Jets' Eric Comrie thankful for never being handed anything

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Published Oct 14, 2024  •  Last updated 4 hours ago  •  3 minute read

Goaltender Eric Comrie takes a breather during a Winnipeg Jets informal skate at the Hockey For All Centre in Winnipeg on Wed., Sept. 11, 2024. KEVIN KING/Winnipeg Sun Photo by Kevin King /Winnipeg Sun

Nothing’s ever been handed to Eric Comrie. His father made sure of that.

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“He understood what it was like to have nothing, and he raised me like we had nothing,” Comrie said.

In reality, his family, which has produced three NHL players, along with brothers Mike and Paul, had everything.

Comrie’s father, Bill, opened what’s now known as The Brick in 1971. In 2012, he sold the business to Leon’s Furniture Ltd. for $700 million while Comrie played junior hockey in Tri-City in the WHL.

Not that Comrie would have felt the windfall.

There may have been hundreds of millions in the family’s coffers, but the goaltender never knew a time growing up when he wasn’t made to earn everything he was given.

Do nothing? Expect nothing in return.

“He taught me what it was like to come from nothing and to work hard every single day,” Eric said. “It’s the greatest thing he ever gave to me.”

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That gift has defined Comrie’s professional career, including the long, winding road to being an NHL regular that no riches could have paved.

It makes sense, then, that when asked about winning the Jets backup job this season, Comrie mostly talked about having to work even harder now to ensure he doesn’t lose it.

His dad wired him that way.

Growing up, Comrie couldn’t remember doing something out of the norm of his friends and classmates. He rode the same buses, did the same activities and was tasked with the same responsibilities.

“I saw hard work and associated that with success,” Comrie said. “This position is very fickle. They could find someone new right away. So it’s about being prepared, doing the best I can, and just performing to the best of my abilities.”

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So when the Jets signed Kaapo Kahkonen just a couple of hours after Comrie was brought back into the fold on July 1, Comrie wasn’t worried about the competition it immediately created.

“It didn’t matter to me,” Comrie said. “I knew I had to come in and earn a spot. I think that’s the best way to be. It’s the way hockey should be. Nothing should be given. Everything should be earned. That’s how I look at life.”

Comrie believes that anything less greatly diminishes his chances of success. It’s part of the lesson his father taught him.

So he chases the hard things in life instead, drawn to them because he feels they make him a better person.

And that’s helped him continue to push.

Comrie didn’t become a full-time NHL backup until the 2021-22 season. The Jets drafted him in the second round in 2013.

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It took him nearly a full decade, years spent in the minors, and a wild couple of seasons living out of the waiver wire suitcase before he made it.

His career-best numbers behind Hellebuyck a few years ago earned him a multi-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres. However, injuries and a three-goalie setup stunted his chances of success.

Throughout it all, Comrie leaned on his family, a tightly-knit group that often communicates daily.

It’s a blended bunch, with his dad having sons Mike, Paul and daughter Cathy with his first wife, who passed away in 1990 after battling cancer.

Bill remarried in 1994. Eric was born in 1995, and brother Ty in 1997.

Mike, a third-round pick in 1999, played 589 NHL games, while Paul, drafted in the ninth round by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1997, played 15 with the Edmonton Oilers during the 1999-00 season.

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“My family has had to earn a couple of spots in their career,” Comrie said. “My brother Mike, brother Paul know how to do that.”

“They just said go out there and do the best you can every single day. And if you perform your best, you can earn a spot and they will make room for you. It’s not about beating a guy, doing that. It’s about doing the best you can and earning a spot.”

Head coach Scott Arniel witnessed the work ethic firsthand during training camp.

“He earned the opportunity just like everyone else,” Arniel said.

It’s how Comrie builds his confidence.

He admits he doesn’t have much swagger. He earns his belief in himself through — you guessed it — hard work.

Coming back to Winnipeg also offered familiarity and comfort. Those two things help.

“I know these guys trust me,” he said. “I worry about that sometimes. And I know they trust me, and they have faith in me. Wade (Flaherty) trusts me. (Hellebuyck) trusts me. That really helps build that inner confidence and that inner drive, the wanting to succeed for this group.”

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