parks throughout the United States, Julianna said Alex is unique even among their family. Advertisement “That (chainsaw request) sounds just like him,” she said.
“He is always trying to do things the old way rather than taking the easy way out.” What does this mean, exactly? Last summer, Iafallo wanted to get a fishing boat to add to his offseason adventures. Though he was three years into a contract that paid an annual average value of $4 million, he found a boat he liked on Facebook Marketplace and fixed it up himself.
Julianna remembers that when they were teenagers, Alex and his friends did mechanical work on his family’s four-wheelers and dirt bikes for pleasure. Fixing things is more satisfying to Iafallo than taking the easy route, she said. More recently, Iafallo’s road trips have become a particular point of legend among his Jets teammates.
Iafallo doesn’t fly to or from Winnipeg to start the season. He drives, regardless of the distance. When the Jets acquired him, Iafallo was camping in a California mountain range and wasn’t near his phone.
A week went by between the blockbuster trade news and Iafallo’s first interview because Iafallo was off the grid. “He was camping for a week,” said the teammate who first proposed the igloo theory. “That’s why he didn’t hear about it.
Just put his phone away, like ‘See ya!’” All of Iafallo’s offseason pursuits seem to involve hard work, consistency and a little bit of madness. It is perhaps unsurprising that he is the sort of hockey player who fights to get to the hard areas of the ice. “I just like doing things the wild way,” Iafallo told The Athletic .
“I just like camping, cruising around and finding good mountains and trails.” Contrast Iafallo’s understated phrasing with the depiction given by teammate Morgan Barron. Iafallo and Barron played together for most of the season, prior to Iafallo’s promotion to the top line due to Vilardi’s injury.
Barron said he admires Iafallo for his “unwavering approach” at the rink, whether he gets 10 minutes or 20 on any given night. Advertisement Barron laughs when he thinks about the difference in their offseason drive home. “I think we have a similar length of drive, except I always try to find a few nice hotels to stay in,” Barron said.
“Al just pops up his tent on the back of his truck and stays wherever he can find on the side of the road. You can draw that parallel to the way he works on the ice.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Alex Iafallo (@alex_iafallo) Winnipeg didn’t love its start to Game 1.
The St. Louis Blues’ forecheck was effective, limiting Jets breakouts and disrupting Winnipeg’s rhythm. Arniel said on Sunday that the game turned in Winnipeg’s favour in the second and third periods when the Jets started executing five-man breakouts.
“That first period, we weren’t crisp. We ..
. looked nervous. We didn’t execute as well as we usually do and it had a lot to do (with) our breakouts,” Arniel said.
“But I thought we did a better job in the second period and in the third of our five-man breakouts, us supporting, coming back, playing fast. Those are all things that when we’re on our game, we’re doing well. It also leads you to play in their end of the rink a lot more.
” There is no better example of this than Scheifele’s support for Dylan Samberg and Neal Pionk in the build-up to Iafallo’s tying goal . Adjustments for Winnipeg against the Blues on Monday could come in the form of breakout tweaks. If the Jets can find rush offence, they’ll take it, but their goal is to be better prepared to do things the hard way from the opening faceoff.
Doing things the hard way is Iafallo’s calling card. On Sunday, Iafallo was asked by one reporter: If Scheifele and Kyle Connor are the artists on that line, what trade would Iafallo use to describe himself? Before Iafallo had the chance to answer, someone suggested “brick layer.” “Brick layer,” Iafallo said, repeating the word.
“Yeah, I like that. Just get to the net.” Advertisement He’s starting to sound more like the sort of person who would ask his teammates for a chainsaw in the middle of winter, no? The length of Iafallo’s top line run is unclear.
Vilardi skated at Sunday’s optional practice, wearing a non-contact jersey, but his return does not appear to be imminent. I’d expect a slow progression out of the non-contact jersey and into heavier practices before a return — perhaps late in the Blues series or in time for Round 2. Nikolaj Ehlers isn’t skating yet; he remains out week to week, while Rasmus Kupari has been cleared from concussion protocol but needs time to get back up to speed.
The Jets’ depth is getting tested, perhaps to its limit, but depth is a unique strength of the Jets roster. “Because of that flexibility we have, you don’t necessarily see him on the top line without injuries, but he’s a player who is capable and then some of doing that,” Barron said. “I think people don’t often appreciate how great a player he is.
He played on the first line in L.A. and scored some huge playoff goals along the way.
” Iafallo has already scored a huge playoff goal in Round 1. It’s hard to believe he wasn’t drafted, despite playing four years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, including time spent with future NHL players like Pionk and Dominic Toninato. Now Iafallo is fresh off signing a three-year contract extension and is playing first-line minutes on a Presidents’ Trophy-winning team with Stanley Cup aspirations.
If it is meant to last, a playoff run also takes a dogged approach: players willing to do the right things over and over again until they get rewarded. Fixing four-wheelers and camping in remote mountains might not seem like playoff training, but there are parallels. Iafallo’s life, on and off the ice, is about hard work — not in a single moment but over extended periods.
Barron sees a link between Iafallo’s approach off the ice and his tenacity on it; Iafallo says he’s just trying to give the Jets the best version of himself. “I just stay mentally prepared. I’m ready to go in different scenarios,” Iafallo said.
“Everyone wants to contribute the right way. You’ve got to do your job and give everything to the team. Playoffs is a step up.
It’s go time.” (Photo of Alex Iafallo celebrating his Game 1 goal with Kyle Connor: Terrence Lee / Imagn Images).
