The power of perseverance
Arriving at any of life's crossroads is never easy.
Is this a good time to switch jobs? Switch professions? Which college should I attend? Is my baseball/football/hockey career over or should I keep going?
New Blackhawks defenseman Jaycob Megna is an expert at the “crossroad dilemma” and his story figures to inspire young athletes — and perhaps even struggling adults — as they wrestle with a difficult life decision.
Megna, a Glenbrook North High School graduate, got his start in hockey when mom Jacqueline brought his brother and sister to a rink in Crystal Lake. The family had just moved from Florida and “in the winters, she didn't really know what to do with us,” Megna said.
All three loved skating, and Jaycob and older brother Jayson ended up playing for the Chicago Mission, one of the top AAA teams in Illinois.
When the 2007-08 season rolled around, however, Jaycob was cut. At that point, he seriously considered quitting.
But dad Jay, who was a defensive back at East Tennessee State and went to a few NFL camps, knew one rejection wasn't the end of the world. So why not try out for Team Illinois — another top-notch AAA team — and see what happens?
“He put so much time into it and I didn't want to see it go to waste,” Jay said. “It wasn't something we were going to just let go.”
Megna made that Team Illinois squad, which included future NHL star Ryan Dzingel, a Wheaton Academy graduate, and two years later it defeated the Mission in the state championship and advanced to nationals. Megna called the 2009-10 campaign “the most rewarding year” he's had playing hockey.
“It's tough getting cut,” said Megna, who was just 5-foot-8 at the time but then sprouted to 6-6 as a freshman at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. “You're 15 or 16 years old, you're in high school. I was small. It was a hard time.
“But there's other organizations when you're playing as a kid. You don't have to be a finished product at 15, at 20, at 25 — even now I'm 31 years old and I still feel like I'm getting better.
“That's one of the things you have to continue to do no matter how old you are. You can't let other people put limitations on what you're capable of.”
∎ ∎ ∎
There were 211 players selected in the 2012 NHL draft. Megna was the 210th.
His reaction — especially considering it was his second year of draft eligibility — figured to be instant joy.
But he had to be woken up first.
“I was sleeping,” Megna said, laughing. “Then I got a phone call from my agent. 'Hey, Anaheim took you.' It was totally unexpected. … It was really the first time I thought I could play in the NHL.”
Still, the odds were firmly against him. Seventh-round draft picks are truly the longest of long shots. Only four of the 30 players taken in that round that year have played in more than 95 NHL games — and Megna leads the way with 159.
Megna developed with the Ducks' AHL franchise and was a big part of San Diego's run to the 2019 Western Conference finals, a series the Gulls dropped 4-2 to the Chicago Wolves. Megna did get 28 games with Anaheim that season, but he was not re-signed and ended up going to the Wolves.
During that campaign Kobe Bryant, who Megna idolized growing up, tragically died at age 41. At the next home game, the Wolves had a special '24' jersey with 'Bryant' stitched on the back that Megna wore during warmups. He signed it and it was auctioned off for charity.
“It was really special and pretty cool to do,” said Megna, who has donned '24' most of his pro career in tribute to Bryant. “Super sad obviously what happened with him. He's just been a guy that I've always admired his work ethic. As a kid I stayed up for those 9:30 or 10:30 Central starts on the West coast.”
∎ ∎ ∎
After that season, Megna hit another fork in the road. He was 27 years old, had played in a grand total of 43 NHL games, was just starting a family and nobody was calling.
Weeks went by. Maybe this really was the end.
But then San Jose reached out with an AHL deal.
“I really had no choice,” Megna said, “so I took that.”
Megna showed well and earned a two-way contract with San Jose for 2021-22. Then his NHL door cracked open when COVID ravaged the Sharks' D corps.
“I got a call at like 3 p.m. for a 7 p.m. game and was told, 'We don't know if you're playing or not,'” said Megna, who did suit up that night in a 2-1 OT victory over Winnipeg.
He appeared in the next five contests, was called back up after Christmas and played 39 more games.
“I was just really grateful because a lot of times you feel like you play well and you kind of get the, 'Thanks for the help' and they don't talk to you again,” Megna said. “The coaching staff there was great. They really fought for me to get another opportunity.”
That off-season, Megna earned the first one-way contract of his career. He played 48 games for San Jose, then was traded to Seattle.
“It was one of those things where if I didn't get that American League deal from San Jose, I don't know if I ever would have gotten back to the NHL,” Megna said. “After that it was kind of like house money. I think I really proved that I could play at this level.”
∎ ∎ ∎
In the lean years before the Hawks began competing for Stanley Cups, Megna remembers coming to games and being allowed to sit on the glass no matter where his parents bought tickets.
That's how depressingly empty United Center was in those days.
“The security guys just let us all go sit down there,” Megna said. “They were probably like, ‘It’s a couple kids. Yeah, go for it. Have a blast.’”
Then Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and others arrived, pretty much ending Megna's treks downtown. Like many of his friends in middle and high school, he rooted the Hawks on from afar as they won titles in 2010, '13 and '15.
“Definitely a huge fan,” he said.
While the 2019-20 campaign with the Wolves certainly qualified as a homecoming, Megna's true full-circle moment came when the Hawks claimed him from Seattle on January 3. He was in the lineup the next night against the Rangers and the night after that at New Jersey.
“I hadn't played a game in the NHL all season, then flew to New York and played at Madison Square Garden,” said Megna, who kept getting healthy scratched by the Kraken. “So cool. So much fun. Yeah, I'll play every night. I'll play 10 games in a row if you want.”
Megna's been a mainstay in the lineup, averaging 18 minutes in 18 contests while often skating with rookie D-man Kevin Korchinski. A mentorship role is incredibly important in the NHL, so it will be interesting to see if the Hawks elect to re-sign Megna after the season.
It seems like a decent possibility. Nikita Zaitsev won't return, so it might come down to Megna or Jarred Tinordi.
Just another crossroads moment for Megna. And — no surprise here — he's taking it all in stride.
“I obviously know where this organization is in the middle of a rebuild, and they've got a youth movement going on,” he said. “But I'd like to think there's some vets here already that have done a great job and I'd like to be a part of that group if possible.
“It's been a really good fit so far. It's out of my control, but I'm just trying to put my best foot forward and play my game, and hopefully at some point we'll be able to sit down and I'll be able to stay here.”
| Season, team | GP | Goals | Assists | Points | |
| 2015-16, San Diego Gulls | 67 | 0 | 12 | 12 | |
| 2016-17, San Diego Gulls | 62 | 5 | 22 | 27 | |
| 2017-18, Anaheim Ducks | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2017-18, San Diego Gulls | 49 | 2 | 10 | 12 | |
| 2018-19, Anaheim Ducks | 28 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| 2018-19, San Diego Gulls | 38 | 2 | 11 | 13 | |
| 2019-20, CHICAGO WOLVES | 60 | 3 | 7 | 10 | |
| 2020-21, San Jose Barracuda | 36 | 2 | 6 | 8 | |
| 2021-22, San Jose Sharks | 44 | 2 | 6 | 8 | |
| 2021-22, San Jose Barracuda | 44 | 2 | 6 | 8 | |
| 2022-23, San Jose Sharks | 48 | 1 | 11 | 12 | |
| 2022-23, Seattle Kraken | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2023-24, BLACKHAWKS | 17 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| NHL totals | 158 | 4 | 22 | 26 |
Notes: Megna played 1 game for Anaheim in 2016-17 and two games in the AHL this season