In a social media reply this week, Brad Marchand publicly laughed at the idea of the Senators considering Stützle as captain.
The Florida Panthers have never ranked among the Senators’ great historical rivals. But this summer, they seem determined to move up the list.
Having already acquired former Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, whose trade request in May made him an immediate villain in Ottawa, the Panthers now have Brad Marchand taking gratuitous shots at the man who might be the Sens' next captain.
Last week, Instagram account Puck Empire posted about Ottawa’s vacant captaincy, listing Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson and Tim Stützle as potential successors.
Marchand apparently found the last name hilarious, responding with laughter at the suggestion of Stützle wearing the “C.”
You stay classy, Bradley.
This is just Marchand being Marchand, of course. And when it comes to cheap shots, it's certainly not his first rodeo.
He knows full well that Stützle should be in the captain's conversation. He’s their leading scorer, a cornerstone of their franchise, and carries enormous responsibility.
Marchand just gets a kick out of needling people. If it's about anything, it's probably Stützle's early-career reputation for embellishment, which Marchand probably finds annoying.
That said, if being irritating to the other team ruled someone out, Marchand would never have gotten close to the “C” in Boston. He's spent his career provoking people, and occasionally, he takes that work home and opens Instagram.
There’s also a slightly awkward element to this. Stutzle's teammate, Drake Batherson, is tight with Marchand and has trained for years with him during those all-star summer skates in Halifax.
Tkachuk, Marchand’s new teammate, is one of Stützle’s closest friends in hockey.
That doesn’t mean either player will tune him up for disrespecting their friend. Hell, the Tkachuk brothers just sat there chuckling when their dad was dicing up the toughness level of the Panthers (and probably the Senators) on the podcast they host.
The bigger point is this. If Marchand really can't understand why Stützle would be a candidate, he doesn’t have to look far to find someone who could explain to him.
If it is about the embellishment rep, and Marchand is appointing himself the guardian of hockey dignity, we should probably revisit the period when he was licking opponents to get under their skin.
Right or wrong, Stützle has to live with accusations of going down too easily in his early days. Marchand gets to live with the fact that the NHL literally had to tell him to keep his tongue to himself.
At 38, Marchand is still an excellent player whose career is worthy of respect. But you might expect a veteran with his experience to offer something more insightful than "hahaha."
Then again, this is Marchand. He's made a career out of poking bears, goading opponents, and getting great players off their game.
In a way, when you consider the source, his disapproval almost qualifies as an endorsement.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
This article was first published in The Hockey News. For more Sens coverage at The Hockey News, click on one of the latest THN Ottawa headlines below:
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