The genesis of Josh Healey’s idea, for how to instill more accountability into how hockey agents operate, came in November 2012.
At the time, long before he became a Calgary Flames prospect, Healey was an 18-year-old defenceman with the Sherwood Park Crusaders in the AJHL.
“I just got back from playing in the World Junior A Challenge and I had two agents come and watch me play,” the Edmonton native said. “At the time, I knew nothing about agents. My parents knew nothing about agents. It was all new to us and the process for how it all works, it was all unfamiliar.”
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After meeting up a couple times, Healey eventually agreed to be represented by them.
“As the conversation in the arena wrapped up and they started to walk away, my Mom made a joke, ‘Oh, we’ll have to look you up on RateMyAgent.com.'”
Pam Healey recalls that moment well.
“The look on his face,” she said. “‘There is such a thing?’ Oh, I don’t know,” she replied. “I have no idea, and I said I was just kidding.”
But clearly, it had caught the attention of one of them.
“About a month later when (the agent) came back to town, literally the first thing he said to us was there’s no such thing as Rate my Agent or RateMyAgent.com,” Healey said.
By now, Healey’s interest had been piqued, too.
“After that, Josh and I were sitting down and he’s like ‘Mom, that’s brilliant!'”
The seed had been planted.
After getting passed over in the 2013 NHL Draft, the next stop in his hockey career was Ohio State University, where Healey continued to mull over the concept.
“For the next few years, throughout my free time at school and in the summers, I started to look at the best ways to set up this idea and how I could set it up as a company,” Healey, who majored in Finance said.
It remained on his mind through the completion of his senior season with the Buckeyes, which culminated with him signing with Calgary on March 25, 2017.
It was during his first season in the Flames organization that the seed, planted four-and-a-half years earlier, finally began to germinate.
“I said I’m going to do this and see what happens.”
He dug in on his new hobby as an app developer, and after a busy summer and fall, it’s finally ready.
On Friday, his app for rating and reviewing hockey agents/advisors, as well as coaches, while offering other player tracking functionality, was submitted into the Apple Store for review.
If all goes as planned, the hard-hitting, third pairing, minor league defenceman and entrepreneur, expects TheSportsAux — short for The Sports Auxiliary — to be available for download within the next week or so.
The world has changed. Transparency is in, and while it takes some getting used to, it’s not going away.
Uber drivers, doctors, professors, teachers and lawyers are among the professions in which individuals are rated, with results found online or on an app.
Now you can add hockey agents, advisors and coaches to that burgeoning list.
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“It’s been my experience that to find an agent, or find a new agent, it’s all word of mouth,” Healey said. “That’s the only way you find an agent. Someone knows some guy, who has an agent and he sets you up with them. If you like them, you go with them and if not, you keep looking.”
Having some tangible intel at your fingertips in terms of past client satisfaction, when selecting an agent or advisor, is the void Healey is hoping to fill.
Healey’s issues with his first agent, as he would learn later from other disgruntled teammates, are too often the norm.
“Players need to remember that their agent works for them, it’s not the other way around,” Healey said. “I feel that my reasons were pretty common for why players switch agents. It has to do with them not really promoting you as a player, or not seeming like they have your best interests at heart, or the contact is limited and they just don’t keep you up to date on situations or what teams are saying.
“What it comes down to is communication and trust, and if you don’t have that in an agent, it’s going to be pretty tough to move up in the hockey world.”
Having seen over his two years of playing pro what guys have gone through and with how frequently players end up changing agents, he feels the business opportunity is there.
“Some guys are first-year guys, some guys have families and kids,” he said. “They’re switching agents for different reasons, but I’ve heard things as bad as stealing money or things as simple as not returning calls and everything in between.”
Healey hopes the app will provide a platform for the players.
“It’s tough to hear things like guys taking money or not returning calls,” he said. “There’s no accountability or transparency between the agents and the players when things like that happen and no one ever hears about it.
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“These players move on and will find another agent, who may or may not have done the same things to their clients. What we want to do is provide that credible information and reviews on these agents and coaches so that players can find the right fit for them and just worry about playing hockey.”
Using himself as an example, Healey is happy with his agent now, Jeff Helperl, who works for Thunder Creek Professional Player Management in Saskatoon. But it took going with the wrong agent first before he found the right one.
The app will hopefully help other young players avoid that initial misstep.
“Jeff would be my definition of everything an agent should be,” praises Healey. “It was a night and day difference between him and the first guy I had. He really helped me with the whole NHL contract process and he keeps me updated and informed with what is going on.”
The venture has evolved into a family project of sorts as Healey has tapped into his Mom, his Dad, Tim, and his sister, Jess, for help along the way.
“My mom is a big part. She’s definitely helping me out with a lot of the behind-the-scenes work back in Edmonton,” Healey said. “Not really a business background, but definitely smart tax-wise and finance-wise in general so I don’t have any concerns at all with her helping me out and raising capital.”
