Know Your Enemy – Max Domi

by Brett Smith

In college, we used to laugh at the fact that the Leafs’ legendary enforcer, and Rob Ray best bud, Tie Domi has a name that’s an anagram for “Me Idiot”.

Years later, Tie’s son Max is a rookie in the NHL and the kid’s first quarter of the season is not laughing matter.

The younger Domi is currently in the middle of a pack of impressive young rookies, which includes Dylan Larkin, Artemi Panarin and Oscar Lindberg. While Eichel has wowed fans in Buffalo from time to time, he’s solidly in the second tier of rookie scorers who aren’t currently in the Calder conversation.

Domi seemed destined for a more prolific path than his father at an early age. According to Tie Domi’s book, the enforcer was once invited along with his son Max into the Chicago Bulls locker room during the 1990s by Michael Jordan after the Bulls had played in Toronto. The story goes that infant Max was passed around the locker room and had his picture taken with many of those iconic Bulls players, including the fourth-highest scorer in NBA history.

Something appears to have rubbed off that night besides Dennis Rodman’s aftershave as the younger Domi has excelled on a team much less talented than Larkin’s Red Wings or Panarin’s Blackhawks. Through 25 games, Domi has 8 points and 13 assists for 21 points – good for second among all rookies.

As for notable advanced stats, the younger Domi leads rookie in points per 60 minutes and is in the top tier of rookies for drawing penalties, a sign all that scoring has gotten him some attention via opposition gloves and sticks.

Speaking of penalties, Max wears number 16 for the Coyotes as a tribute to Flyers icon Bobby Clarke, who found himself in the sin bin once or twice. Both Clarke and the younger Domi live with Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes.

To help with his condition, Domi has a service dog trained to recognize when a dangerous change in his owner’s blood sugar happens by smelling a telltale odor in his owner's breath. The Phoenix Coyote says his service dog is both an inspiration and provides piece of mind to his parents.