Under Pressure: The Landon DuPont experience

EVERETT — If you ask the people closest to Landon DuPont, they cannot recall the last time he was rattled.

At least not on the ice.

Everett Silvertips teammate and billet roommate Jesse Heslop has only seen the 15-year-old DuPont flustered about homework and about having to balance high school with playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL). DuPont’s father, Micki, says he will complain at home about what’s being served for dinner sometimes, but he acknowledges that isn’t exactly being “rattled.”

Everyone raves about the hockey phenom’s maturity and level-headedness. He became just the second “exceptional status” player in WHL history after current Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard (2020), which meant he was deemed ready both physically and mentally to play full-time in the WHL a year early.

The 2025 and 2026 NHL Drafts have not happened yet, but DuPont is already the top prospect for 2027, when he becomes draft-eligible. Those expectations could crush any normal teen. But Landon DuPont is not a normal teen.

The young defenseman thrived in his first WHL season with the Silvertips, and he brings a rare level of big-game experience to Everett, which will enter the playoffs on Friday as the top seed searching for its first championship.

Despite the daily challenges and pressures, almost everyone who knows him agrees that nothing fazes DuPont. The lone detractor? DuPont himself.

“It happens more than you’d think,” DuPont said.

The most recent instance DuPont can recall is a game against the Spokane Chiefs on March 12. During the 3-2 win for Everett, DuPont threw a pass up the middle that Chiefs captain Berkly Catton picked off and took the other way. Catton — a top Seattle Kraken prospect — finished third in the WHL with 109 points (38 goals, 71 assists) this season, and is certainly not a player you want to serve the puck up to.

Catton did not score, but the play stuck with DuPont as he skated off the ice.

“Things like that just kind of get in your head,” DuPont said. “But you just gotta find a way to clear it.”

Worrying about homework and, sometimes, dinner — DuPont says his least favorite meal at home is lasagna, for the record — is where the comparisons between him and others his age start and end.

European Roots

While DuPont was born in Calgary, he was introduced to hockey in Switzerland when Micki played for Kloten in the National League from 2010-2015. DuPont and his older brother, Nolan, played for Kloten’s youth program. When Landon was five or six, Micki estimates, Nolan’s coaches invited him to play up with his brother and the rest of his 2006-born group, recognizing Landon’s athleticism at such a young age.

Micki believes that is why he became a defenseman.

“The kids were three years older, so he kind of gravitated back a little bit,” Micki said. “He always kind of had caution (around) his own net on the defensive side. But then, (he) slowly got a little more confidence and started creeping up on the offensive side.”

From there, DuPont played multiple years above his age group at nearly every stop, which forced him to mature earlier and become comfortable facing bigger, older competition. Doubters about his readiness came in the form of people online and even coaches of his age group’s teams, but that only drove DuPont more.

“I’ve had a little bit of pressure on me since I was a kid,” DuPont said. “Just playing up a few age groups, there’s always people that obviously weren’t sure if that was the right move, but just having that pressure and just kind of having that extra edge to prove everyone wrong is huge.”

Gaining confidence in North America

As much as he believed in himself, DuPont did not realize exactly how good he was until a couple of years ago, when he started playing with the Edge School’s U-18 team in Calgary. At 14 years old, he scored 19 goals and 62 points in just 30 games. In DuPont’s mind, he proved he could dominate against older players in North America rather than just Europe.

That’s probably a modest estimation on DuPont’s part, as others began to recognize his potential much earlier than that.

James Poole, the U-18 head coach at Edge School, learned the hard way when DuPont was a sixth-grader. While hosting a skills academy at Edge School, Poole and other coaches would routinely jump into scrimmages, giving them a chance to relive their own playing days and “take it to the little kids a little bit,” according to Poole.

Not against DuPont.

“I remember him actually ‘undressing’ me in a scrimmage, which usually doesn’t happen really when you’re playing against Grade 5, 6, 7,” Poole said. “He made me look pretty silly, actually, out there, and I knew he was something different than all the other kids on the ice, that’s for sure.”

After having a chance to coach DuPont a few years later, Poole describes him as “pretty close” to a perfect player. DuPont’s performance on the ice made that obvious: He dominated both the Circle K Classic — where he led all defensemen with five goals and nine points in five games to win Tournament MVP — and the Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL) playoffs, where he led all skaters with 16 points (5 goals, 11 assists) in just five games to push Edge School to the championship.

But his mentality is just as big a part of the equation.

“The aspects that you can’t quite see: ultra-competitive, very coachable, and you know, just a mindset where he’s not afraid to fail,” Poole said. “I don’t think that’s part of his DNA, in terms of worrying about losing or making mistakes. … I don’t think he thinks about those things. It’s just the way he plays. No moment is too big for him.”

Exceptional Status

Those qualities are a big reason why he was granted eligibility to play in the WHL a year early. Part of that process was an evaluation from sports psychologists, who asked him questions about dealing with adversity, how he would handle living away from home and other similar topics. DuPont said all he had to do was answer honestly.

