Islanders Hudson Fasching has learned to prioritize mental health after early-career rough patch

ELMONT, NY — The late fall/early winter of 2016 wasn’t at all enjoyable for Hudson Fasching, then a second-year pro in the Sabres organization, and sidelined with a groin injury in Rochester, New York, the home of Buffalo’s AHL affiliate. Fasching can recall getting injured on Halloween. He wasn’t able to play again until the middle of January, about two-and-a-half months later.

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When the Amerks were traveling, Fasching was stuck at home. There wasn’t much to do sometimes other than get lost in his own thoughts, and that wasn’t always a great place to be.

“I was kind of alone in Rochester. The team was on the road, I was out months. Just not in a great headspace,” Fasching said.

So he did something about it.

“The next year I was like, I can’t do that again. That was awful. We had a sports psychologist on the team, so I just started working with her pretty regularly, and just built some habits out from there.”

After the Islanders’ thrilling, come-from-behind 3-2 win over Buffalo on March 7 in which he scored the game-winning third-period goal, Fasching mentioned that he often utilizes “meditation and journaling” in his time away from the rink, and he credits that mental health routine for helping him navigate a career that has been up at times, and down at others.

Now, at age 27, Fasching is up more than he ever has been on the ice, as he seems to finally be establishing himself as an everyday NHL player. Not only is he a mainstay in the lineup, but he’s also been one of the primary reasons the Islanders have been able to get themselves back into wild-card position. They opened up a six-point cushion on Florida on Monday with a 5-1 home win over the Devils (combined with a Panthers regulation loss to the Senators), and it would take a fairly monumental collapse for them to miss out on the playoffs now, with seven games left.

Since key forward Mathew Barzal went out with a lower-body injury on Feb. 18, Fasching has 10 points in the last 16 games — tied for third on the team with Zach Parise. His 2.63 points per 60 minutes at five-on-five is second on the Islanders over that span, behind only Kyle Palmieri (2.89), who led the way on Monday with a pair of goals against his former club.

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Fasching expanded on his view about the importance of keeping himself mentally balanced on Monday morning before the Devils game.

“I just think it’s a big part of the game. The game happens really fast, and if you don’t have a clear mind out there, it’s impossible to make a play,” he said. “I think the biggest thing I learned is to never get down on yourself. The same person off the ice is the same person that’s on the ice. I’m trying to be balanced in everything. That’s my approach.”

As an added stress — albeit, a welcome one — Fasching and his wife welcomed a baby girl, Nora, into the world seven months ago. It’s been a bit more complicated to find time for those off-ice mental exercises that he’s leaned on for several years, but he still makes it a priority.

“It’s an everyday battle,” Fasching said. “Being a parent now I have a lot less time and a lot more stress, so it’s something that I definitely stay on top of to just use to stay sane.”

That Fasching is the Islanders’ biggest pleasant surprise this season is undeniable. He signed a one-way, league-minimum contract on August 23, but didn’t seem to get much of a look in training camp. He dressed for just one preseason game, on Sep. 27 against the Devils, and even in that game he was on what would probably be considered the fourth line.

That game seemed fairly uneventful for him judging from the scoresheet, as Fasching didn’t record any shots on goal, had just one attempt that was blocked, and wasn’t credited with any hits in 13:16 of ice time.

Even so, Lane Lambert recalled that he made an impression.

“I did notice him, for sure,” Lambert said late last week. “I said, OK, this guy can help. To what degree, I wasn’t sure.”

In other words, Lambert probably didn’t envision then that Fasching would be in the top six at such a late stage of the season, but that’s where he was against the Devils, playing with Parise and Bo Horvat.

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The results were mixed — they didn’t produce any offense and were often in the defensive end, but they spent most of their time against Nico Hischier and Timo Meier, and didn’t get scored on against one of the league’s best offensive teams.

In the previous handful of games, Fasching seemed to have growing chemistry with Parise, in particular, which is probably why Lambert figured they might help to spark Horvat, who was mired in an 11-game goal drought before scoring an empty-netter on Monday.

“We’re communicating a lot,” Parise said of playing with Fasching. “We’re just trying to do the best we can together, and we’ve got some good chemistry going.”

Regarding the line changes on Monday, which included Lambert putting Anders Lee with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Simon Holmstrom, the coach said: “I liked the changes. … There was certainly some positives there with the changes, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Fasching has seemed to earn Lambert’s trust primarily through his hockey sense — such as knowing when he should make the simple play, or when to try and create offensively.

“There’s a line between making plays, and getting pucks in deep,” Lambert said. “I think he’s balanced that pretty well. But the ability to make that play is a key for me.”

But even when Fasching errs, or has a rough night, he’s figured out the best way to personally deal with it. That ability to quickly move on is something he’s taught himself off the ice, including through the journaling. When he looks back on some of the things he’s written in the past, it serves as a reminder of how unproductive it really is to think negatively.

“When you write things down you see how silly some of your thoughts are,” Fasching said. “Some of those negative thoughts that you have, like not believing in yourself. Like, why am I thinking that? It’s not helping me. That’s the biggest thing is that I’ve found negative emotion (and) negative thoughts don’t help you get better. It’s just like a crutch you’re leaning on to make yourself feel better, but it doesn’t really do anything.”

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Preparing his mind has become just as important as preparing his body. And the proof that it’s working has been on display for everyone to see.

“It’s a tool to have in the toolbox of things to do, like stretching. (If) my muscles are tight … it’s the same thing for your mind, in my opinion.”

(Top photo: Mike Stobe / NHLI via Getty Images)

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