NHL Star Jacob Trouba Throws Himself Into His Art — Literally

Full disclosure: I grew up in a New York Rangers household. I went to my first game when I was about 4 years old; in 1994, when I was in the first grade, I begged my parents to let me skip school to go with my dad to the team’s Stanley Cup victory parade (I was rebuffed); and I’ve definitely been known to yell at the TV during tense playoff games.

All that to say, I was pleased when an opportunity came up recently to chat with captain Jacob Trouba, who’s partnering with pharma giant AstraZeneca and Hockey Fights Cancer on its “Get Body Checked Against Cancer” campaign. The initiative aims to educate people about cancer risk factors and early detection, as well as encourage screenings.

Trouba, 30, is coming off a successful season in which the Blueshirts had the best overall record in the NHL and made it to the Eastern Conference playoff finals, where they lost to the Florida Panthers in six games. The defenseman also moonlights as an artist, with his first exhibit, “Landing My Mark,” on view at Harper’s Gallery in Manhattan until Aug. 23. To create many of his works, Trouba, known for body-checking, gets into his hockey gear and strikes or skates into his canvases to leave imprints of himself. (In November, he will donate one of his pieces to a Hockey Fights Cancer auction in support of the V Foundation for Cancer Research.) On top of all that, he’s also a new father, having welcomed a son, Axel, with wife Kelly Tyson-Trouba in January.

Here, Trouba chats about the inspiration behind his art, the importance of cancer screenings, and the teammate he’d never challenge to a fight.

So, how did you get into art, and what was the inspiration behind it?

A friend who was an artist invited me to his studio, and I told myself I was committing three days. I wanted to try it and see what it was all about. This was probably like three, four years ago.

And what kind of pieces did you get started with?

So, I wanted to paint something that my wife would allow me to paint, so I decided to paint our relationship. It’s cheesy, I know. We were talking about having kids and whatnot, and I wanted to hang it in our nursery — that was the original goal. It was hard to get some progress, but I just kept coming back and I finished that, and then I wanted to try something else and just kept coming back.

How did you get the idea to run into the canvas in your gear?

As I was learning about or looking at other artists, I came across Yves Klein, the French artist. He would paint women’s bodies and press them on the canvas and drag them across the canvas. He was the artist, but they were the brush, essentially. And hitting was unique to me, so that was where the idea came from.

How do you get into the mindset to create art? Do you have to keep your phone in another room or generally minimize distractions or anything like that?

No, it’s like a hangout. I’m not good at just sitting around watching TV, so I’m going there and actively doing something. There’s definitely no TV, there’s no couch. When I hang out in the studio, sometimes I’ll throw music on.

What kind of music do you listen to?

A lot of John Mayer.

What’s your favorite John Mayer song?

Oh, that’s a trick question. Probably “Stop This Train.”

Do people get surprised when they find out that you moonlight as an artist? How do they react?

There are usually a lot of jokes. All my buddies back home call me Picasso.

I’d love to talk about the Get Body Checked campaign. How’d you all get together?

The whole campaign just flowed together very naturally. The body-checking on the ice, the body-checking with the canvas, and getting your body checked. We’re donating a painting that we’re going to auction off. That’s probably where I get the most joy out of painting — the impact it can make and the awareness … hopefully encouraging people to make good choices, and to get checked for cancer and get their body checked.

Right. What does it mean to you personally to be involved with this campaign? Do you have a personal connection to early cancer detection or screenings?

My mom’s had breast cancer scares, and she routinely gets mammograms. I lost my grandfather, her father, to melanoma. So that’s obviously been a big part of my family. For my mom, being included in commercials with me was important to her because of my grandfather. So the most I could give back to my grandfather is by encouraging people to get checked. Early detection of cancer is a win for everyone.

I mean, it’s hard, right? You want to convince people to get screenings, but some people are scared to go to the doctor. How do you have those conversations?

I mean, from a different perspective, my wife works in medicine, and she comes home and tells me what she sees. She doesn’t give me all the details, but just the impact speaking to families — that weighs on her. All these things are tied to early detection. Everybody needs to do it. No one’s invincible.

Yeah, and it’s also about being there for your family — you’re a new father, for example. What’s fatherhood been like so far?

It’s interesting. It’s time-consuming. It’s like, you thought you were busy before, and now you’re like, “Now I’m actually very busy.”

How is he sleeping?

Great — 8 to 8, which is perfect.

What’s been the most surprising thing about fatherhood so far?

Kind of a cheesy answer, but watching my wife has been cool, and watching him discover things. He’s still very early in the development stage, but he’s doing this thing where he’s hitting himself in the face. It’s funny, and he’s figuring it out, like watching him track people, learn, and pay attention to new things. It’s been crazy to watch how much he changes every week.

It’s like one week, they’re not eating real food, and then suddenly they are.

Eating food’s hilarious. He’ll make faces when he tries new food.

Are you going to encourage him to play hockey?

If he wants to, yeah. I would enjoy coaching a kids’ team.

So obviously it’s the off-season right now. How are you unwinding or staying fit and training?

I’ve been going out to the practice facility, training out there. Golfing, a lot of painting, a lot of playing with the baby. Depends on my wife’s schedule. There’s not really a set summer program, so I work out in the morning and then figure out the day.

And are you watching the Olympics at all?

I watched a little bit. I watched ping-pong, which was just crazy.

That’s an answer I haven’t heard from anyone. Everyone’s talking about gymnastics.

Yeah, I watched gymnastics last night. And the guy with the pommel horse. That story’s hilarious.

I’ve been very much enjoying the memes about him. I was like, “Wait, who’s this guy?”

My wife was showing me. I’m like, “OK, can I see the routine?”

So fans are becoming really interested in athletes’ style, and the whole idea of the tunnel walk has become such a thing. Do you think about that at all, knowing you’re going to be photographed?

Not really. I should do it more but I don’t. The first time I had to wear a suit was in college. I don’t really put hair product in my hair before a game — my hair’s always a mess. I just pick a suit over white shirts because I’m boring and don’t like to put too much thought into the fashion side. I’d rather just start thinking about the game.

I mean, I’m kind of the same way. I like to wear my pair of jeans, my basic top. You’ve got a lot going on getting ready for the game.

The more basic, the better. I’m not thinking about the outfit. I know every suit that I have goes with a white shirt.

What do you think, heading into the season, is going to be the biggest challenge for you guys?

I mean, expectations are high — not that that’s a challenge. I think that’s a good thing. We were close last year.

If you were on another team, would you drop the gloves with teammate Matt Rempe?

No!

And why is that?

Because he would kill me. [Laughs.] Pretty simple answer.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.