“I just told them, ‘yeah, if things don’t work out, I obviously have lots of resources with my dad and my family,’ and all that,” DuPont said. “I didn’t know my teammates yet, but obviously the team here is one of the biggest resources. All the teammates are here for each other, and the coaching staff, so if I ever did need anything, I just know that they would be here for me.”

His answers satisfied the league enough to be granted eligibility, but the Silvertips — which owned Kamloops’ first overall pick — had to do some vetting of their own. On a scouting trip to Calgary with then-GM/head coach Dennis Williams, Silvertips general manager Mike Fraser said he was as impressed with DuPont off the ice as he was on the ice.

Fraser, who ascended from the assistant GM role after Williams became the coach of Bowling Green in the NCAA on March 27 last year, recalled how well-spoken DuPont was for his age. Rather than giving “yes/no” answers, he carried a full conversation and asked thoughtful questions about the franchise.

“It feels like you’re talking to somebody that’s been in the league for four years, so that was a little bit refreshing,” Fraser said. “He mentioned many times that he was ready to take the next step, and you believed him when he said that. And obviously he’s certainly proved it this year.”

Adjusting to Everett

Despite still searching for its first championship, Everett has never missed the playoffs in its 22-year history, and DuPont joined a deep roster that did not rely on him being a No. 1 defenseman right away.

He’s also surrounded by familiar faces. His defensive partner, Calgary Flames prospect Eric Jamieson, is also from Calgary and played at Edge School a few years before DuPont. Jamieson’s younger brother, Luke, played with DuPont on some of the same youth teams. Jamieson recalls watching Landon play at 10 years old and recognizing how dominant he was. Now they make up the second defensive pair in Everett together.

“As a 15-year-old, you wouldn’t really expect it, but he’s absolutely a play-driver on our team,” said Jamieson, who is 19. “He plays like a 19-year-old. It’s pretty impressive, and I think that helps our group a lot.”

The Calgary connections don’t end there, as first-year Silvertips head coach Steve Hamilton is also from that area. Hamilton has a son DuPont’s age who played against him in a few local tournaments.

Hamilton recognized immediately that “the DuPont kid was pretty good,” and he later became friends with Micki DuPont through local hockey circles and had discussed with him that Everett would be an ideal landing spot for Landon, even before Hamilton was hired on July 30 last year.

“Simply because of the support he’d have around him,” Hamilton said as the reasoning. “He wouldn’t need to be the savior and (have) all eyes being on him all the time, and he’s allowed to just be himself here and not have to carry the mail night in, night out. That’s a lot to ask of any young player, especially a young defenseman.”

The rest of Everett’s top four — Jamieson, Tarin Smith and Kaden Hammell — are all NHL Draft picks and hold plenty of WHL experience, which unloads a significant burden from DuPont, both physically and mentally, allowing him to focus on playing his best.

“They’re great leaders, on and off the ice,” DuPont said. “It’s awesome, because I can just kind of sit back sometimes, and when I’m on the bench I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that was a really nice play,’ or something. And I can just see what they do on and off the ice because obviously they have that experience.”

Handling Adversity

As successful as DuPont has been in Year 1 with the Silvertips, he is not immune to down moments. After a bad game or tough play, one that could tank a player’s confidence, DuPont has several ways to reset.

Sometimes, it’s playing golf or watching the show “Prison Break” with his teammates, and other times, it’s putting his phone away and going on a walk to take time for himself. Oftentimes, however, it involves a phone call with his parents or his brother. It could be about hockey or something completely different.

DuPont believes the biggest thing he’s learned from his dad is to focus on improving and having fun, while not letting the bad moments drag him down. For as long as possible, Micki wants to keep the focus on fun, but he understands the further Landon goes and the higher the expectations get, the game will turn more and more into business.

“I know how hard it is to make it in hockey,” Micki said. “There’s plenty of good hockey players out there. I guess we get excited about what the future can bring for him, but you just want to not look too far ahead.”

The Future

When the Silvertips face the Seattle Thunderbirds in Game 1 of the WHL Playoffs on Friday, the focus will be about winning. As the regular season champions, Everett has expectations to go far, if not win the whole thing.

DuPont has proven he can step up to the moment, but the WHL is a different beast. Some players will crumble. Others may overcompensate and insist that committing a turnover like DuPont’s against the Chiefs a couple of weeks ago has no impact on their mental state. Once again, DuPont is not like most players. Rather than running from the pressure, he embraces it.

“I think pressure is a good thing,” DuPont said. “If you don’t have pressure on you, you’re not doing anything right. So I think having that extra pressure obviously motivates you to push yourself and be the best you can, and kind of have that expectation and just try and do my best to fulfill that expectation.”

Not many 15-year-olds have their entire future laid out in front of them, but DuPont has long been prophesied as the NHL’s No. 1 pick in a little over two years. Whether that comes to fruition or not, his entry into the NHL will only trigger more expectations.

How does he handle that? How does he handle knowing these next couple of years of scrutiny will only intensify at every new milestone?

In short, he doesn’t.

“I just try not to think about it. Just try to block it out,” DuPont said. “I just try and get one percent better each and every day, and just focus on me and don’t worry about anything else. I just want to win and our team to win, and that stuff’s so far away that it’s out of reach right now.”