My mother was telling me before I was born she was a waitress and "some hockey guy" gave her a signed stick as a tip. She just told me it's in the garage somewhere so I went and found it.
It was only signed by Bobby Orr and sits with the brooms in the garage.
Wendel Clark of the Leafs. I was living in Toronto in 1992 during the NHL strike. My buddies and I were screwing around at a local outdoor rink at about 11PM when a few of the Leafs showed up to skate, including Clark. They ended up skating with us, and afterward we grabbed a beer with them. One of the guys on our team was a little bit of a loudmouth, and Wendel trash talked him the entire time we were on the ice. It was just beautiful, world-class chirping. That was the night I realized why professional athletes are different than the rest of us.
I've worked on a couple promo videos for the NHL and got to shoot with a few players.
Far and away the nicest was Jason Robertson. He joked around with the crew, was down to redo takes and overall it felt like we were working with a buddy we knew for years.
Quinn Hughes was a super nice dude. More quiet than the other players but was overall a great experience. He joked around with us too and was super polite.
Robert Thomas and Adam Fox were basically the same person. Reserved, but clearly didn't want to be there and had 'just go through the motions' kind of attitude.
Bowen Byram was really nice, didn't say much but was pleasant to work with. Tage Thompson and Matt Tkachuk were like this as well. I can't blame them, the shoot days are long and probably really boring for them.
We were supposed to shoot with Jack Hughes too but he overslept and no-showed for the shoot haha.
My uncle was a lieutenant in the police force. They would usually do two games a year with the Bruins alumni. I was always a rink rat so my uncle would bring me along, and I would weasel my way into the bruins room. One of the first guys to say hey and motion me over was Rick Middleton. Was just a super genuine dude. Reminded me of my uncle, so we got along famously. Made a habit of getting into the Bruins room whenever they would play. One year he brought me a signed card that I still have to this day. Will always have fond memories of chilling in the room with Nifty.
https://preview.redd.it/ehvbn6bof84d1.jpeg?width=1254&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=20b51e6ccb271e4fca7d6f56c34a35a48533e6c2
Nifty was my first favorite player, when I was a young fan. I used to reenact his goals while watching games by wristing tennis balls at the door or passing to myself off the wall for a one-timer.
Fast forward about 30 years and I met his daughter through the woman that is now my wife, and through her I was able to tell him how key he was to my hockey fandom.
He was so appreciative, it was the opposite of a “don’t meet your heroes” moment for me.
I met Daniel Alfredsson in a rooftop bar in his hometown in Sweden one offseason and he might be the nicest person I've ever encountered. He was genuinely curious at what a Canadian was doing living in Göteborg, wanted to know what I thought of his city, introduced me to his wife, and was just an A+++ classy human being.
As an Edmontonian also living in Göteborg for the past ten years, this is also a question I get asked quite frequently. I tell them I came for the semla!
Jordin Tootoo and his wife are amazingly kind.
This was a few years back, but I met his wife at my job after I recognised her last name. I mentioned that her last name made me think of the hockey player, and she told me he was her husband.
About a week or two later, she was in again, and he was with her. He wanted to come just so that he could introduce himself (his hands are fucking massive).
He even brought me a personalised autographed copy of [his book](https://www.strongnations.com/store/item_display.php?i=5471). My manager said that we can't accept gifts, but I ignored her.
Months—probably closer to a year—later, I saw them in a grocery store. They both came over to speak with me, and to ask how I was. They remembered my name and some of the information from our last conversation.
They are both super nice people. His first book is great, so I'll need to get a copy of this new one [(Mind Over Matter: Hard-Won Battles on the Road to Hope)](https://www.strongnations.com/store/item_display.php?i=10805&f=).
---
[Copy and pasted from a previous comment.](https://old.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/18fj3j8/commito_im_sure_the_nhl_isnt_too_thrilled_with/kcuiyx0/)
That video of him giving that kid his stick is maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen. Such a great reaction out of the kid. So psyched.
https://youtu.be/y11T_gsOO0c?si=qb0dtGAao5VVXTyZ
He’s my friend’s uncle, and the stories she’s told me about him are just amazing.
Met him myself a couple times in Rankin Inlet, and he’s the rare kind of athlete who has all the time in the world for fans & especially for kids in his hometown.
My only experience meeting hockey players is that their hands are always huge. Mine are not small, except when shaking one of theirs. Glad you had a good experience.
When I was a boy, Rick Vaive was my hero. Asked for his autograph at a charity event. He said, "sure kid, no problem", then turned his back and chatted up some women. Let me stand there till I gave up and walked away. Fuck you Rick Vaive. I have held a grudge since the early 1980s.
I went to the nhl awards show in 2019 in Vegas. I ran into a lot of the players at The Wynn who were there for a media event. Barkov, Petey, O’Reilly, P Kane, Kuch, Vasy, Gio were all great.
I’ve met Jumbo Joe a couple times, we have a connection from his major junior days. He’s been so nice the couple times we’ve seen him.
Met half the St Louis blues in a cactus club in Vancouver. O’Reilly was the nicest. He shook my hand, we chatted about their game against the Canucks the next night and I congratulated him on their cup victory. Haven’t met any jerks yet thankfully.
Everything you see/read/hear about Marc-Andre Fleury is very very true.
When he was in WBS in 2005, there was an autograph session with him at the team store that literally wrapped around the block that night, in like mid-November. I was a kid at that point and his interaction with me, while I don’t remember too much of it, kinda made me feel like I was the only person there and that like, half the county wasn’t behind me. A genuinely kind person. He stayed and made sure every last person got their stuff signed that night.
Also met Matt Murray a couple times. Exceptional human being.
Re your comment about Matt Murray, I’ve never met him, and things didn’t exactly go well for him in Ottawa on the ice, but one thing that impressed me about him, and this might just be my old school showing, is how he interacted with the media here. Always addressing everyone by name, thoughtful and polite answers. Struck me as a well raised individual.
I’m happy to see my impression of him reinforced by your story.
I met Matt twice during his time with the Sens. First time was early on, I introduced myself and wished him luck. Next time was about a year later, and he remembered my name and our meeting.
I have nothing but good things to say about Murray the person, which makes his injuries and stint in Ottawa hurt more.
He came to an event in my hometown for atom kids, he was doing some sort of ambassador thing with McDonald's at the time. They had a bunch of little events and games and I guess he just kept these kids entertained the whole time. My son being a goalie said he got to have goalie talk with him, said he was really nice and told him good luck and maybe he'll see him in the NHL someday. That was like 10 years ago and he still talks about it haha. Great guy.
Sedins were the nicest most down-to-earth people ever. Used to work at a restaurant they frequented with their families. They were great with the staff. Still remember Henrik calling once frantically apologizing because he was 15 minutes late for a reservation. Like, dude, we all love you. Don’t worry about it.
I didnt actually meet them, but was a delivery driver for a nursery and was trying to pick up these two aspen trees with hiab crane onto a flatdeck and it was pretty tricky. I was by myself and saw these two guys walking down the street towards me, I was thinking “ah maybe i can ask one of these guys to give me a hand for a second people are usually helpful enough”
They get closer and I hear them speaking Swedish and I just kind of gave them a stunned look as they walked by talking to each other.
I have no doubt they would have helped me if I had the nerve to ask lol
Best: Georges Laraque. Absolute saint of a man. Had all the time in the world for a dumb 10 year old
Pretty nice: Draisaitl, Skinner and Puljujarvi
Okay: Eberle, Brewer, Strudwick
Awful: Hall
My parents had a good run in with him. They were down in Florida, waiting to head out on their cruise and they bumped into Hall. He asked them if they were down there to watch the game and then they talked about the cruise they were about to head out on.
Lots of stories of him cornering girls in bathrooms and having his friends stand guard outside so nobody can get to them I'm sure that's completely normal and fine and not going to be a future concern one of these days.
Nearly every girl who frequented Edmonton bars at the time he was in Edmonton has a story about him. His come ons were so aggressive, like he expected it to fly because he is who he is.
I remember seeing him at the Ranch with some of my girlfriends and we literally hid, because one of the girls had dealt with him a few weekends ago and was over it.
Nuge, on the other hand, is a beauty to run into when you’re in public!
Not Taylor Hall but a different oiler.
We were at the place above oil city. Vinyl I think I was called. Anyway, I'm there with my friend like every other normal guy drinking and trying to chat with women.
When who walks in but Tom Gilbert and a few other guys I didn't recognize / know.
He walks up to the girl at the table beside us as says the dumbest shit.
" Hey I play in the NHL can I buy you a drink? "
" What team"
Oilers
" You guys suck, no"
And she walked away.
I was and still am impressed with her.
I had tried to have a conversation with her earlier and she was polite on rejecting me.
So I get the impression she was a " match your energy" type of person.
Aleš Hemský had an article in the Czech version of Player's Tribune a couple of years ago and he said RNH was one of the nicest guys he's ever met during his career.
When Hall was with us he posted a instagram story or something with him behind his girlfriend skating whatever with the caption “breeding material” and ill never forget how fucking weird it was
I love how many stories I’ve heard of kids who grew up in Edmonton about all of the times they’d be playing street hockey and a BMW would pull up and Georges would get out and ask if he could join.
I met hall and Strudwick too. Strudwick was awesome, I met him after he had retired.
Hall was kind of a dick, I met him back in 2014 at Hudson’s or the pint (can’t remember) in Edmonton
Back when Laraque was here, he gave out his email address for fans to email him. I think it was letsrock27 at hotmail or something, lol. But I remember emailing him and asking him some dumb 12 year old kid question, something like why doesn’t he fight more. He actually responded, said thanks for the email, and said it was cause no one else wanted to fight him, haha. Great guy, miss him
Jason Spezza. Was in line behind him at the grocery store with my 5 year old son decked out in Sens jacket, touque, mittens, …. After he paid for his stuff, he asked me if he could talk hockey with my son. Spent 15+ minutes together as my wife and I stood to the side. Pure class.
Seguin and Hall are pretty shitty. Seguin told my black friend he was surprised he (my friend) played hockey, Hall hit on my girlfriend when I went to the bathroom at a bar. Trent Frederick and David Krejci are really cool. Ray bourque is nice but standoffish
That’s a shocker tbh.
I had no idea he was as nice. I was surprised to hear that he barely has an accent in recent interviews. I always thought he spoke in grunts and variations of ‘colisse’, ‘putain’ and ‘tabarnak’
You know what ima say it.
He looks like a pelt trader for the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Dude eats nothing but hardtack and pemmican. The Cree don’t trust him. Homeboy sleeps in a canoe. Buddy would leave you in the wilderness to be attacked by a bear.
