Which NHL players have you met and how were they?

[connor macdavid]

Rod the Bod: Super nice
Byron Dafoe: arrogant and reserved, but friendly
Aaron Ward: jerk
Mike Commodore: super hilarious
Ty Wishart: quiet but good sense of humour

So British? That's what he is after all...

 

[ean]

for some reason this made me lol

I didn't feel like detailing the long story as to why, but it's not that long so I'll share.

When I was a kid playing travel hockey he was practicing breakaways on some sort of backup goalie at my local rink. The arena was empty, though me and a few teammates spotted him and went to go watch him from the glass behind the goalie. We were cheered him on while he was scoring he seemed to be really getting into it with celebrations and stuff, everyone seemed to be having fun. After they finished he was walking off the ice in our direction and as he was coming by we were going to approach to ask for autographs. To our dismay, he motioned to the rink security escort with him to keep us away (there were 3 of us). Considering everything that had gone down to that point, I think he sensed the douchiness of the move and then let one of us walk within 2 feet of him with to get a few autographs. My teammate goes up to him with a few pieces of paper and a pen which he proceeds to grip as like its a dagger as he "signs" for us and then peaces out.

I threw out the paper later that day. That was over 10 years ago.

Ironically about 8 years BEFORE that incident I got an autograph from a (then) veteran Chris Chelios (he was happy to do it). And I'm in my twenties!

 

[Jarick]

In January I took my son to a Wild practice at an outdoor rink. Afterwards, only two guys stuck around to sign autographs, Warren Peters and Brad Staubitz. Staubitz signed my son's cast (broken finger) and wished him well. Got Josh Harding to sign as well, although it was more luck than anything as he was just standing around and heading in.

 

[ICM1970]

The ones I've met include:

Brad Marsh
Yvan Cournoyer
Moe Robinson (Larry's brother)
Bobby Hull
Noel Price

Yvan Cournoyer was speaker at a charity golf tournament and dinner that I was at. He gave a funny speech and beforehand I brought him a GOAL magazine article that featured vintage colour NHL photos (one of which featured him) that he cheerfully autographed. Noel Price and Moe Robinson were part of the foursome I was in that day to play golf and both told some fun and interesting stories about their playing days. Brad Marsh I also know fairly well and is a very nice and personable fellow. Bobby Hull I met at a midget hockey tournament (Purolator Cup 1987). He was signing autographs for a whole throng of people so I did not get to personally talk to him. Special note, one day at the Canadian Museum of Nature here in Ottawa, I saw Daniel Alfredsson with his wife and family. A kid recognized him and said hello and Daniel was very nice and accomadating with this kid, reinforcing the general idea of a great and classy guy he is to people here.

 

[Debrincat93]

Met Kronwall and Ericsson a while back. Very nice guys. Kronwall strolled up to this auto signing like he was a Hollister model, literally wore all Hollister.

 

[bluesfan94]

Met Patrik Berglund, but this was before he was great at English. Signed my jersey, seemed nice.

Met Alex Steen. Drop dead hilarious, he promised me a jersey, I'm going to have to try to collect. That's all I can remember.

One of my good friends lives across the street from Tkachuk. I'll have to meet him soon. She's also friends with Ryan MacInnis, Al's son, and I have a different friend who used to date Ryan, so I'm hoping I can meet Al eventually.

 

[dwreckm]

Only ever met one NHL'er, Scotty Gomez. He was doing kind of a promotional thing bringing the Stanley Cup to Alaska, but he signed a Devils jersey for me and seemed nice and genuine enough.

 

[GreatGonzo]

Patrick Marleau: Nice guy but really Quiet
Joe Thornton: He was talkative and really friendly
Douglas Murray: dude was more intimidating in person, always had that mug on.
Brad Stuart: Chill guy. Just talked to us.
Ryane Clowe: He seemed like he was always in a bad mood, but then again he is ryane clowe
Jonathan Cheechoo: Smaller in person. Really friendly though
Joe Pavelski: Really Quiet but seemed nice
Logan Couture: Quiet but seemed nice
Dan Boyle: He too looked angry each time. But he was talkative and nice
Anti Niemi: Didn't seem like he wanted to be signing anything. Every picture he was taking, he didn't smile
Marc-Edouard Vlasic: He was a cool guy
Mark Smith: Really small in person. Met him through my dad. Had a lot of hockey stories to tell
Brent Burns: Was really funny when i first met him. Was just cracking jokes and talking with everyone
Owen Nolan: Really nice guy. Was always talkative and never standoffish

 

[ShyCheetah]

When I was in 7th grade, Jay Triano of Raptor fame was one of our student teachers. His brother played with the New West Bruins along with Cliff Ronning. Jay, his brother, Cliff and one other player challenged the 15 guys in our class to a game of floor hockey. 15 on 4 it was a total slaughter but they were all really nice. -My brother told me some guy was warming up on the ice one time before practice and the dude was skating around the net and roofing the puck time after time. Everyone on the team was totally intimidated because they thought he was new on the team ('cause he was the same height). Turned out it was Ronning again, he was there as a favour to help the coach for the day.

