Former Penguin Max Talbot trades hockey for jiu-jitsu: Q&A

Max Talbot is doing retirement a lot differently than other former NHL players.

Lately, that means trying to choke out men that are much bigger than him. But even since exiting the ranks of professional hockey players, Talbot tried his hand at all types of potential second acts. He worked with the agency CAA, tried his hand as a TV analyst and coached in San Diego.

And now, of course, he’s training in jiu-jitsu.

“Why not?” Talbot said over the phone. “I can’t be, like, one of these guys who just sits around. I have to be in it, whatever it is.

Talbot recently returned to Pittsburgh with his family to help the Penguins celebrate 2000s theme night at PPG Paints Arena. His stamp on that decade will forever be remembered in Pittsburgh, and probably places on Planet Hockey, because he scored twice for the Penguins in their 2-1 victory over the Red Wings in Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals in Detroit.

While back in the city he still calls “a second home,” Talbot watched that Game 7 from start to finish for the first time along with 2009 Penguins teammate Tyler Kennedy. The Penguins filmed their Game 7 watch party for a website video segment.

“It was weird to see it all these years later,” Talbot said. “Like, there I am playing with (Evgeni Malkin) and having so much fun. We were like a family on that team, and we didn’t think about making history.

Talbot joined Malkin’s line during the 2009 postseason, a move former coach Dan Bylsma made to make use of Talbot’s experience at center. Talbot took most of the defensive-zone faceoffs at even strength, with Malkin handling the majority of center duties in the offensive zone.

Talbot had been a mostly bottom-six forward for the Penguins in the previous season before Bylsma played a hunch and paired him with Malkin on the second line for that postseason. It paid off, as Malkin won the Conn Smythe and paced all NHL players in playoffs scoring, with Talbot specializing in “big moments” such as his Game 7 heroics and famously shushing Philadelphia fans when the Penguins closed out an opening-round series against the Flyers in Game 6.

But about that Game 7 against the Red Wings … Malkin still claims it was his forecheck that forced a turnover that led to one of Talbot’s goals.

“Geno’s always saying that,” Talbot said, laughing. “I let him believe it. He hadn’t forechecked before that, and he hasn’t since.”

Time hasn’t dulled Talbot’s famously sharp tongue. And, anyway, who’s going to say anything to a burgeoning jiu-jitsu stud?

You’re giving jiu-jitsu the “superstar treatment” these days?

I train four or five times a week right now. I started in September, and I did my first competition (in late November). It was a bracket of 15 guys and I won a bronze medal. Pretty proud. It was it was cool.

It was very, very rewarding because I put a lot of effort into it. And, you know, I didn’t really know if I would be able to compete, and I ended up (doing) pretty good — so, I was very proud.

How did you find yourself training for jiu-jitsu?

I found a website. I always wanted to do it and I just kind of wrote in an email, “Hey, can I do a free trial that I see as part of the program?”

I just showed up. I didn’t know what to wear. It was really something. I didn’t know the rules or the techniques. And I just found a great community, great coach, great friends. I’m learning every day.

My Instagram feed is just, you know, jiu-jitsu — chokes, stuff like that, actually, my five-year-old is practicing her choke on me right now. Do it!

So, it kind of became like a little family fun. My wife says that’s all I talked about right now. So, I’m pretty, pretty passionate — you get into something and do it all in, and right now I’m having a blast.

Where does that bronze medal rank amongst your personal collection of trophies?

Seriously, Rob, it ranks pretty high. And it’s something that I had, like, no clue, no background, no nothing. And I was fighting in front of my kids, they were on the mat. And they showed me that they saw me lose my semi-final match — they saw me getting choked right in front of them. And it’s just fun for them to be, like, “Daddy? Hey, Daddy!”

When my general instructor and I go train, he reminds me it’s never too late to find a new passion or learn something new and put some hard work into it and (get) good, put the time in something, you gotta get rewarded. So it’s very, very rewarding. And it’s very stressful also — like the preparation for the fight. I knew the first guy I would fight against and he was bigger than me (and) more experienced, beating him was pretty special.

Not going to lie, I saw some posts on your Instagram and I had to do a double-take. But now that we’ve talked, this sounds like something Max Talbot would do.

Yeah, it brings me a lot of dopamine. It’s a very physical sport. It’s very demanding and very extreme. You have to be able to think while you’re tired, and the techniques are infinite, right? And, like you can learn stuff and work on stuff and get better, but you never know enough.

You have to have a good attitude in the gym about just learning sometimes and going back to show up. You get guys that are bigger than you and you just have to, you know, put ego aside, tap and work.

I’m having a blast.

(Top photo: Gregory Shamus / NHLI via Getty Images)