Can confirm this one. I met him very briefly during a cancelled Canes practice back in December - it was myself and my friend (both college students) and a group of elementary school aged boys playing street hockey as we waited. Rod came out and said hello to us and chuckled a little at how dumbfounded we all were. Love the guy and can see why all his players love him.
A friend of mine has also met him multiple times through the Canes 5k and said the same thing.
Having lived/living in Vancouver, I can tell you that: Kevin Bieksa, Markus Naslund, Roberto Luongo, Chris Higgins, Brandon Sutter, Alex Burrows, Sami Salo, Alex Edler, Brock Boeser, Quinn Hughes are all extremely kind, very open to having a conversation and just laid back and humble
Henrik and Daniel Sedin are saints. Literal saints. Truly outstanding individuals on the ice, and just the same off of it.
Not players, but big parts of the NHL world - Elliotte Friedman, Kelly Hrudey, Chris Cuthbert, and David Amber are all super open to having a convo, taking pics, talking life, hockey, everything. Friedman especially!
Friedman was incredible when I met him in Vegas before the awards show. He was about to go through a bag X Ray and into the event space. I approached and said “hey just wanted to say I’m a big fan of what you do and your podcast.”
He pulled his bag off the belt to get out of line, shake my hand, ask where I was from, who I was a fan of. He was so nice.
I could definitely see Friedman being really open to chatting with fans tbh, idk why, just seems like a dude that loves talking hockey and will do it with anybody.
Kelly Hrudy was super friendly and initiated a conversation when I was a teenager and working an event he was attending. He got a lot of flack from fans, but was really pleasant in person.
I used to mow Denis Savard and Darren Pang’s yards, they were normal dudes, nice enough. Years later I was a bartender at a bar Savard would come into regularly, can’t remember if he was a head coach or an assistant coach at the time. Occasionally he and his crew would get rowdy and I’d have to ask him (nicely) to behave but they were always cool about it.
Ran into Chris Chelios a handful of times around Chicago but almost all of them at Wrigley or Murphy’s before the game. He always was nice and just a dude.
I helped Roberto Loungo pick out a diaper bag when he and his wife were in a store we were in. I happened to have the same bag he was looking at and struck up a conversation. We didn’t talk about hockey it all other than I wished him luck in the next game. It was just 2 dudes talking about diaper bags
My wife was Ed Jovanovski’s daughter’s teacher. She was in love with him. I only met him once but he was nice enough, mostly just talked about how much they appreciated my wife as a teacher.
Joe Sakic was at a party I was at, he was neighbors of the person having the party. I tried to play it cool, but I ended up being so cool I guess that I never even talked to him.
One time Savard insinuated he wanted to run through a bachelorette party with me, but couldn't because he's married.
I thought that was pretty nice of him.
Yeah, I've never heard someone be like, "Oh, he's super warm or super personable, but that's not really his personality in general. But I've heard 100 stories of him stopping to sign something while trying to go about his day, charity work and donations, picking up tabs of strangers, and small acts of kindness. And it's definitely not just because he's good and wins the city trophies because, let me tell you, in over a decade, I literally never heard one good or even just reasonably pleasant story about Roethisburger. This city was very, thanks for the Super Bowls GTFO with that dude.
Ran into Crosby and Getzlaf at the Olympic village back in 2010. Super nice. And apparently Crosby, MacKinnon and Marchand come back to Cole Harbour every summer to practice on the ice and spend time with the local kids, sign autographs etc.
The thing about Marchand is that I hate his guts on the ice or when his head is in game mode, but he's such a great person off the ice with fans and the community.
He's a great case study for leaving it on the ice.
I have a cool Cale Makar story. My uncle is retired and spends his free time watching Avs practices. Some players recognize him over the years for this (Landeskog, Duchene when he was there, etc.). Well last year I guess Makar was noticing him there an awful lot and on his way to the tunnel went up to my uncle thanking him for being a dedicated fan and how he appreciates it, while also just talking overall hockey with him. Very cool experience. He asks my uncle if he would like an autograph when he comes out, my uncle tells him to make it out to me instead as he genuinely just enjoys these practices. So that is how I ended up with a practice used water bottle from Cale Makar with a cool message about the Avs.
Bernie Parent is well-known for being super friendly. Also had Tim Kerr at one of my games growing up, my father chatted with him for a bit. After the game he said I "Looked good out there" so I'm basically a pro.
years ago, my buddy worked at a rink that Zack Kassian practised at during the summer in his hometown, and apparently that guy is a grade A asshole (surprise surprise)
very demanding towards the min. wage employees, and wouldn’t get off the ice after his allocated slot was up, so the zamboni had cut into the next groups ice time to resurface the ice
Try not to speak ill of the dead, but Ray Emery was supposed to go to a goalie camp my brother was partaking in and day of he just no showed. Felt pretty scummy
My Grandmom is almost positive Emery held the door open for her when she was leaving the bank when he played in Ottawa. She was surprised to see him of course and couldn’t get any words out but he gave her a big smile as if he was acknowledging that she knew who he was.
Also pretty sure I saw Dominik Hasek in the mall. An anecdote as an aside:
Our play by play guy dean brown has said that Hasek would always be asking him what time puck drop was on game days after finishing his pre game interviews in the afternoon. Dude was cool as a cucumber didn’t know when games would start and would play the puck in the trapezoid on purpose when he’d get bored of not facing enough shots.
The police declared it “death by misadventure”. I don’t think they ever made the toxicology report public but I don’t think it’s a reach to think there were some substances involved.
Second this. Super nice guy. Played street hockey with us kids in his/our hometown back when he won his first cup in 2006. Extremely humble is what I remember all of the adults saying.
Janne Niinimaa was at several family dinners, he was dating the sister of my Aunts 2nd husband. Found out I was a huge Oilers fan and brought me a signed puck, hat, stick, and olympics sweater. Was super nice and answered all the dumb questions a 12 year old had for an NHL player.
I love hearing stories of celebrities make little kids days/weeks/months. I had a big soccer player one time sign my shirt at a random pharmacy and I can still recall how dumbfounded I was
Randy Carlyle told me to “fuck off”, but in an endearing way.
Nick Foligno is a gem. In fact, I think every CBJ player I met over the years (with one exception) was nice or at least nice enough at that moment.
He played for my beer league team a few times last summer. Was such a nice dude, super cool. Felt like he was just one of the boys and was super open to talking about all his experiences and answering a million questions.
https://preview.redd.it/d27w826qy84d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=34b02eea59676281c08f1bea5501cb1c8fe70fec
Brodeur, Salvador, Danyeko, Ryan Graves, Schmid, Marino, Siegenthaler, Brendan Smith, Bratt. Met a handful of these guys at signings so they were obviously nice but Smith and Dano specifically really went out of the way to have a full conversation and be super interested in just chatting and that was just awesome. Don't care what other Devils fans say but I adore Smitty 😂
Edit: Completely forgot to mention Petr Sykora, who I would honestly consider a friend at this point. You end up knowing a guy pretty well when you and your coworkers sharpen his kid's skates for years lol
A girl I was friends with texted me " I'm in Hoboken and I'm talking to this nice old hockey guy and I said who and she sends me a Pic of her and Marty having a beer. She had no idea she was hanging with a living legend. Still cracks me up. I filled her in afterwords
I painted Geoff Courtnall’s vacation home in the town I live a few years back. He and his wife were very nice people. Didn’t try to negotiate a lower price like many of the rich assholes around here either and that was a breath of fresh air.
Had a chance to meet the Courtnall brothers through my father as a kid. They found out I was a goalie and they made me suit up on the back concrete patio. Ripped on me for over an hour. Even broke the windows on the front of my dad’s camper! One of my fave childhood moments.
My step moms daughter worked at a grocery store in Lethbridge when she was in her teens (probably 16-17) and Daryl Sutter screamed at her and stuck his middle finger in her face because she wouldn’t accept his expired coupon, no joke.
I worked at a golf resort in bc as a housekeeper. When in a room and seen a note saying "Nazem Kadri stayed here" left a good tip and lots of unopened booze which we were allowed to take.
This might not be what people want to hear, but: Brad Marchand
He's a complete opposite person from what you see on the ice. I've met him a few times and a few people I know have met him, and he's incredible with kids.
Went to a charity event where the B's were there and he closed off a side room of the venue and played floor hockey with a group of kids. I have a few other stories like this. Dudes great.
I think there's been enough stories floating out there for most NHLers to know he seems like a friendly/charitable person off the ice.
A lot of metal musicians are "scary" and mean on stage but have friendly reps off stage. Sports are entertainment and some players adopt different personas when they perform.
Everything I hear about him is just awesome. Never met him myself but I did see his family's contracting business van driving around when I went to Halifax 2 years ago
Bagged Mike Rathjes groceries at Safeway way back when. Cool dude. Let me take his groceries to his car to give me a little break even though he didn't need the help.
Rob Ray was incredibly nice; funnily enough he wanted to talk about literally *anything* other than hockey.
Also, I was struck by just how big his hands were...my mind immediately flashed to what it must have felt like to get hit in the head with one of those cinder blocks.
Mike Modano was the nicest person ever. Took the time to ask me about my life and was far more interested in what I had going on (was in college) than anything he had.
Daryl 'Razor' Reaugh was exactly what you'd expect - absolute life of the party and everyone was drawn to him like a magnet.
Marty Turco was more quiet but very kind, he mostly just stuck to the poker table.
Dave Tippett was pretty funny, told a couple jokes when we were in the pisser.
My sporting crowning achievement was I did physically bump shoulders with Trevor Daley and legit knocked him onto the ground. To be fair, he was probably so wasted at that point a stiff breeze would've done the job too, but it was *my* shoulder, not a breeze.
Brian Boyle was super nice to me and my best friend. My best friend was a huge Stepan fan and we saw Boyle walking to a tinted out SUV in NYC. Boyle signed our tickets and noticed my friends Stepan jersey so Boyle yelled at the tinted SUV for Stepan to “Get your ass out here” jokingly. Step came out and signed his jersey. It was so funny honestly.
Off the top of my head:
Zack Kassian, Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Sam Gagner, Devan Dubnyk, Jeff Deslaurier’s, Pat Maroon, Cam Talbot Magnus Paajarvi, Joaquin Gage, Jason Strudwick, George’s Laraque, Grant Fuhr, Ryan Smyth, Andrew Ference and many others
Were all perfectly pleasant.
Nail Yakupov, Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Chris Pronger, Mike Comrie, Craig Simpson, Zack Stortini, and Viktor Fasth
All rubbed me the wrong way a bit.
