When players talk about the road they took to get to the NHL, rarely does the story include being dropped off on the side of it.
However, that’s the one thing that set Aaron Dell apart from any other Calgary Canucks player Don Phelps coached over 27 years.
“He’s the only kid I ever dropped off on the side the highway,” said Phelps, who retired from coaching in 2011, two years after Dell played for him. “That’s what I remember about him most. It just seemed to be so convenient. We dropped him off on the side of the highway many a night, sometimes at 2 a.