It makes for quite the change of pace for Pam, who is a registered nurse by trade, but has always had a passion for finance.
“The math side of it, the tax side of it, the legal side of it. How do we fit all of that in? How does it all come together and what does it look like?” Pam said. “I’m enjoying the process of figuring that out and always bouncing stuff off Josh and he’s bouncing stuff off me. We’re a good team.”
Meanwhile, Jess, in her first year of playing professional hockey in Sweden, is doing a lot of inputting work with player profiles and photos.
“She took a week off at Christmas and Josh phoned and said, get her back on there, she’s got work to do,” laughs Pam.
Pam shares her son’s vision that it’s something that can be in demand.
“For the good agents, it’s going to be great. For the ones that are kinda shady, I think they’re going to have some interesting comments. They’re going to have to have a little bit of self-reflection, for sure,” she said.
Fully supportive of Healey’s business pursuit, Helperl welcomes the scrutiny that he and his fellow agents will soon face. He thinks it will be good for the industry.
“It could weed a lot of guys out,” Helperl said, who has been in the business for 15 years. “There are a lot of guys that are just out there kicking tires and saying they’re agents and they’re actually not even certified. And these parents who have no idea, are buying into the idea of somebody just giving them lip service.”
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Not only will the app contain reviews, there is also educational information such as what you should be looking for in an agent and the questions to ask.
“A lot of families have no idea what agents and advisors can do for them,” Helperl said. “So this is definitely one avenue where with one click of a button and you can see, oh hey, this is the question that I should be asking this guy and it’s all laid out.”
Good agents versus bad agents has always been an issue. Helperl, 44, a ex-pro hockey player himself, had a good agent. But he was in the minority on his teams.
“I’m sitting in the American League, riding the bus, and I’d get a phone call from my agent and we’d just talk. And we’d talk once every two or three weeks,” Helperl recalls. “When I put the phone down, the players on the bus were all like ‘who’s that?’ Well, that’s my agent. There were probably 70 percent of the guys and we’re all in close quarters and they’re like ‘you actually talk to your agent?’ Yeah. ‘We don’t talk to them until a week prior to our contract.’ I’m like holy, man, why do you pay him?”
It’s what motivated Helperl to get into the business.
The Sports Aux has different features that cater to different audiences.
For players, the core functionality is the ability to anonymously rate your agent or coach. For each, there is a questionnaire that features 10 questions, rating both coaches and agents on a scale of one to five.
Agent questions include:
- Does your agent follow through on verbal agreements?
- Is your agent a good negotiator?
- Does your agent make an effort to see you play?
Coach questions include:
- Does your coach make an effort to interact with players on a personal level?
- Do you trust your coach?
- Does your coach provide the opportunity for you to succeed both on and off the ice?
In both instances, it closes with a final yes/no question. Would you recommend your agent/coach to another player?
“Pretty short and sweet, but I feel it covers a lot of the topics that people want to know information on — that’s performance, reliability and communication.”
With profiles of over 150 agencies and over 500 agents in the database, finding an agent becomes an easier process and their reputation is a lot more transparent.
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Through a partnership with Elite Prospects and their massive database of players and team personnel, existing players will have a profile, but each player will still have to go through a verification process to make submissions on the app.
Built-in logic ensures you can only review coaches you’ve had. Also worth noting, there’s a minimum threshold that must be hit for reviews before agent or coach ratings are shared.
Other functionality, targeted at agents or scouts, is an ability to track a list of players — all playing in different leagues from U.S. College to Europe to the OHL to the AHL — and at the click of a button, be able to see their recent stats as well as season-long stats.
“I got that idea when I walked into my assistant coach’s room back in college and he probably had 100 kids on the wall, all the different years and teams and I’m like man, there’s got to be an easier way to do this,” Healey said.
The app will be available for free. Anything that is already public information on Elite Prospects, will be available for free also. There will be a subscription fee, the cost of which still has to be determined, which will afford viewers the ability to read the agent/coach reviews.
If it’s not obvious by now, Healey is wired a little differently than your regular professional hockey player.
On a non-game day, Healey’s typical routine is to arrive at the rink for 8:30 a.m. There’s a team meeting at 9:30 a.m., followed by practice at 10:30 a.m. Add in some video sessions and/or hitting the gym and on most days, he’s home by 1 pm.
It’s at that point where Healey’s afternoon diverges from that of the other players.
In Stockton, where Healey plays on the Flames AHL affiliate, which is located in Northern California, some players will head into San Francisco, or go exploring somewhere else nearby. Others may check out a movie or take advantage of the warmer climate in that part of the country and go golfing. Older guys may spend time with their families. Others will lay low and either nap, watch Netflix or play video games.
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But not Healey. You’ll typically find him hunkered down at the table in his apartment, which is a quiet spot these days with his roommate, Andrew Mangiapane, up with the Flames.
“I’m not really a guy to sit around and not do much,” Healey said, who likens his work routine now to how he operated in college all those years where afternoons were spent doing homework. “I’ll just be in my room, grinding away with different things that come up.”