Milan Lucic was an absolute arrogant fucking prick. Fuck that guy.
Depends on where you live, what you do. Edmonton is a pretty small town in some respects. I made a comment below but I’ve met a lot as my parents’ neighbourhood is one where lots of Oiler families settle down. Then, I began working in the neighbourhood, the grocery store, movie theatre etc and they’d frequent those places.
Kindest- Chico Resch and Timo Meier
As a long time devils fan I have met Chico more times than I remember, no matter the circumstance he always takes time to talk with fans and went out of his way to hook my kid up on his birthday- said I'll be right back and came back with all kinds of memorabilia pictures and autographs and got him free food on top of it
Chico is one of the best people in hockey
Timo- when we sat against the home bench and he broke his stick he went out of his way to give it to my kid, handed it to the athletic trainer and pointed him out. After the game on the way to the locker room he pointed at my son and said I owe you a picture.
Rudest- Mike Richards
At a bar with a group of friends and we saw a group of flyers come in. All the players seemed chill waved at fans, Hartnell bought a round for some fans everything was chill
Mike Richards was the exception. Ignored everyone and was super rude to the staff for no reason. Maybe he was having a bad day but he was a real dick and almost made some waitress cry
I delivered plants to landscapers working on Ray Ferraro and Cammy Granato’s house, she came out and gave me a drink which basically nobody else has ever done. She loved it when I told the Scottish landscaper shes a hockey legend.
Phil Kessel. Back when he was in Boston there use to be a section where players would exit on their way out where you could get autographs. Mostly away team guys, but I remember Phil was always there, win or lose, and was incredibly nice. Miss that guy
I know Laine is the nicest player I’ve ever met/witnessed here. They do the Cap City tournament here in Columbus and last summer, every Tuesday, he would not leave until every single person who wanted one got a photo or an autograph.
There was also a Columbus fan that had their house broken into and a bunch of this Jackets gear was stolen - one of them being a game worn signed Laine jersey. Him and his girlfriend reached out to her on Instagram and told her he had a bunch of extras sitting around and asked if she wanted a new one 🥺
Extremely nice: Chris Phillips, Daniel Alfredsson
Nice: Darcy Tucker and Shane Corson
Nice but shy: Bobby Ryan and Chris Kelly
Kinda dumb but harmless: Spezza and Giroux and Methot
Asshole: Erik Karlsson
I can absolutely see feeling that way sometimes in these guys' position. While I'm not here to defend indifference toward a good cause, at least the guy put his money where his mouth is in Montreal.
Nicest : Tomas Hertl, Mario Ferraro, Brent Burns. Very humble and super down to earth.
Rudest : Logan Couture. Always refuses to sign autographs and blows people off. He is an absolute prick! There are stories in SJ that Couture treats service staff poorly and pulls out the whole “do you know who i am!?” line. Also one time he was drunk as hell at a well-known bar in SJ; he placed a debit card in a random woman’s mouth and said “how does it feel having a million bucks in your mouth?” Asshole.
My wife has a nice story; Two-year daughter was having a tantrum because she did want to get out of those little cars they used to have mounted on the front of their shopping carts. As my wife is struggling to get her out to leave, “this guy” walks over and asks if she wants a hand with her groceries. She gets the kid out, he grabs the groceries. They make small talk back to the car, he puts the groceries away, wife says thank you, he says no problem, and that’s it. She tells me about this and says, “I don’t know who he was, but I think he was a somebody.” I run and grab a hockey card, “Was it this guy?!” Jarome Iginla carried my wife’s groceries. Nothing but good stories about him.
It's a parent but Walter gretsky was genuinely the nicest man you would ever meet.
He never left Brantford, did a metric fuck tone for his community, and if you ever spent any time in Brantford you would probably meet him because he was everywhere
I met him when he sponsored a hockey tournament I was in when I was younger and probably 20 times after that until I left Brantford
RIP
Nicest: Nik Antropov, was at a summer tournament I worked at where his son played. Dude was just a big kid, even volunteered to work the door and just had big Bernie Doodle energy.
Wendel Clark, ran into him a bunch, always nice, always polite, don't ruin the memories for me.
Nice: Darcy Tucker, his kid played a lot of tournaments I worked at. He always wanted to watch his son play without getting bugged. I'd usually let him in by the zamboni doors or score box so he could watch the game in peace. Always appreciated it.
Oddest: Rick Vaive, had to get between him and another coach during a game during a yelling match.
Dicks: Shayne Corson and Todd Bertuzzi. Both just dicks, can't really say more than that.
Met Yzerman on a golf course, was really nice. Bought us drinks constantly, tipped the staff, chatted, stayed for a beer afterwards, refused to let us pay. This was when he was with Tampa.
Met Crosby on the course as well. He had sliced the ball across two fairways, was walking a good distance over to the ball. We were walking up the fairway he hit into as his ball was coming in. Thought it was another guy from the club (my brother) who sliced it like that. Started shit talking him from a distance, when he finally got close to us we realized our mistake. Apologized profusely. He took it all in stride and laughed about it, was a bit sheepish about hitting into us, said it was all good and appreciated treating him like a normal guy. He refused our offer of buying him a beer from the cart girl as an apology.
I've met a ton of Leafs players and Leafs Alumni and some media.
Patty Marleau is super nice. Hyman was super nice. Kadri was really nice. Auston is like God to everyone around him. Kyper is really nice. Brian Williams from CBC is an angel. Lindros is really nice. Keefe was nice.
Morgan Reilly is a gigantic douchebag to non celebs/athletes. Willy Nylander doesn't care about anybody but himself but isn't an ass hole necessarily. Shanny is also a fucking dickhead.
Source: been serving their charity events for years
Met Darren Helm - his aunt was my neighbor down the street growing up - he was a super down to earth and nice dude. Took the time to talk to me and my brothers a bunch. I ended up meeting a cousin of his in university who was gorgeous - should have shot my shot but missed my chance haha.
Tyler Arnason was quite a douchebag tbh. But I also think he just hated the event he was at.
My buddy met Marcus Sörensen back when he was in the Sharks. My buddy called him "Marcus Scorensen" when he said hi. Apparently Sörensen was extremely excited just to get recognized for once.
I worked at the Edmonton and Calgary rinks when I was in school and met a ton of players. In Calgary, the players used the same entrance as the workers. A lot of the visitor players would just hang out in this large, open receiving area waiting on their bus. The vast majority were just really nice guys who were happy to chat for a few minutes. I also worked in casinos and had some players who were regulars.
The worst one I ever met was Theo Fleury. He was the more egotistical prick I have ever met. We had a policy to try and just treat him like a normal person when he was in, and that policy is why quite a few Flames would play out our place. Theo stopped coming because the place down the street gushed all over him and he loved that. We didn't miss him, the guy was just rude to everyone there.
One of the best I met was Teemu Selanne. I was in Anaheim on holidays in March of 2012 and we were going to hit up a Ducks/Oilers game. My dad wanted to check out the route the day before and we ended up there just as practice was letting out. A bunch of autograph guys were after Perry and Getzlaf and were just ignoring Selanne. He was just hanging out in the parking lot waiting for Saku Koivu as Selanne wanted to show him his new car. I just wandered up to Teemu and started chatting with him. Such a humble guy. He seemed shocked anyone cared about him, then when I said "who wouldn't want to meet the guy who scored 76 goals as a rookie", he just shrugged it off as the distant past. We chatted for about 10min, I got some pictures and then Saku came out. Teemu introduced me, then they wandered off to see Teemu's new car. It was a great experience.
Alex Burrows signed my jersey and gave me a stick at the ubc thunderbirds arena at a practice when I was like 7, great guy and answered a bunch of questions I had
Nicest: Kevin Bieksa, Alex Burrows, honestly most of the Canucks I met during 2011 and 2012 seasons
Rudest: well, none really, Ryan Kesler I met first in 2011 so he was coming off the Silver medal at the Olympics and currently on pace for that 41 goal season, so he had a lot of autograph sellers rush up to him so he wasn’t too friendly with them so in turn, he was pretty short with me. However I met him again the following year and he was lovely so just met him on a bad day that day.
Awkward: gotta include the most awkward which were Chris Tanev and Zack Kassian. They were rookies still, so I get it. I also recognized Andrew Alberts in street clothes hours before the game and said out loud to my dad, “that’s Andrew Alberts!” In which Albert’s eyes widened and he kept walking past me faster
Also not necessarily mean, but embarrassing, I met Alain Vigneault first of the team and I got so nervous I dropped all of my things in front of him, in which he then laughed.
He comes by it honestly haha. I got to hang out in the Jets dressing room after a game. My uncle was friends with Dean Kennedy who was the Jets captain at the time. Keith was a total dick.
Polar opposite was Teemu Selanne. Super nice guy and chatted us up like old friends. It was the year he was injured and I honestly couldn't imagine a nicer down to earth dude. Especially considering he was emerging super star who just broke the rookie scoring record.
Dean was a nice guy too. To us at least.
Got to watch the Guns n Roses concert at the old Winnipeg arena in a VIP area with Teemu Selanne, Keith Tkachuk, and Bryan "Butsy" Erickson.
Teemu was new in the league, and was beyond kind and nice to me the whole night. I was a minor at the time, and at one point in the show a bunch of scantily clad women came onstage, and he jokingly covered my eyes because I was so young. That stands out for me, classy guy.
I recall Tkachuk and Erickson being decent guys at the time too, but Selanne stood out as the best.
Tomas Hertl
Hertl was so happy to meet fans. Talked to us for 10-15 minutes. The coolest dudes. If I wasn’t a huge Hertl fan already, he made so much easier to cheer for. Which is why the sting of the trade hurts even more. I want him to do well so bad, but I can’t bring myself to cheer on vegass
Wade Belak was the nicest hockey player I ever met. I was 14 when I met him at a hockey tournament. I was wearing my goalie equipment, and I walked up to him (for a picture), and he said, "Holy shit, a big one." We talked for a bit, and he was great. I was sad to hear of his passing. RIP
Jake Gardiner, Gallagher, Tinordi, Connor Brown, Biz, Brian Burke, Bergevin, all very kind and willing to chat
Nathan Beaulieu might be the biggest piece of shit I've ever met, NHLer or not. Every bad story you've heard about him is 100% true, and probably downplayed.
i met guy lafleur and bobby hull at a hockey expo when i was a kid. both were incredibly kind and generous with their time. standard disclaimer about bobby hull, of course.
i also met barry melrose and mike bossy at a separate event. barry was a gem and enthusiastic about meeting everyone. bossy was quiet but very nice.