I met Shawn Antoski at Tommy's Bar and grill. A friend of mine owned the club and he introduced me. Really nice guy. Shorter than I expected and not as big muscle wise.

A friend of mine worked at a pro golf shop and sold Petr Nedved a set of clubs. Nedved borrowed his golf bag for the day and never returned it. He said Nedved was kinda a *****. Technically it wasn't me, but I thought the story is relevant.

Shy

 

[Dr Van Nostrand]

Tom Barasso: never again.

Kenny Wregget: coached my team about five years ago, real nice guy when he isn't hammered.

Mario Lemieux: we live about five houses away from him.

Alexei Kovalev: REALLY nice guy. Gave me one of his sticks and signed a jersey for me. I may or may not have lost the jersey.

Jaromir Jagr: Not really "knowing," but we were in contact about ten or 11 years ago.

 

[Mayor Bee]

[deleted]

 

[bananaz]

Met Dany Heatley back in the summer of 2005 just before his breakout seasons with Ottawa. Really nice guy and soft spoken.

 

[Bronto]

Meet Dan Blackburn a couple of years ago in Sweden. He was really cool and all, but ended up cheating on his wife with an 19 year old at the party we where at

 

[TasteofFlames]

All-star games are a great opportunity to bump into some of your favorite players. At the ATL ASG, Bobby Hull was in town for one of the autograph sessions. He has to be the funniest, most talkative old guy I've ever met. Every person who went through the line (quite a few, mind you) got greeted with a 5 minute "I'm Bobby Hull and am the coolest guy you will meet this weekend," type interaction. He was so friendly that the ushers kept telling him to hurry up, and he went right on talking it up with the fans. It's easy to see why he was one of the faces of the league for so long.

The year prior, I ran into Malkin during the opening ceremonies in Dallas. I'm in my seat, waiting on my dad to get back (his turn for the beer run), when I get a call from my dad whisper/screaming "get up here now, its MALKIN!" So I run up to the concession stand, and there he is, hot dog in hand, talking to (who I later learned was) Alexander Radulov. Malkin spoke no English at the time, and here's this fanboy running up and asking for a picture. He obliged, and to this day, it's my favorite picture of me an a hockey player. Poor Malkin holding a hotdog and wearing a look screaming "I have no idea what's going on," and me giddy as a school girl meeting Justin Timberlake.

I've met Mike Modano a couple of times, and he has always been cordial, but not necessarily warm. I got the impression that he didn't really want to talk to his fans, but understood the importance of doing it as the face of the Stars, and in terms of growing the game throughout the city; kinda like the guy who reluctantly serves you 10 mins before his restaurant closes. Then again, it was always at the Byron Nelson (a golf tournament in Dallas) where I would run into him, so that probably had something to do with it.

Peter Forsberg was probably the nicest hockey player I've ever met. He stopped for autographs after the Flyers wrapped up at the Thrashers' practice facility a couple of years back, and talked to everyone and signed everything put before him except for 1 guy, and this is my favorite hockey player story. Forsberg is in the middle signing this kid's jersey (couldn't have been more than 5) when a middle age guy starts trying to push his way in. The guy bumps the kid and it messes up Forsberg's signature. The guy then shoves some cards and a clipboard Forsberg's way, and Peter proceeds to give the guy the "Forsberg Stare" and simply says, "no." He then asks the kid and his mother to wait for a few minutes while he finishes up with the rest of the autograph seekers. When done, he disappears for a few minutes, before reappearing holding a stick with a huge, personalized autograph from Frosberg. Just awesome.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

Played pond hockey with Peter Stastny and Zdeno Ciger during All Star weekend break when they were with NJD. Paul Stastny was there too (although he was around 4 at the time! But he was an amazing skater already. Pretty freaky actually).

Peter and Zdeno were very cool but I had especially had a blast with Zdeno. We drank beers and played ping pong that night. I was his partner and we ran the table all night. He even forgave me for slashing his hand on the pond earlier that day. Was even worse that his hand was in a cast. I'm sure the Devils brass wouldn't have been happy had they known about that!

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Working in the golf industry, in the Toronto area mind you, you get to meet countless players.

Lindros-He was alright, not a fan but I know the guy donates tons of money so I'll cut him slack
Muller-Nice guy, not very tall, biggest hands I've seen on a guy his height. Nearly broke my wrist shaking his hand.
Coffey-Biggest ******* ever. I'm dead serious, not classy at all
P.Mahovolich-Funny man. Also an absolute monster. Gotta be 6'5 or so
W.Clark-My childhood hero is drunk everytime I see him, almost killed me with a golf cart. Was not impressed.
PK Subban-Nicest player I've ever meant. Very humble. The complete opposite of what he is on the ice.

