Lightning’s Austin Watson finds success after anxiety, alcoholism struggles
TAMPA — If you look around the Lightning locker room, it doesn’t take long to notice left wing Austin Watson. One of the biggest personalities in the room is a guy who has been here just a few weeks, arriving on a professional tryout offer.
If you didn’t know better, you’d think the 6-foot-4 Watson had never had a bad day in his life. He is equal parts loquacious and thoughtful, most likely to greet you with a firm handshake and an ear-to-ear smile, complete with three front teeth missing.
But there might not be anyone happier, or more grateful, than Watson that he’s landed on a Stanley Cup contender.
“Coming on a (professional tryout), it’s a little bit of adversity, especially having been a NHL regular for the last seven, eight years,” said Watson, 31. “But for me, I’ve faced a lot of adversity, whether I’ve created it or whether I’ve run into it.”
Watson has been to some dark places. He has dealt with depression, anxiety and alcoholism since he was 18, right around the time the Predators made him a first-round draft pick in 2010. Trying to deal with those issues derailed his career and his personal life. He has been in rehab three times, most recently a two-month stint in the NHL/players association substance abuse and behavioral health program in early 2019.
Watson began the 2018-19 season serving an 18-game suspension (reduced from 27) after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor domestic assault charge involving his then-girlfriend, now wife, Jenn Guardino in the offseason. Watson said an alcohol relapse after 23 months of sobriety led to the incident, in which he told police he pushed Guardino during an argument outside a Tennessee gas station. She issued a statement saying that Watson would never hit or abuse her, and that her own struggles with alcohol led to police involvement that day.
Watson has rebounded. After a trade to the Senators in October 2020, his hockey career found new life with him a veteran in a young Senators locker room. He and Jenn are now the parents of two daughters, ages 5 and 2.
Most important, Watson has been clean since his last stint in rehab. January will mark five years of sobriety.
“If you want to go through his story and what he’s been through in life, that’s a guy that has seen absolutely everything, the ups, the downs, the rock bottoms, the recovery, being a straight arrow, a family guy now,” said Lightning center Nick Paul, a teammate of Watson’s in Ottawa.
“You’re not just bringing in a hockey player. You’re bringing in someone that brings more to the team away from the rink as well,” Paul added. “If someone’s struggling through something, he’s a guy you can feel comfortable going to. He’s not going to judge you. He’s been in the low spots himself, and he’s figured it out.
“He’s got his life on track. He’s got two beautiful kids, a beautiful wife, and he’s doing well for himself. That’s someone you’re bringing in with so much experience and not just hockey, but in life; it’s a great thing for the team.”
No hiding his past
Watson’s new teammates know his story because he doesn’t shy away from it. He says he has a responsibility to help others who might be going through similar struggles. He wants to be part of fighting the stigma about discussing mental health and substance abuse issues.
“Maybe you can help somebody else that may or may not be going through it, whether it’s somebody watching on TV or watching an interview, or maybe it’s somebody in the room or around the organization that just needs to know that it’s all right to be going through things and that it’s not all doom and gloom,” Watson said.
“For me, it’s always been just about trying to be open and honest about those things, and that’s just part of my life. And hopefully, if somebody needs to see that and see that it’s OK to go through things and see you can come out on the other side, then hopefully that’s helpful to somebody.”
Watson had no guarantees coming into this preseason. He had scored 19 goals over the past two seasons in Ottawa, was a contributor on the penalty kill and was an enforcer, but the Senators didn’t offer him a contract in the offseason. Neither did any other team.
When Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois offered him a professional tryout opportunity, Watson thought it might be a fit. He might not get the minutes he had been used to, but the Lightning has just traded Pat Maroon to Minnesota, so they could use another player who could be an enforcer to go along with Tanner Jeannot. He called Paul, his locker mate for 1½ years in Ottawa, and soon thereafter, Watson was crashing with Paul as he tried to earn his way onto the roster.
“He called and just says, ‘Hey, I’m going to be sleeping at your house for a month,’ and I said, ‘No chance,’ ” Paul joked. “But he’s an all-around good guy. He doesn’t have a bad bone in his body until he steps on the ice, and then he’s that guy who’s got anyone’s back.
“He’s that guy that brings the energy when the game’s maybe a little stale and we’re going back and forth and it’s pretty dry. He’ll get in there, mix it up and bring energy. And those are the big guys in the locker room. He might not be scoring a goal every single night, but he’s bringing that energy. ... (At home), his feet are always up, he’s got a Coca-Cola in his hand and he’s usually yapping about golf.”
Fitting right in
Watson has become a seamless addition to the locker room, a player who seems like he’s been there for five years instead of five weeks. He picked up a new system quickly and won teammates over with his effort. He stood up for his teammates with two fights in the final three preseason games, and despite a roster crunch made more difficult by the training camp injury to Andrei Vasilevskiy, Watson made the Lightning as the 13th forward.
“Arguably, that role is as important as the guys playing on the top power play,” coach Jon Cooper said. “This is a team. It’s not an individual sport. Guys understand that, ‘Hey, I may not be in the lineup every night, I may be playing less minutes than other guys,’ but they accept that role and kind of relish in it. And we’ve had players like that in the past, and some really important ones to us that are now gone. And those guys are hard to find.
“Initially, I didn’t know exactly what we were going to get with Watson, but he’s been fantastic. And he’s just a joy to be around.”
Now, that Watson has made the Lightning roster — the team signed him to a one-year, $776,655 contract, his smallest annual salary since his entry-level deal — he can look for his own place and move his wife and kids from California, where they had been staying with his in-laws. And with the right hand injury to forward Tyler Motte, who is out indefinitely, Watson figures to get more ice time.
“He’s a great guy, really good player, stands up for his teammates and just can still make plays,” said defensemen/alternate captain Victor Hedman. “We’re going to need guys to step up. Injuries are going to happen. We’re already down (Motte). So you’re going to need guys to step up and we’re looking forward to ‘Watty’ getting another chance. He came in with a great attitude, so we’re very excited.”
Asked whether battling his way onto the roster from a professional tryout offer compares to any other challenge he has faced in his career, Watson smiled and said, “There have been some things (in my life), so I’m no stranger to the microscope.”
Then he compared it to coming out of his first full NHL season in 2015-16. He had played 57 games that season, had come out of his first stint in rehab and was waived in training camp. Facing uncertainty, he fought his way back onto the Predators roster a few weeks later, played a career-high 77 games, and the season ended with Nashville going to the Stanley Cup final, where it lost to Pittsburgh.
“I learned a lot in going down and then coming back and winning a job that way,” Watson said. “It’s tough because you want to do everything right, you want to play to the system to the tee, but you have to affect the game in a positive way.
“You have to almost play a little fearless, even though all that’s going on in your body is a bunch of fear. That’s a difficult thing for guys, and I think that experience, you can lean on that a little bit. And I’ve faced a lot of adversity in the past, so no stranger to it, but it’s always nice to get on the other side.”
Contact Eduardo A. Encina at eencina@tampabay.com. Follow @EddieintheYard.
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