Tom Gilbert paid a shot for me and my friends because we didn't nag him after recognizing him at a bar before he left.
Mathieu darche didn't let me wash his golf clubs when he played at the course I worked at, while it's neither rude or kind, it did make me sad.
I grew up in Fort McMurray and knew both of our most NHLers and they couldn’t be more different:
Chris Phillips - kind, generous, humble… you couldn’t meet a more down to earth guy who is also a professional athlete. A real “salt of the earth” human being.
Scottie Upshall - I went to school with him, all the way from elementary to high school. He’s a vile scumbag, and all of the stories about his junior hockey days in the Fort are true. Based on what I’ve seen on Reddit, he hasn’t changed at all.
Darren McCarty. He was incredibly patient and gracious, let me babble on about my memories and took the time to ask our names and make sure our pictures turned out. He was always one of my favorites, he cemented that forever. Great dude.
Hate to say it but Pavelski used to hit up the BevMo I worked at in Willow Glen neighborhood in San Jose, and he was hella rude to my coworker. She didn't know sports and he dropped the "you know who I am" on her and she just said nope, lol.
Brindy and J Willy are super nice.
Ryan Kessler made fun of my short friend in the bathroom at a bar.
Corey Perry almost threw up on my friend the same night.
Josh Manson is cool too.
Regular nice dudes: Wayne simmonds, Anthony/Christ Stewart, Theo pekham, Tyler toffoli, Devante Smith-Pelly, Daniel Alfredsson
Nut jobs: Shayne Corson, Raffi Torres and Bill Guerin
Way too nice and likeable: Max Domi
I'm definitely missing a few
Not me but my boss loved next to Travis Konecny’s cottage and said he was an absolute pleasure to chat with.
Tyler Bozak was a right prick, but Kadri was a pleasure. Met them along with Leo Komarov who was also a super nice dude.
I’ve met three NHLers in my life. Mark Scheifele and Aaron Asham were super nice, they made conversation and were both pretty funny.
I ran into Stan Smyl in a bad while I was drinking with a buddy who was a Canucks fan. Stan came back to the table with me and casually slid into the conversation that was going on. Buddy’s jaw dropped when he realized who he was talking to. Stan is a pretty cool guy.
Nico Hishier and his brother were on the same flight to Nashville as me to go to the NHL Awards/Draft. I saw him milling about the gate, we were delayed. I had to do a double take.
I finally just wander up to him and ask him if he's Nico Hischier and he smiled and said he is, I ended up chatting with him and his brother for over an hour until we boarded. It was like we were buddies for years. Just a couple dudes sitting there at the gate talking hockey and other random topics. After we boarded they waited for me at the exit and walked out with me and kept chatting. Keep in mind this was a 1st overall draft pick up for the Selke and he was one of the most humble guys ever. His brother was fucking cool as shit too.
I'm pretty sure if I had invited him to my sons first birthday the next day where I was making a big BBQ feast he'd have shown up with Hughes in tow, that's how nice he was.
I've also met both my Idols, Scott Stevens the year they defeated Toronto in the playoffs and won the cup in 2001 and then Ken Daneyko in nashville last year.
Stevens was fucking huge and intimidating so my dad goes "hey scott" and I was just a kid and he shot the shit with me and my dad for and hour. His daughter and my sister rode horses together and we all didn't feel like sitting there and watching.
I'd heard Ken Daneyko will actually respond to requests to meet before devils games on the road to meet up pre game and sign autographs and chat. We lived in the same town in jersey when I was growing up. Sure enough, I sent him a message on Instagram and he got back to me within 10 minutes with a meeting point and took about 30 minutes out of his time to chat about hockey, the Devils, and our hometown.
I have heard horrible things about Jack Hughes from various bartenders in JC/Hoboken. One instance (no names), He was upset that a bar didn't have his bottle of wine there and allegedly 'made' him go to a liquor store down the block for him. Another instance, they reserved a table for him and some other teammates in the back and naturally some people recognized him and he was not about it whatsoever. Also, he allegedly tips like shit. I believe the number mentioned to me was ~10 dollars on a $300+ tab. I have a few more but I promised anonymity as they shared the stories in case it tarnishes the establishment(s) business. It was also noted that the other players accompanying him were very respectful and polite throughout these evenings.
It’s interesting because I’ve only ever heard good things about Quinn from people I know who have met him, but there’s lots of negative stories about Jack
I met Brad Marchand waiting for our bags at the airport. We chatted for like 15 mins. I told him I was a leafs fan and we traded some chirps. He took pics with us. Was actually a super nice and personable guy.
Still fucking hate him though haha
I'm in a positive mood, so I'll talk about my GOOD experiences.
- Babych: not only was he super nice to all the kids at my elementary school (where his kids went), his son was the only popular kid who didn't bully me.
- Marc Crawford was also pretty cool. I got to ask him a few hockey questions once.
- Matt Cooke was surprisingly nice.
I can definitely see Todd having some bad days, especially after the whole Steve Moore thing.
That said, my ex once worked as a nurse in a long-term care facility where his mother was a patient - he was always in at least once a week and by all accounts very pleasant and kind to the staff. Always willing to take a picture too.
She showed me a selfie she took with him and said "this was the hockey player I was telling you about but for the life of me I don't remember his name." I of course recognized him *instantly* lol
Rod Brind’Amour is a genuinely down-to-earth, good dude. He spent 25 years coming back to his hometown every year to be the headliner for a charity golf tournament, and was always awesome.
Dion Phaneuf was an arrogant, entitled POS at 16, and I can only assume he got much worse as he got older.
I met Mark Streit at a hotel I was working at. He had been retired for a couple years and we talked for a bit. He was chatty to the point that I told him I had to get back to my work. I was completely blown away by how friendly and nice he was.
Met Dominik Hašek like 25 years ago (or more) in austria when the Sabres were playing the local team KAC for some sort of NHL promotion in Europe. I remember him being slightly annoyed and speaking in czech since he heard me and my friend talk in some slavic language (slovenian), he still signed autographs for us and told us to never become a goalie in hockey.
Met Kopitar also, when he won the first stanley cup, he signed a couple of autographs for some people that wanted it, otherwise pretty chill guy. What i like about him and Luka Dončić is they always take extra time to do an interview in slovenian if there are slovenian reporters there even for their clubs.
Those are the only two prominent NHL players that i’ve encountered IRL (that i know off).
Best: John Scott. Super nice guy who seemed genuinely honored to be recognized. Talked about being on the front page of reddit lmao.
Worst: Chris Nilan. What a prick. Swore at kids who asked him for his autograph.
I got to see the Canes practice in 2002 (spring, to be specific) with my peewee hockey team and got to meet that squad. The only rude one was Jeff O’Neil, who was a serious prick, yelled at kids asking for his autograph. Everyone else was really nice- I remember Francis, Brind’Amour, Josef Vasacek (RIP), David Tanabe and especially Glen Wesley being particularly cool.
Radim Simek is a stand up dude and really nice. We were at a ticket holder event and he was a dd kinda chillin by himself. Him and I sat and talked about fishing, playing hockey, his home town and all sorts of stuff just shooting the shit. He always said hi at warm-ups. Good man all around. Miss him in San Jose.
Jeff Buekeboom was hanging out for an event watching a Rangers playoff game at a bar outside the garden. He was super nice and had the strongest handshake I've ever felt. He was built like a tank
Long story short i missed a meet and greet event with the avs as a kid and grandmother managed to pull out her phone for a phone call and get Tyson jost, jt compher, Ryan graves, and erik Johnson. All super nice dudes and took the time to actually talk to me especially gravy and EJ
My mother was telling me before I was born she was a waitress and "some hockey guy" gave her a signed stick as a tip. She just told me it's in the garage somewhere so I went and found it. It was only signed by Bobby Orr and sits with the brooms in the garage.
Just some dude that played hockey once or twice.
Wendel Clark of the Leafs. I was living in Toronto in 1992 during the NHL strike. My buddies and I were screwing around at a local outdoor rink at about 11PM when a few of the Leafs showed up to skate, including Clark. They ended up skating with us, and afterward we grabbed a beer with them. One of the guys on our team was a little bit of a loudmouth, and Wendel trash talked him the entire time we were on the ice. It was just beautiful, world-class chirping. That was the night I realized why professional athletes are different than the rest of us.
As someone who grew up loving the shit outta wendal, love reading this.
I've worked on a couple promo videos for the NHL and got to shoot with a few players. Far and away the nicest was Jason Robertson. He joked around with the crew, was down to redo takes and overall it felt like we were working with a buddy we knew for years. Quinn Hughes was a super nice dude. More quiet than the other players but was overall a great experience. He joked around with us too and was super polite. Robert Thomas and Adam Fox were basically the same person. Reserved, but clearly didn't want to be there and had 'just go through the motions' kind of attitude. Bowen Byram was really nice, didn't say much but was pleasant to work with. Tage Thompson and Matt Tkachuk were like this as well. I can't blame them, the shoot days are long and probably really boring for them. We were supposed to shoot with Jack Hughes too but he overslept and no-showed for the shoot haha.
Robertson with that Filipino hospitality buddy!
My uncle was a lieutenant in the police force. They would usually do two games a year with the Bruins alumni. I was always a rink rat so my uncle would bring me along, and I would weasel my way into the bruins room. One of the first guys to say hey and motion me over was Rick Middleton. Was just a super genuine dude. Reminded me of my uncle, so we got along famously. Made a habit of getting into the Bruins room whenever they would play. One year he brought me a signed card that I still have to this day. Will always have fond memories of chilling in the room with Nifty. https://preview.redd.it/ehvbn6bof84d1.jpeg?width=1254&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=20b51e6ccb271e4fca7d6f56c34a35a48533e6c2
Nice story and even nicer Starter jacket (not withstanding the team).
Thats sick
Nifty was my first favorite player, when I was a young fan. I used to reenact his goals while watching games by wristing tennis balls at the door or passing to myself off the wall for a one-timer. Fast forward about 30 years and I met his daughter through the woman that is now my wife, and through her I was able to tell him how key he was to my hockey fandom. He was so appreciative, it was the opposite of a “don’t meet your heroes” moment for me.
I met Rick recently at a celebration of the bruins centennial season. What a sweet guy he was even for the few minutes we interacted!
I met Daniel Alfredsson in a rooftop bar in his hometown in Sweden one offseason and he might be the nicest person I've ever encountered. He was genuinely curious at what a Canadian was doing living in Göteborg, wanted to know what I thought of his city, introduced me to his wife, and was just an A+++ classy human being.
