Catching up with former Coyotes defenseman Jason Demers

Jason Demers tried the veal. 

No, really. That’s what the former Coyotes defenseman (and potential stand-up comedian) was eating when he texted me from Zurich, Switzerland on Monday.

Demers was there to compete for Canada at the Spengler Cup in Davos, but Canada pulled out of that tournament on Monday, citing COVID concerns. Demers wasn’t sure how long he would be in Switzerland while he awaited his visa. If it stretched over the holiday, his girlfriend Jillian Mueller planned to join him. If not, the plan was to head to Kazan, Russia’s fifth largest city, to play out the remainder of the season for Ak Bars Kazan in the KHL. Demers signed a contract on Sunday with the Eastern Conference’s third-place (tie) team.

“It was pretty whirlwind-ish,” he said. “It all happened within a three-hour timeframe. They work really fast in Russia. They get right to the point.”

It has been a rough year for Demers, 33. He fell out of favor in his last season with the Coyotes (2020-21), missing games both with injuries and as a healthy scratch. The latter cost him an opportunity to play in his 700th career game; a meaningful milestone to him. 

Instead, when the season ended, he was stuck on 699 and he became an unrestricted free agent. While friends and former teammates such as Alex Goligoski and Brad Richardson signed with other NHL teams, Demers did not get a single call. It stung.

“I know that there’s not 250 defenseman in the NHL that are better than me,” Demers said. “There’s still a lot of anger and there’s some resentment. I’m always happy for the guys that I know that are playing and enjoying the NHL because I understand the grind that they’ve gone through. I don’t have the same sympathy for organizations and ownership and coaching staffs because a lot of them get caught up in the politics game and it becomes a different kind of animal. 

“It was a tough pill to swallow last year, having an organization kind of give up on you and then trying to get out of said organization and not getting a chance to go play anywhere else. Again, there was anger, there was resentment, but seeing everything that’s happening with said organization now, I understand that it might not have been anything personal and you know what? Plenty of guys in the league have had it worse than I’ve had it so I just let bygones be bygones.”

Demers leaned on Mueller, his parents, Richardson, Goligoski and others to help him through a rough time. He also switched agents this offseason from Robert Sauvé to Pat Morris, but when the season began he found himself sitting at home, training and stewing. Then came a recruiting call from Coyotes executive Shane Doan, who was named GM for Canada at the Channel One Cup in Russia from Dec. 15-19.

“I jumped at the opportunity to play some hockey,” Demers said. “It was literally after the first game that I started getting questions from a lot of the guys that were on the Channel One Cup team or played in Russia, asking if I wanted to stay.

“At first, I wasn’t sure, but I actually was playing with Jordan Weal, who played in Arizona for a little bit. He spoke very highly about Ak Bars and he just kind of piqued my interest. My agent talked to them and I talked to them a little bit. We were on the same page in terms of what we wanted out of the season and wanting to win and compete so it actually came together pretty quickly. It literally was agreed upon before the third game against Finland.”

Demers has never been to Kazan, but he is an avid traveler so he is looking forward to a new experience. The KHL regular season wraps up in late February, and then the Gagarin Cup playoffs begin.

“I think it will be a good experience to visit a place that I wouldn’t probably go otherwise,” he said. “It’s exciting to be with a team that wants to win and who knows what can happen down the line? I just want to show that I can still play so it’s just going to be about taking advantage of this opportunity.”

With the NHL deciding to pull its players out of the Olympics, Demers could find himself pulling on the Team Canada jersey again in Beijing in February.

“I didn’t want to be one of those people that just sat there saying ‘woe is me’ so I took the opportunity to stay in shape and I’m very grateful to Team Canada and Doaner,” Demers said. “We had a good chat while we were in Russia. I’m very thankful that he called me and offered me this opportunity that turned into a contract. For Team Canada, I obviously wasn’t their first choice, but they took a chance and it ended up working out after what was a pretty tough year. It’s good to be back.”

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