Pam says she isn’t surprised at the time and commitment Josh has put in thus far.
“He always felt that there was something more for him,” Pam said. “He’s always brainstorming ideas. He’s always running with different ideas so it’s good. He does lots of reading now. Lots of books. Listening to some interesting podcasts. His brain is just a little bit different.”
Healey says he’s always had an entrepreneurial perspective.
“Ever since I can remember. I’ve been doing stuff that I can, ways to make money and start building a small business, whether it’s mowing the lawn or shoveling snow for my neighbor. This just fell into my lap with regards to my path in hockey and where I’m at and the connections I have.”
There are no shortage of expenses when starting up a business. Healey has used his signing bonus and a portion of his contract to help fund his endevour.
“I have a decent tolerance for risk if there’s a good business plan behind it,” Healey said. “If this doesn’t work out. It’s not the end of the world. At least I can say I tried. But I definitely feel that this is going to work out and that’s what gets me through every day when I face problems, I just think it’s going to be fine, it’s all part of the struggle of being a business guy. I find it’s no different in the hockey journey. You try to make a team, you get cut, you’ve got to work harder and find another way and eventually, you’ll get there.
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“It’s been a good experience. It’s been positive for me. There’s definitely some ups and downs, but I’ve got a pretty good head on my shoulders and like to keep just pushing forward. I don’t mind the challenge.”
That different personality is what sets Healey apart from most players.
“That’s Josh, he has such a business mind. From the first time I sat down with him, he was more interested in some of my real estate stuff that I do,” Helperl said. “Every time we meet up and have lunch or have a supper, that’s what we talk about. We talk about business. We talk about stuff that’s going on around the world rather than just hockey, hockey, hockey.
“That’s what makes him so unique. It’s not always hockey on his mind. As soon as he leaves the rink, he puts everything in the past and worries about other stuff until he gets back in the rink and then it’s hockey again.”
How has the experience been?
“I log a lot of hours, I’m not going to lie, but I’m not up all night grinding, I did that in the summer.”
It made for a busy offseason.
“This is my first app that I’ve ever built and I was completely blind going in. There was a lot of work early in the year and throughout the summer with regards to how it’s going to look, how it’s going to function and once you send it all to your developers, it takes them time to actually program it. They send you builds along the way, every week or every other week, as they progress.”
What do his teammates think?
“Some guys think it’s really, really cool. They’re really interested and saying it’s awesome and they’re like this is just sick. Then there are other guys who don’t really care too much,” Healey said.
While he admits it was the furthest thing from his mind when he chose to sign with Calgary, it’s serendipitous that he’s ended up playing pro hockey at an outpost so close to Silicon Valley.
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“I think everything happens for a reason,” he said. “In Stockton, I’ve developed as a player and met a lot of good people, and having this fall into place as well, where I’ve surrounded myself with a lot of good people with the company I’m building, and only being an hour-and-a-half from San Fran where I can find the best developers in the world, arguably, it’s pretty cool.”
Case in point, the developer he hired is from nearby Palo Alto.
“I told Josh when I look back on it, you sign with the Flames, they put you in Stockton, you’re in Silicon Valley there, it’s all kinda rolling together for you,” Pam said. “You could be on the farm team in Winnipeg and where are you going to find an app developer there?”
Healey admits he’s anxious to see how it’s received. He’s talked with many agents and agencies along the way and says there is plenty of intrigue from that community.
“I’m curious to see what some of the reviews are that are left with certain guys. Hopefully, we’ll create some accountability and transparency and hold these guys accountable to a higher standard so they start doing a better job for all their clients.”
While there will be some cause for celebration when it arrives in the App Store and it’s downloaded for the first time, he knows the work doesn’t stop there.
“I don’t think I’ve hit the hardest part of it yet,” Healey said. “Once it comes out and we face some challenge once it goes live in the marketplace, that’s when I’ll have my biggest challenges.”
What does the future hold?
In hockey, the short-term goal is helping Stockton get into the playoffs, who are currently outside of a postseason spot. Longer term for the pending restricted free agent, it’s securing a new contract and hopefully an NHL job some day.
In business, it’s continuing to work on new enhancements and functionality for the app.
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“I’m always looking at new ideas and ways to improve the app and I definitely have a lot of other ideas that are going to be on the app in the next few months and years to come, to help benefit everyone who uses it.”
Expanding into other sports is also something Healey says is “definitely” on his radar.
“He’s just touching the surface,” Helperl said. “Honestly, look how many football players there are out there in the world and then baseball, and it just goes on and on and on.”
Considering it was his mom’s flippant remark that spawned the idea, it’s appropriate that she’s right there by his side, essentially his D-partner in business, to see it finally come out.
“We’ve had some good laughs and we’ve had some stress, but it’s all part of it,” Pam said. “The stuff I stressed about, he didn’t, and the stuff he stressed about, I didn’t, so it just kinda made things work.”
(Top photo: Courtesy of Josh Healey)