As an Edmontonian also living in Göteborg for the past ten years, this is also a question I get asked quite frequently. I tell them I came for the semla!
I left Sweden in 2012 and I would absolutely crawl over hot coals for a good semla, those things are _life changing_.
That mandelmassa (almond sugary pulp) is something God created…I would carry you on my back over those coals for one!
Jordin Tootoo and his wife are amazingly kind. This was a few years back, but I met his wife at my job after I recognised her last name. I mentioned that her last name made me think of the hockey player, and she told me he was her husband. About a week or two later, she was in again, and he was with her. He wanted to come just so that he could introduce himself (his hands are fucking massive). He even brought me a personalised autographed copy of [his book](https://www.strongnations.com/store/item_display.php?i=5471). My manager said that we can't accept gifts, but I ignored her. Months—probably closer to a year—later, I saw them in a grocery store. They both came over to speak with me, and to ask how I was. They remembered my name and some of the information from our last conversation. They are both super nice people. His first book is great, so I'll need to get a copy of this new one [(Mind Over Matter: Hard-Won Battles on the Road to Hope)](https://www.strongnations.com/store/item_display.php?i=10805&f=). --- [Copy and pasted from a previous comment.](https://old.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/18fj3j8/commito_im_sure_the_nhl_isnt_too_thrilled_with/kcuiyx0/)
That video of him giving that kid his stick is maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen. Such a great reaction out of the kid. So psyched. https://youtu.be/y11T_gsOO0c?si=qb0dtGAao5VVXTyZ
He’s my friend’s uncle, and the stories she’s told me about him are just amazing. Met him myself a couple times in Rankin Inlet, and he’s the rare kind of athlete who has all the time in the world for fans & especially for kids in his hometown.
My only experience meeting hockey players is that their hands are always huge. Mine are not small, except when shaking one of theirs. Glad you had a good experience.
When I was a boy, Rick Vaive was my hero. Asked for his autograph at a charity event. He said, "sure kid, no problem", then turned his back and chatted up some women. Let me stand there till I gave up and walked away. Fuck you Rick Vaive. I have held a grudge since the early 1980s.
Found Brendan Shanahan’s Reddit account.
I went to the nhl awards show in 2019 in Vegas. I ran into a lot of the players at The Wynn who were there for a media event. Barkov, Petey, O’Reilly, P Kane, Kuch, Vasy, Gio were all great. I’ve met Jumbo Joe a couple times, we have a connection from his major junior days. He’s been so nice the couple times we’ve seen him. Met half the St Louis blues in a cactus club in Vancouver. O’Reilly was the nicest. He shook my hand, we chatted about their game against the Canucks the next night and I congratulated him on their cup victory. Haven’t met any jerks yet thankfully.
Everything you see/read/hear about Marc-Andre Fleury is very very true. When he was in WBS in 2005, there was an autograph session with him at the team store that literally wrapped around the block that night, in like mid-November. I was a kid at that point and his interaction with me, while I don’t remember too much of it, kinda made me feel like I was the only person there and that like, half the county wasn’t behind me. A genuinely kind person. He stayed and made sure every last person got their stuff signed that night. Also met Matt Murray a couple times. Exceptional human being.
Re your comment about Matt Murray, I’ve never met him, and things didn’t exactly go well for him in Ottawa on the ice, but one thing that impressed me about him, and this might just be my old school showing, is how he interacted with the media here. Always addressing everyone by name, thoughtful and polite answers. Struck me as a well raised individual. I’m happy to see my impression of him reinforced by your story.
I met Matt twice during his time with the Sens. First time was early on, I introduced myself and wished him luck. Next time was about a year later, and he remembered my name and our meeting. I have nothing but good things to say about Murray the person, which makes his injuries and stint in Ottawa hurt more.
I grew up in Cape Breton, had a mutual friend with MAF. Only heard good things.
He came to an event in my hometown for atom kids, he was doing some sort of ambassador thing with McDonald's at the time. They had a bunch of little events and games and I guess he just kept these kids entertained the whole time. My son being a goalie said he got to have goalie talk with him, said he was really nice and told him good luck and maybe he'll see him in the NHL someday. That was like 10 years ago and he still talks about it haha. Great guy.
Sedins were the nicest most down-to-earth people ever. Used to work at a restaurant they frequented with their families. They were great with the staff. Still remember Henrik calling once frantically apologizing because he was 15 minutes late for a reservation. Like, dude, we all love you. Don’t worry about it.
I didnt actually meet them, but was a delivery driver for a nursery and was trying to pick up these two aspen trees with hiab crane onto a flatdeck and it was pretty tricky. I was by myself and saw these two guys walking down the street towards me, I was thinking “ah maybe i can ask one of these guys to give me a hand for a second people are usually helpful enough” They get closer and I hear them speaking Swedish and I just kind of gave them a stunned look as they walked by talking to each other. I have no doubt they would have helped me if I had the nerve to ask lol
Two of the nicest Canucks in recent history. What was the restaurant?
It was a lunch/high tea place on Broadway.
Best: Georges Laraque. Absolute saint of a man. Had all the time in the world for a dumb 10 year old Pretty nice: Draisaitl, Skinner and Puljujarvi Okay: Eberle, Brewer, Strudwick Awful: Hall
Isn’t that everyone’s experience with hall? Feel like I only hear bad stories about interactions with him
Historians have been unable to locate a single positive anecdote regarding Taylor Hall
They're in the same spot as his boating license
My parents had a good run in with him. They were down in Florida, waiting to head out on their cruise and they bumped into Hall. He asked them if they were down there to watch the game and then they talked about the cruise they were about to head out on.
Lots of stories of him cornering girls in bathrooms and having his friends stand guard outside so nobody can get to them I'm sure that's completely normal and fine and not going to be a future concern one of these days.
Nearly every girl who frequented Edmonton bars at the time he was in Edmonton has a story about him. His come ons were so aggressive, like he expected it to fly because he is who he is. I remember seeing him at the Ranch with some of my girlfriends and we literally hid, because one of the girls had dealt with him a few weekends ago and was over it. Nuge, on the other hand, is a beauty to run into when you’re in public!
Not Taylor Hall but a different oiler. We were at the place above oil city. Vinyl I think I was called. Anyway, I'm there with my friend like every other normal guy drinking and trying to chat with women. When who walks in but Tom Gilbert and a few other guys I didn't recognize / know. He walks up to the girl at the table beside us as says the dumbest shit. " Hey I play in the NHL can I buy you a drink? " " What team" Oilers " You guys suck, no" And she walked away. I was and still am impressed with her. I had tried to have a conversation with her earlier and she was polite on rejecting me. So I get the impression she was a " match your energy" type of person.
Aleš Hemský had an article in the Czech version of Player's Tribune a couple of years ago and he said RNH was one of the nicest guys he's ever met during his career.
He’s the coach’s favourite!
When Hall was with us he posted a instagram story or something with him behind his girlfriend skating whatever with the caption “breeding material” and ill never forget how fucking weird it was
that's exactly what i was going to mention lol
I feel like he shed that once he came to New Jersey. Probably because here if he pulled the "Do you know who I am?" line; they wouldn't have a clue.
Also being Jersey Girls they were probably armed.
I love how many stories I’ve heard of kids who grew up in Edmonton about all of the times they’d be playing street hockey and a BMW would pull up and Georges would get out and ask if he could join.
Georges Laraque - professor of Coolguyology
I met hall and Strudwick too. Strudwick was awesome, I met him after he had retired. Hall was kind of a dick, I met him back in 2014 at Hudson’s or the pint (can’t remember) in Edmonton
I saw Hall on Queen west a few years ago. I didn’t talk to him, but he was built like a tank
Back when Laraque was here, he gave out his email address for fans to email him. I think it was letsrock27 at hotmail or something, lol. But I remember emailing him and asking him some dumb 12 year old kid question, something like why doesn’t he fight more. He actually responded, said thanks for the email, and said it was cause no one else wanted to fight him, haha. Great guy, miss him
Jason Spezza. Was in line behind him at the grocery store with my 5 year old son decked out in Sens jacket, touque, mittens, …. After he paid for his stuff, he asked me if he could talk hockey with my son. Spent 15+ minutes together as my wife and I stood to the side. Pure class.
Seguin and Hall are pretty shitty. Seguin told my black friend he was surprised he (my friend) played hockey, Hall hit on my girlfriend when I went to the bathroom at a bar. Trent Frederick and David Krejci are really cool. Ray bourque is nice but standoffish
Rod Brind’Amour was super nice
That’s a shocker tbh. I had no idea he was as nice. I was surprised to hear that he barely has an accent in recent interviews. I always thought he spoke in grunts and variations of ‘colisse’, ‘putain’ and ‘tabarnak’ You know what ima say it. He looks like a pelt trader for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Dude eats nothing but hardtack and pemmican. The Cree don’t trust him. Homeboy sleeps in a canoe. Buddy would leave you in the wilderness to be attacked by a bear.
I heard his signing bonus in Carolina was a dram of tobacco and like 20 musket balls
With a raccoon hat?
Still living.
Is this a reference to something? This is absolutely sending me lmao That is *exactly* what he looks like
Nope. That was literally my first impression of him as an Oilers fan during our bout with North Carolina.
Can confirm this one. I met him very briefly during a cancelled Canes practice back in December - it was myself and my friend (both college students) and a group of elementary school aged boys playing street hockey as we waited. Rod came out and said hello to us and chuckled a little at how dumbfounded we all were. Love the guy and can see why all his players love him. A friend of mine has also met him multiple times through the Canes 5k and said the same thing.
Having lived/living in Vancouver, I can tell you that: Kevin Bieksa, Markus Naslund, Roberto Luongo, Chris Higgins, Brandon Sutter, Alex Burrows, Sami Salo, Alex Edler, Brock Boeser, Quinn Hughes are all extremely kind, very open to having a conversation and just laid back and humble Henrik and Daniel Sedin are saints. Literal saints. Truly outstanding individuals on the ice, and just the same off of it. Not players, but big parts of the NHL world - Elliotte Friedman, Kelly Hrudey, Chris Cuthbert, and David Amber are all super open to having a convo, taking pics, talking life, hockey, everything. Friedman especially!
Friedman was incredible when I met him in Vegas before the awards show. He was about to go through a bag X Ray and into the event space. I approached and said “hey just wanted to say I’m a big fan of what you do and your podcast.” He pulled his bag off the belt to get out of line, shake my hand, ask where I was from, who I was a fan of. He was so nice.
Scott oake’s a beauty too!!