I'd say it's 50/50 as far as nice players vs not so nice one's. I've met hundreds of players and some really do expect the red carpet treatment. Coffey was ridiculous, I have zero respect for that man.

 

[BaconNater]

Met Jeff Finger and he was an awesome guy, met the whole Red Wings team in 07 and they were all in a hurry surrounded by kids so couldn't really tell what they were like, but noticed that Hasek was a really skinny and jumpy guy. And also awhile back I met Erik Johnson, Kyle okposo, gologoski, and Blake wheeler when they were on Minnesota playing against Michigan tech because I was waiting for them with my friends by the door that led out to their bus to get their autos

 

[takehisheadoff]

I grew up with lots of guys that play in the NHL but the funniest time I met an NHL guy was not even knowing it until after. I had 2 chugs of beer with a guy named ``Cam`` drank the beer than he said he had to bail. The bartender who was a friend asked me if I knew who the guy was. I told him I just met him his name is cam really nice guy. He goes Thats Cam Neely. I said BS he paid for the beer and that was the name on the credit card. I was shocked we didnt talk a single lick about hockey. And I was sitting with one of the greatest players of all time and didn`t even know it

 

[WolfonIce]

aha met a few,
bobby ryan, -nice
jordan eberle, -just your average teenager
kevin bieksa, - really quiet but nice
dale weise, - hung his phone up on his friend to give autographs
shaeun horcoff, - nice and likes riding in yellow cabs
mason raymond, - really nice and has a fear of hobos
kyle turris - cool and i workout with him
gilbert brule - same as turris
keith ballard - by far coolest hockey player youll ever meet, told me to sell my canucks jersey and buy a range rover
luongo - god bless his soul hahah hes cool too

probally met more but cant think of any

 

[OrrNumber4]

All-star games are a great opportunity to bump into some of your favorite players. At the ATL ASG, Bobby Hull was in town for one of the autograph sessions. He has to be the funniest, most talkative old guy I've ever met. Every person who went through the line (quite a few, mind you) got greeted with a 5 minute "I'm Bobby Hull and am the coolest guy you will meet this weekend," type interaction. He was so friendly that the ushers kept telling him to hurry up, and he went right on talking it up with the fans. It's easy to see why he was one of the faces of the league for so long.

Peter Forsberg was probably the nicest hockey player I've ever met. He stopped for autographs after the Flyers wrapped up at the Thrashers' practice facility a couple of years back, and talked to everyone and signed everything put before him except for 1 guy, and this is my favorite hockey player story. Forsberg is in the middle signing this kid's jersey (couldn't have been more than 5) when a middle age guy starts trying to push his way in. The guy bumps the kid and it messes up Forsberg's signature. The guy then shoves some cards and a clipboard Forsberg's way, and Peter proceeds to give the guy the "Forsberg Stare" and simply says, "no." He then asks the kid and his mother to wait for a few minutes while he finishes up with the rest of the autograph seekers. When done, he disappears for a few minutes, before reappearing holding a stick with a huge, personalized autograph from Frosberg. Just awesome.

It is impossible to get Bobby Hull to stop talking. He has an opinion on everything.

Peter Forsberg...my opinion of him will always be slightly tainted. Years ago, I met him at a nightclub in Zurich. I just noticed him and was like "you're Peter Forsberg!" He went "yeah"! He's got this blonde girl sitting next to him, his hand on her thigh. So we start talking, and then the girl reaches in and puts her hand on his thigh. I quickly excused myself. An hour later I see Forsberg from across the room. A different blonde chick is practically on his lap. We make eye contact, I'm sure he gives me the "eyebrow" raise. And I never saw him again.

 

[OrrNumber4]

Hipchecked Paul Kariya devestatingly one time. His buddies were not happy with it, but Kariya laughed it off.

Brad Stuart...don't like the guy. Supremely talented player, but very unkind in person.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

Ladi Smid: Seemed a little annoyed after asking to take a picture, but did it without a problem and was extremely cordial. He was hanging with a bunch of skids in Tommy Bahama shirts.

 

[magnus svensson*]

there was alot of hockey players here in sweden at a Mange Makers concert. (very poular band in sweden)

i met some nice people

forsberg - seemed nice until he starts to herassing my friends girlfriend
naslund - was so drunk i dont understand what he say
Ohlund - was cool and gave me hes snus when i ran out

 

[Wilch]

Seems like Forsberg, while modest, is one horny fellow.

 

[HighAndTight]

Met Len Barrie a few times briefly, seemed nice.
I also went to school with his son Tyson Barrie. Also seemed nice.

Geoff and Russ Courtnall used to egg my mom's house when they were all kids.