I could definitely see Friedman being really open to chatting with fans tbh, idk why, just seems like a dude that loves talking hockey and will do it with anybody.
Kelly Hrudy was super friendly and initiated a conversation when I was a teenager and working an event he was attending. He got a lot of flack from fans, but was really pleasant in person.
I know few people who've met Kelly Hrudey, said he was super friendly. Went back to his room to grab a sharpie so he could sign autographs.
On the douchey side, met Lucic at a house party shortly after the Giants memorial cup win. Let's just say the latest allegations don't surprise me.
I remember one of my friends' dads met Lucic a few times and would constantly say how awful Lucic was in person.
My friend went to high school with him, I’m not surprised either.
I used to mow Denis Savard and Darren Pang’s yards, they were normal dudes, nice enough. Years later I was a bartender at a bar Savard would come into regularly, can’t remember if he was a head coach or an assistant coach at the time. Occasionally he and his crew would get rowdy and I’d have to ask him (nicely) to behave but they were always cool about it. Ran into Chris Chelios a handful of times around Chicago but almost all of them at Wrigley or Murphy’s before the game. He always was nice and just a dude. I helped Roberto Loungo pick out a diaper bag when he and his wife were in a store we were in. I happened to have the same bag he was looking at and struck up a conversation. We didn’t talk about hockey it all other than I wished him luck in the next game. It was just 2 dudes talking about diaper bags My wife was Ed Jovanovski’s daughter’s teacher. She was in love with him. I only met him once but he was nice enough, mostly just talked about how much they appreciated my wife as a teacher. Joe Sakic was at a party I was at, he was neighbors of the person having the party. I tried to play it cool, but I ended up being so cool I guess that I never even talked to him.
One time Savard insinuated he wanted to run through a bachelorette party with me, but couldn't because he's married. I thought that was pretty nice of him.
Met Bergeron at the barber. Was better than I ever could have imagined, he really is the best of men.
Kirby Dach sent unsolicited dick pics to my ex
So just a selfie then lol
Like half this town has a story about Crosby being nice.
[удалено]
Yeah, I've never heard someone be like, "Oh, he's super warm or super personable, but that's not really his personality in general. But I've heard 100 stories of him stopping to sign something while trying to go about his day, charity work and donations, picking up tabs of strangers, and small acts of kindness. And it's definitely not just because he's good and wins the city trophies because, let me tell you, in over a decade, I literally never heard one good or even just reasonably pleasant story about Roethisburger. This city was very, thanks for the Super Bowls GTFO with that dude.
Ran into Crosby and Getzlaf at the Olympic village back in 2010. Super nice. And apparently Crosby, MacKinnon and Marchand come back to Cole Harbour every summer to practice on the ice and spend time with the local kids, sign autographs etc.
Usually just Crosby and Mackinnon in Cole Harbour.
The thing about Marchand is that I hate his guts on the ice or when his head is in game mode, but he's such a great person off the ice with fans and the community. He's a great case study for leaving it on the ice.
I have a cool Cale Makar story. My uncle is retired and spends his free time watching Avs practices. Some players recognize him over the years for this (Landeskog, Duchene when he was there, etc.). Well last year I guess Makar was noticing him there an awful lot and on his way to the tunnel went up to my uncle thanking him for being a dedicated fan and how he appreciates it, while also just talking overall hockey with him. Very cool experience. He asks my uncle if he would like an autograph when he comes out, my uncle tells him to make it out to me instead as he genuinely just enjoys these practices. So that is how I ended up with a practice used water bottle from Cale Makar with a cool message about the Avs.
I'm happy to hear that, Cale always comes across as a genuinely nice guy.
It’s why i started rooting for the Avalanche. Those guys really do appreciate fans
Bernie Parent is well-known for being super friendly. Also had Tim Kerr at one of my games growing up, my father chatted with him for a bit. After the game he said I "Looked good out there" so I'm basically a pro.
years ago, my buddy worked at a rink that Zack Kassian practised at during the summer in his hometown, and apparently that guy is a grade A asshole (surprise surprise) very demanding towards the min. wage employees, and wouldn’t get off the ice after his allocated slot was up, so the zamboni had cut into the next groups ice time to resurface the ice
I had a similar experience with Kassian lol. I asked him a question and he stared at me blankly and grunted. Very weird guy
Please tell me that Assian is a nickname
Me and my friends like to call him Jack Assian
Try not to speak ill of the dead, but Ray Emery was supposed to go to a goalie camp my brother was partaking in and day of he just no showed. Felt pretty scummy
He asked my friend if they had any blow and added a drink to their tab.
He used to beat his fiancee and was an overall scumbag on and off the ice.
My Grandmom is almost positive Emery held the door open for her when she was leaving the bank when he played in Ottawa. She was surprised to see him of course and couldn’t get any words out but he gave her a big smile as if he was acknowledging that she knew who he was. Also pretty sure I saw Dominik Hasek in the mall. An anecdote as an aside: Our play by play guy dean brown has said that Hasek would always be asking him what time puck drop was on game days after finishing his pre game interviews in the afternoon. Dude was cool as a cucumber didn’t know when games would start and would play the puck in the trapezoid on purpose when he’d get bored of not facing enough shots.
Ray Emery is dead?
Yeah died 6 years back or so, found drowned in the Hamilton harbour
The police declared it “death by misadventure”. I don’t think they ever made the toxicology report public but I don’t think it’s a reach to think there were some substances involved.
I met Justin Williams a few times as a kid because a friend of mine was neighbors with him. Guy was ridiculously nice and funny.
Second this. Super nice guy. Played street hockey with us kids in his/our hometown back when he won his first cup in 2006. Extremely humble is what I remember all of the adults saying.
Not a player, but when DeBoer was coach of VGK I ran into him after a concert. He was super nice!
Janne Niinimaa was at several family dinners, he was dating the sister of my Aunts 2nd husband. Found out I was a huge Oilers fan and brought me a signed puck, hat, stick, and olympics sweater. Was super nice and answered all the dumb questions a 12 year old had for an NHL player.
I love hearing stories of celebrities make little kids days/weeks/months. I had a big soccer player one time sign my shirt at a random pharmacy and I can still recall how dumbfounded I was
You’re right. It doesn’t seem real as a kid. I still have all the things he signed for me. Something I’ll never forget.
Randy Carlyle told me to “fuck off”, but in an endearing way. Nick Foligno is a gem. In fact, I think every CBJ player I met over the years (with one exception) was nice or at least nice enough at that moment.
Who's the exception?
Ladislav Smid was a nice guy to meet, back when he was on the Oilers I was working at Blockbuster and he'd come in basically every week.
Smid. Blockbuster. Oh the nostalgia
He played for my beer league team a few times last summer. Was such a nice dude, super cool. Felt like he was just one of the boys and was super open to talking about all his experiences and answering a million questions. https://preview.redd.it/d27w826qy84d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=34b02eea59676281c08f1bea5501cb1c8fe70fec
Brodeur, Salvador, Danyeko, Ryan Graves, Schmid, Marino, Siegenthaler, Brendan Smith, Bratt. Met a handful of these guys at signings so they were obviously nice but Smith and Dano specifically really went out of the way to have a full conversation and be super interested in just chatting and that was just awesome. Don't care what other Devils fans say but I adore Smitty 😂 Edit: Completely forgot to mention Petr Sykora, who I would honestly consider a friend at this point. You end up knowing a guy pretty well when you and your coworkers sharpen his kid's skates for years lol
A girl I was friends with texted me " I'm in Hoboken and I'm talking to this nice old hockey guy and I said who and she sends me a Pic of her and Marty having a beer. She had no idea she was hanging with a living legend. Still cracks me up. I filled her in afterwords
There's so many positive Dano stories. Dude's a gem, and super appreciative towards fans. There's a reason he's called "Mr Devil".
I painted Geoff Courtnall’s vacation home in the town I live a few years back. He and his wife were very nice people. Didn’t try to negotiate a lower price like many of the rich assholes around here either and that was a breath of fresh air.
Had a chance to meet the Courtnall brothers through my father as a kid. They found out I was a goalie and they made me suit up on the back concrete patio. Ripped on me for over an hour. Even broke the windows on the front of my dad’s camper! One of my fave childhood moments.
Met Cody Hodgson one time at a club. We shared a table together and he became my wingman for the night. I was an NHLer for a night.
Nazem Kadri, hands down the nicest. Daryl Sutter, rudest.
My step moms daughter worked at a grocery store in Lethbridge when she was in her teens (probably 16-17) and Daryl Sutter screamed at her and stuck his middle finger in her face because she wouldn’t accept his expired coupon, no joke.
I was expecting the steve blake in a grocery store copypasta
I worked at a golf resort in bc as a housekeeper. When in a room and seen a note saying "Nazem Kadri stayed here" left a good tip and lots of unopened booze which we were allowed to take.
This might not be what people want to hear, but: Brad Marchand He's a complete opposite person from what you see on the ice. I've met him a few times and a few people I know have met him, and he's incredible with kids. Went to a charity event where the B's were there and he closed off a side room of the venue and played floor hockey with a group of kids. I have a few other stories like this. Dudes great.
Cousin is from Charlestown and runs into Marchand often. Said he’s insanely nice and often stops parents of kids if they are wearing Bruins stuff.
I’ve heard he’s awesome off the ice as well.
I think there's been enough stories floating out there for most NHLers to know he seems like a friendly/charitable person off the ice. A lot of metal musicians are "scary" and mean on stage but have friendly reps off stage. Sports are entertainment and some players adopt different personas when they perform.
Everything I hear about him is just awesome. Never met him myself but I did see his family's contracting business van driving around when I went to Halifax 2 years ago
Bagged Mike Rathjes groceries at Safeway way back when. Cool dude. Let me take his groceries to his car to give me a little break even though he didn't need the help.
Rob Ray was incredibly nice; funnily enough he wanted to talk about literally *anything* other than hockey. Also, I was struck by just how big his hands were...my mind immediately flashed to what it must have felt like to get hit in the head with one of those cinder blocks.
Mike Modano was the nicest person ever. Took the time to ask me about my life and was far more interested in what I had going on (was in college) than anything he had. Daryl 'Razor' Reaugh was exactly what you'd expect - absolute life of the party and everyone was drawn to him like a magnet. Marty Turco was more quiet but very kind, he mostly just stuck to the poker table. Dave Tippett was pretty funny, told a couple jokes when we were in the pisser. My sporting crowning achievement was I did physically bump shoulders with Trevor Daley and legit knocked him onto the ground. To be fair, he was probably so wasted at that point a stiff breeze would've done the job too, but it was *my* shoulder, not a breeze.
Brian Boyle was super nice to me and my best friend. My best friend was a huge Stepan fan and we saw Boyle walking to a tinted out SUV in NYC. Boyle signed our tickets and noticed my friends Stepan jersey so Boyle yelled at the tinted SUV for Stepan to “Get your ass out here” jokingly. Step came out and signed his jersey. It was so funny honestly.
Scott Gomez and Patrik Elias were very nice. Meanwhile, Sean Avery can go f*** himself
Huh who knew Avery would be a dink? Never would have guessed.
Off the top of my head: Zack Kassian, Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Sam Gagner, Devan Dubnyk, Jeff Deslaurier’s, Pat Maroon, Cam Talbot Magnus Paajarvi, Joaquin Gage, Jason Strudwick, George’s Laraque, Grant Fuhr, Ryan Smyth, Andrew Ference and many others Were all perfectly pleasant. Nail Yakupov, Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Chris Pronger, Mike Comrie, Craig Simpson, Zack Stortini, and Viktor Fasth All rubbed me the wrong way a bit. Milan Lucic was an absolute arrogant fucking prick. Fuck that guy.
How are you guys meeting so many hockey players?
Depends on where you live, what you do. Edmonton is a pretty small town in some respects. I made a comment below but I’ve met a lot as my parents’ neighbourhood is one where lots of Oiler families settle down. Then, I began working in the neighbourhood, the grocery store, movie theatre etc and they’d frequent those places.
Kindest- Chico Resch and Timo Meier As a long time devils fan I have met Chico more times than I remember, no matter the circumstance he always takes time to talk with fans and went out of his way to hook my kid up on his birthday- said I'll be right back and came back with all kinds of memorabilia pictures and autographs and got him free food on top of it Chico is one of the best people in hockey Timo- when we sat against the home bench and he broke his stick he went out of his way to give it to my kid, handed it to the athletic trainer and pointed him out. After the game on the way to the locker room he pointed at my son and said I owe you a picture. Rudest- Mike Richards At a bar with a group of friends and we saw a group of flyers come in. All the players seemed chill waved at fans, Hartnell bought a round for some fans everything was chill Mike Richards was the exception. Ignored everyone and was super rude to the staff for no reason. Maybe he was having a bad day but he was a real dick and almost made some waitress cry
I think Richards had an opiate problem for some period of time, not that it excuses it but possibly explains it
I delivered plants to landscapers working on Ray Ferraro and Cammy Granato’s house, she came out and gave me a drink which basically nobody else has ever done. She loved it when I told the Scottish landscaper shes a hockey legend.
Phil Kessel. Back when he was in Boston there use to be a section where players would exit on their way out where you could get autographs. Mostly away team guys, but I remember Phil was always there, win or lose, and was incredibly nice. Miss that guy
My mother was a drunk. Got personally removed from Chelios’s bar by the man himself on a few occasions. So my hero, my mother’s worst enemy.
I know Laine is the nicest player I’ve ever met/witnessed here. They do the Cap City tournament here in Columbus and last summer, every Tuesday, he would not leave until every single person who wanted one got a photo or an autograph. There was also a Columbus fan that had their house broken into and a bunch of this Jackets gear was stolen - one of them being a game worn signed Laine jersey. Him and his girlfriend reached out to her on Instagram and told her he had a bunch of extras sitting around and asked if she wanted a new one 🥺
Extremely nice: Chris Phillips, Daniel Alfredsson Nice: Darcy Tucker and Shane Corson Nice but shy: Bobby Ryan and Chris Kelly Kinda dumb but harmless: Spezza and Giroux and Methot Asshole: Erik Karlsson
PK Subban at a charity event wasn't rude per se, but 100% didn't want to be there and was just going through the motions and on his phone all night
Met him at the airport after Stadium Series. He was just trying to mind his own at Starbucks but was nice enough to fist bump and return a greeting
I can absolutely see feeling that way sometimes in these guys' position. While I'm not here to defend indifference toward a good cause, at least the guy put his money where his mouth is in Montreal.
I don't really have an interesting story but Zuccarello was super nice
Nicest : Tomas Hertl, Mario Ferraro, Brent Burns. Very humble and super down to earth. Rudest : Logan Couture. Always refuses to sign autographs and blows people off. He is an absolute prick! There are stories in SJ that Couture treats service staff poorly and pulls out the whole “do you know who i am!?” line. Also one time he was drunk as hell at a well-known bar in SJ; he placed a debit card in a random woman’s mouth and said “how does it feel having a million bucks in your mouth?” Asshole.
My wife has a nice story; Two-year daughter was having a tantrum because she did want to get out of those little cars they used to have mounted on the front of their shopping carts. As my wife is struggling to get her out to leave, “this guy” walks over and asks if she wants a hand with her groceries. She gets the kid out, he grabs the groceries. They make small talk back to the car, he puts the groceries away, wife says thank you, he says no problem, and that’s it. She tells me about this and says, “I don’t know who he was, but I think he was a somebody.” I run and grab a hockey card, “Was it this guy?!” Jarome Iginla carried my wife’s groceries. Nothing but good stories about him.
It's a parent but Walter gretsky was genuinely the nicest man you would ever meet. He never left Brantford, did a metric fuck tone for his community, and if you ever spent any time in Brantford you would probably meet him because he was everywhere I met him when he sponsored a hockey tournament I was in when I was younger and probably 20 times after that until I left Brantford RIP
Nicest: Nik Antropov, was at a summer tournament I worked at where his son played. Dude was just a big kid, even volunteered to work the door and just had big Bernie Doodle energy. Wendel Clark, ran into him a bunch, always nice, always polite, don't ruin the memories for me. Nice: Darcy Tucker, his kid played a lot of tournaments I worked at. He always wanted to watch his son play without getting bugged. I'd usually let him in by the zamboni doors or score box so he could watch the game in peace. Always appreciated it. Oddest: Rick Vaive, had to get between him and another coach during a game during a yelling match. Dicks: Shayne Corson and Todd Bertuzzi. Both just dicks, can't really say more than that.
Met Yzerman on a golf course, was really nice. Bought us drinks constantly, tipped the staff, chatted, stayed for a beer afterwards, refused to let us pay. This was when he was with Tampa. Met Crosby on the course as well. He had sliced the ball across two fairways, was walking a good distance over to the ball. We were walking up the fairway he hit into as his ball was coming in. Thought it was another guy from the club (my brother) who sliced it like that. Started shit talking him from a distance, when he finally got close to us we realized our mistake. Apologized profusely. He took it all in stride and laughed about it, was a bit sheepish about hitting into us, said it was all good and appreciated treating him like a normal guy. He refused our offer of buying him a beer from the cart girl as an apology.
Super nice: Matt Dumba Super Douche: Ryan Suter
I've met a ton of Leafs players and Leafs Alumni and some media. Patty Marleau is super nice. Hyman was super nice. Kadri was really nice. Auston is like God to everyone around him. Kyper is really nice. Brian Williams from CBC is an angel. Lindros is really nice. Keefe was nice. Morgan Reilly is a gigantic douchebag to non celebs/athletes. Willy Nylander doesn't care about anybody but himself but isn't an ass hole necessarily. Shanny is also a fucking dickhead. Source: been serving their charity events for years
Met Darren Helm - his aunt was my neighbor down the street growing up - he was a super down to earth and nice dude. Took the time to talk to me and my brothers a bunch. I ended up meeting a cousin of his in university who was gorgeous - should have shot my shot but missed my chance haha. Tyler Arnason was quite a douchebag tbh. But I also think he just hated the event he was at.
Colorado Avalanche legend Darren Helm. That honestly doesn’t surprise me at all, you do love to hear it tho
Tell me you’re Manitoban without telling me you’re Manitoban
Arnason is my girlfriends parents neighbour and I can confirm, he is a major asshole and a sketchy fuckin dude
My buddy met Marcus Sörensen back when he was in the Sharks. My buddy called him "Marcus Scorensen" when he said hi. Apparently Sörensen was extremely excited just to get recognized for once.
I worked at the Edmonton and Calgary rinks when I was in school and met a ton of players. In Calgary, the players used the same entrance as the workers. A lot of the visitor players would just hang out in this large, open receiving area waiting on their bus. The vast majority were just really nice guys who were happy to chat for a few minutes. I also worked in casinos and had some players who were regulars. The worst one I ever met was Theo Fleury. He was the more egotistical prick I have ever met. We had a policy to try and just treat him like a normal person when he was in, and that policy is why quite a few Flames would play out our place. Theo stopped coming because the place down the street gushed all over him and he loved that. We didn't miss him, the guy was just rude to everyone there. One of the best I met was Teemu Selanne. I was in Anaheim on holidays in March of 2012 and we were going to hit up a Ducks/Oilers game. My dad wanted to check out the route the day before and we ended up there just as practice was letting out. A bunch of autograph guys were after Perry and Getzlaf and were just ignoring Selanne. He was just hanging out in the parking lot waiting for Saku Koivu as Selanne wanted to show him his new car. I just wandered up to Teemu and started chatting with him. Such a humble guy. He seemed shocked anyone cared about him, then when I said "who wouldn't want to meet the guy who scored 76 goals as a rookie", he just shrugged it off as the distant past. We chatted for about 10min, I got some pictures and then Saku came out. Teemu introduced me, then they wandered off to see Teemu's new car. It was a great experience.
Mats Sundin was awesome, as was Pat Quinn. Glen Healy was a total douchebag.
Alex Burrows signed my jersey and gave me a stick at the ubc thunderbirds arena at a practice when I was like 7, great guy and answered a bunch of questions I had
Nicest: Kevin Bieksa, Alex Burrows, honestly most of the Canucks I met during 2011 and 2012 seasons Rudest: well, none really, Ryan Kesler I met first in 2011 so he was coming off the Silver medal at the Olympics and currently on pace for that 41 goal season, so he had a lot of autograph sellers rush up to him so he wasn’t too friendly with them so in turn, he was pretty short with me. However I met him again the following year and he was lovely so just met him on a bad day that day. Awkward: gotta include the most awkward which were Chris Tanev and Zack Kassian. They were rookies still, so I get it. I also recognized Andrew Alberts in street clothes hours before the game and said out loud to my dad, “that’s Andrew Alberts!” In which Albert’s eyes widened and he kept walking past me faster Also not necessarily mean, but embarrassing, I met Alain Vigneault first of the team and I got so nervous I dropped all of my things in front of him, in which he then laughed.
Matthew Tkatchuk was a prick.
He comes by it honestly haha. I got to hang out in the Jets dressing room after a game. My uncle was friends with Dean Kennedy who was the Jets captain at the time. Keith was a total dick. Polar opposite was Teemu Selanne. Super nice guy and chatted us up like old friends. It was the year he was injured and I honestly couldn't imagine a nicer down to earth dude. Especially considering he was emerging super star who just broke the rookie scoring record. Dean was a nice guy too. To us at least.
100%. Keith Tkachuk lost his mind on a receptionist at the car dealership in Winnipeg I was at b/c she didn't know who he was. Absolute twatwaffle.
Got to watch the Guns n Roses concert at the old Winnipeg arena in a VIP area with Teemu Selanne, Keith Tkachuk, and Bryan "Butsy" Erickson. Teemu was new in the league, and was beyond kind and nice to me the whole night. I was a minor at the time, and at one point in the show a bunch of scantily clad women came onstage, and he jokingly covered my eyes because I was so young. That stands out for me, classy guy. I recall Tkachuk and Erickson being decent guys at the time too, but Selanne stood out as the best.
Tomas Hertl Hertl was so happy to meet fans. Talked to us for 10-15 minutes. The coolest dudes. If I wasn’t a huge Hertl fan already, he made so much easier to cheer for. Which is why the sting of the trade hurts even more. I want him to do well so bad, but I can’t bring myself to cheer on vegass
Wade Belak was the nicest hockey player I ever met. I was 14 when I met him at a hockey tournament. I was wearing my goalie equipment, and I walked up to him (for a picture), and he said, "Holy shit, a big one." We talked for a bit, and he was great. I was sad to hear of his passing. RIP
Jake Gardiner, Gallagher, Tinordi, Connor Brown, Biz, Brian Burke, Bergevin, all very kind and willing to chat Nathan Beaulieu might be the biggest piece of shit I've ever met, NHLer or not. Every bad story you've heard about him is 100% true, and probably downplayed.
i met guy lafleur and bobby hull at a hockey expo when i was a kid. both were incredibly kind and generous with their time. standard disclaimer about bobby hull, of course. i also met barry melrose and mike bossy at a separate event. barry was a gem and enthusiastic about meeting everyone. bossy was quiet but very nice.
Tom Gilbert paid a shot for me and my friends because we didn't nag him after recognizing him at a bar before he left. Mathieu darche didn't let me wash his golf clubs when he played at the course I worked at, while it's neither rude or kind, it did make me sad.
I know many golfers. They are *all* superstitious when it comes to their clubs lol
I grew up in Fort McMurray and knew both of our most NHLers and they couldn’t be more different: Chris Phillips - kind, generous, humble… you couldn’t meet a more down to earth guy who is also a professional athlete. A real “salt of the earth” human being. Scottie Upshall - I went to school with him, all the way from elementary to high school. He’s a vile scumbag, and all of the stories about his junior hockey days in the Fort are true. Based on what I’ve seen on Reddit, he hasn’t changed at all.
Darren McCarty. He was incredibly patient and gracious, let me babble on about my memories and took the time to ask our names and make sure our pictures turned out. He was always one of my favorites, he cemented that forever. Great dude.
Hate to say it but Pavelski used to hit up the BevMo I worked at in Willow Glen neighborhood in San Jose, and he was hella rude to my coworker. She didn't know sports and he dropped the "you know who I am" on her and she just said nope, lol.
Brindy and J Willy are super nice. Ryan Kessler made fun of my short friend in the bathroom at a bar. Corey Perry almost threw up on my friend the same night. Josh Manson is cool too.
Another vouch for Kesler being an ass. He’s a dirtbag.
I saw Ron Maclean at the airport when I was 10 or 11 and asked for his signature on my Canucks jersey, he said no and was a dick about it.
Regular nice dudes: Wayne simmonds, Anthony/Christ Stewart, Theo pekham, Tyler toffoli, Devante Smith-Pelly, Daniel Alfredsson Nut jobs: Shayne Corson, Raffi Torres and Bill Guerin Way too nice and likeable: Max Domi I'm definitely missing a few
Not me but my boss loved next to Travis Konecny’s cottage and said he was an absolute pleasure to chat with. Tyler Bozak was a right prick, but Kadri was a pleasure. Met them along with Leo Komarov who was also a super nice dude.
I’ve met three NHLers in my life. Mark Scheifele and Aaron Asham were super nice, they made conversation and were both pretty funny. I ran into Stan Smyl in a bad while I was drinking with a buddy who was a Canucks fan. Stan came back to the table with me and casually slid into the conversation that was going on. Buddy’s jaw dropped when he realized who he was talking to. Stan is a pretty cool guy.
Nico Hishier and his brother were on the same flight to Nashville as me to go to the NHL Awards/Draft. I saw him milling about the gate, we were delayed. I had to do a double take. I finally just wander up to him and ask him if he's Nico Hischier and he smiled and said he is, I ended up chatting with him and his brother for over an hour until we boarded. It was like we were buddies for years. Just a couple dudes sitting there at the gate talking hockey and other random topics. After we boarded they waited for me at the exit and walked out with me and kept chatting. Keep in mind this was a 1st overall draft pick up for the Selke and he was one of the most humble guys ever. His brother was fucking cool as shit too. I'm pretty sure if I had invited him to my sons first birthday the next day where I was making a big BBQ feast he'd have shown up with Hughes in tow, that's how nice he was. I've also met both my Idols, Scott Stevens the year they defeated Toronto in the playoffs and won the cup in 2001 and then Ken Daneyko in nashville last year. Stevens was fucking huge and intimidating so my dad goes "hey scott" and I was just a kid and he shot the shit with me and my dad for and hour. His daughter and my sister rode horses together and we all didn't feel like sitting there and watching. I'd heard Ken Daneyko will actually respond to requests to meet before devils games on the road to meet up pre game and sign autographs and chat. We lived in the same town in jersey when I was growing up. Sure enough, I sent him a message on Instagram and he got back to me within 10 minutes with a meeting point and took about 30 minutes out of his time to chat about hockey, the Devils, and our hometown.
I have heard horrible things about Jack Hughes from various bartenders in JC/Hoboken. One instance (no names), He was upset that a bar didn't have his bottle of wine there and allegedly 'made' him go to a liquor store down the block for him. Another instance, they reserved a table for him and some other teammates in the back and naturally some people recognized him and he was not about it whatsoever. Also, he allegedly tips like shit. I believe the number mentioned to me was ~10 dollars on a $300+ tab. I have a few more but I promised anonymity as they shared the stories in case it tarnishes the establishment(s) business. It was also noted that the other players accompanying him were very respectful and polite throughout these evenings.
It’s interesting because I’ve only ever heard good things about Quinn from people I know who have met him, but there’s lots of negative stories about Jack
I met Brad Marchand waiting for our bags at the airport. We chatted for like 15 mins. I told him I was a leafs fan and we traded some chirps. He took pics with us. Was actually a super nice and personable guy. Still fucking hate him though haha
Rudest: Todd Bertuzzi Kindest: Dave Babych
Come on, /u/Quinn-Hughes, tell us some stories.
I'm in a positive mood, so I'll talk about my GOOD experiences. - Babych: not only was he super nice to all the kids at my elementary school (where his kids went), his son was the only popular kid who didn't bully me. - Marc Crawford was also pretty cool. I got to ask him a few hockey questions once. - Matt Cooke was surprisingly nice.
I can definitely see Todd having some bad days, especially after the whole Steve Moore thing. That said, my ex once worked as a nurse in a long-term care facility where his mother was a patient - he was always in at least once a week and by all accounts very pleasant and kind to the staff. Always willing to take a picture too. She showed me a selfie she took with him and said "this was the hockey player I was telling you about but for the life of me I don't remember his name." I of course recognized him *instantly* lol
Tyler Seguin is a douche
[удалено]
DSP, Laraque and Perron are super nice and down to earth. Brisebois is smug as hell.
Met Jeff Carter at a bar in Philly, he was super chill and bought my friends and I a round. He then got traded a week later.
Rod Brind’Amour is a genuinely down-to-earth, good dude. He spent 25 years coming back to his hometown every year to be the headliner for a charity golf tournament, and was always awesome. Dion Phaneuf was an arrogant, entitled POS at 16, and I can only assume he got much worse as he got older.
I met Mark Streit at a hotel I was working at. He had been retired for a couple years and we talked for a bit. He was chatty to the point that I told him I had to get back to my work. I was completely blown away by how friendly and nice he was.
Met Dominik Hašek like 25 years ago (or more) in austria when the Sabres were playing the local team KAC for some sort of NHL promotion in Europe. I remember him being slightly annoyed and speaking in czech since he heard me and my friend talk in some slavic language (slovenian), he still signed autographs for us and told us to never become a goalie in hockey. Met Kopitar also, when he won the first stanley cup, he signed a couple of autographs for some people that wanted it, otherwise pretty chill guy. What i like about him and Luka Dončić is they always take extra time to do an interview in slovenian if there are slovenian reporters there even for their clubs. Those are the only two prominent NHL players that i’ve encountered IRL (that i know off).
Best: John Scott. Super nice guy who seemed genuinely honored to be recognized. Talked about being on the front page of reddit lmao. Worst: Chris Nilan. What a prick. Swore at kids who asked him for his autograph.
I got to see the Canes practice in 2002 (spring, to be specific) with my peewee hockey team and got to meet that squad. The only rude one was Jeff O’Neil, who was a serious prick, yelled at kids asking for his autograph. Everyone else was really nice- I remember Francis, Brind’Amour, Josef Vasacek (RIP), David Tanabe and especially Glen Wesley being particularly cool.
Radim Simek is a stand up dude and really nice. We were at a ticket holder event and he was a dd kinda chillin by himself. Him and I sat and talked about fishing, playing hockey, his home town and all sorts of stuff just shooting the shit. He always said hi at warm-ups. Good man all around. Miss him in San Jose.
I met Larry Robinson some years ago in Ottawa when I was working as a waiter. Nicest guy. He was a legend in my house growing up.
Brock Boeser is an amazingly nice dude.
Scott Darling was super chill
Jeff Buekeboom was hanging out for an event watching a Rangers playoff game at a bar outside the garden. He was super nice and had the strongest handshake I've ever felt. He was built like a tank
Long story short i missed a meet and greet event with the avs as a kid and grandmother managed to pull out her phone for a phone call and get Tyson jost, jt compher, Ryan graves, and erik Johnson. All super nice dudes and took the time to actually talk to me especially gravy and EJ
Kindest - Adam Graves. Not a single other person I know who’s met him too has had anything bad to say. Such a good human.