Ever meet a player and be disappointed/surprised?

[lawrence]

Jake Virtanen is a super nice kid.
Sakic and Daniel Sedin were stand outs too.
Jordan Schroeder is super mature and a very nice guy.
Alex Burrows is a class act
Martin Gelinas was nice, Gino Odjick was quiet.
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[NikoPopp]

Have to laugh at the Corey Perry stories - he's actually one of the most humble, down to earth, likeable people youlll ever encounter... He doesn't want to be famous, he doesn't want attention from fanatics, he just wants to be a hockey player... Under different circumstances I'm sure most of you would have come away with a much different impression.

Fans pay him his millions every year so being ****** to people who just wants an autograph or say hello makes him an ahole.

 

[Daximus]

My dad was friends with Mike Sillingers brother growing up. Met him a few times, he gave me a signed rookie card which was pretty cool. We would always joke about which jersey I should get him to sign.

I also met Clarke Gillies a number of times. Really cool down to earth guy. Loves chatting with fans and signing autos.

I also met Getzlaf in Regina for a ball hockey game. He was far and away the best player there. Made me and everyone else look silly the entire game. Was always trying to set guys up rather than score. Seemed like a nice dude. As an aside my buddy beat the living daylights out of his younger brother during Buffalo Days one year.

 

[CanadianPensFan1]

He's asking if Lemieux scored and beat the habs as per his plan.

Ah.

He did not score. But the pens won. It was a decent game from what I remember. I was 14 and that was a long ... long ... long.. time ago haha

 

[usahockey22flyers]

Awesome guys: Parise, Briere, Giroux, Bernie Parent (dude is the man), Ghost

I met Corey Perry at the sportchek next to the ACC during the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, was very nice to me tbh.

I grew up with the van Riemsdyk's, they always are nice to fans.

Barry Melrose and Steve Levy are cool dudes too.

 

[Martinez]

Met lidstrom at an autograph signing for like 1 minute. He seemed pretty perfect to me

 

[SnoopDogg]

My dad saw Eric Lidstrom talking to a little kid on his draft day in Buffalo.. apparently the kid wanted an autograph and Lindros got ink on himself and was P*SSED. Personally I haven't met any players other than Eichel who signed a pic for me and was pretty nice but we just talked for a minute or so because there was a long line for autographs

 

[HisIceness]

Kirk Muller and Jim Rutherford on the night of the 2012 Election in Charlotte at a Checkers game. They were both standing in the concourse at the arena and I walked up to both of them and had a brief chat. Both were nice guys. We talked about the lockout, the election, and how nice Charlotte was. Brind'Amour was there too but he was busy taking pictures with a group of people. Seemed like a nice guy.

 

[Ralph Malfredsson]

Darryl Sittler -- very chatty, down-to-earth. Seemed surprised people still recognized him.
Mike Milbury -- doesn't like talking about his GM moves

Not me but my parents:
Ron Tugnutt and Jacques Martin -- helped my mom retrieving her luggage from a baggage carousel at the Ottawa Airport. They went out of their way to do so like gentlemen. They are top notch in my books.

 

[DopeyFish]

Met wendel clark at a private fundraiser for the mastercard centre

At the time, crashed ice tryouts were going on below the booth we were in and he had no clue what it was.

Tried to explain, failed spectacularly so decided it was best to go to the bar and get drunk with phil pritchard

 

[HisIceness]

Not NHL but Dan Marino was a dick. Him and my dad weren't friends but they were both star baseball players growing up in Pittsburgh in the late 70's early 80's so they knew eachother. We were at a mall in Fort Lauderdale and ran into him around 1994 when I was 13. My dad said "Hey Danny" Marino said "Hi, bobby I'm in the NFL now, go **** yourself." From that day forward I was never allowed to wear number 13 on any sports team. Although to this day when my Dad is *****ing at me for something I'll say "Go **** yourself bobby, I'm in the NFL now." He'll go off on a old man rant about how big of an ******* Marino is and forget why he's *****ing me out.

Oh man thanks for sharing, that was good stuff.

But really, if you were 13 in 1994 that would make you 36 today. Why would your father be *****ing at you for something? Unless he's one of those guys who is just grumpy all the time anyways?

 

[ColeJ]

my summaries, mostly of outdated and retired players now because i'm apparently getting old.

the nicest/most gracious guys i've ever met from the NHL are aaron downey, trevor daley, jason arnott, billy guerin, guy carbonneau, andy moog, derian hatcher, and brenden morrow.

the most disinterested/rude/flippant were darryl sydor and mike modano. ralph strangis rubbed me the wrong way too, but he's a broadcaster, and not a player. daryl reaugh, on the other hand, was a delight to meet.

brett hull was an interesting guy to meet... he was amazing in that he had seriously open and honest hockey chats with my group, and offered to let me WEAR his stanley cup ring. which is a highlight of my life so far... but at the same time, he didn't mince words and when he disagreed with something, was just point-blank blunt about it. very cool guy, and it was an honor to meet him.

i had arnott apologize to me for how illegible darryl sydor's autograph was, and tell guerin to make sure to sign it super-clean since they were all sharing one puck. that stood out to me.

the best reaction i ever got from a player was downey, though. when i met him, i said i wanted to shake the hand that knocked out boulerice. he extended his right, and i said "nah, man. that was a left hook." and his face lit up as he extended his left hand and said "oh ****, you're right. good eye." then looked at john erskine and said "i love this kid, eh?"

guy was a beauty. nhl needs more aaron downeys.

 

[Mach85]

My dad was friends with Mike Sillingers brother growing up. Met him a few times, he gave me a signed rookie card which was pretty cool. We would always joke about which jersey I should get him to sign.

I also met Clarke Gillies a number of times. Really cool down to earth guy. Loves chatting with fans and signing autos.

I also met Getzlaf in Regina for a ball hockey game. He was far and away the best player there. Made me and everyone else look silly the entire game. Was always trying to set guys up rather than score. Seemed like a nice dude. As an aside my buddy beat the living daylights out of his younger brother during Buffalo Days one year.

Chris Getzlaf, the CFL receiver? Gotta elaborate on that story.

Darryl Sittler -- very chatty, down-to-earth. Seemed surprised people still recognized him.
Mike Milbury -- doesn't like talking about his GM moves

Not me but my parents:
Ron Tugnutt and Jacques Martin -- helped my mom retrieving her luggage from a baggage carousel at the Ottawa Airport. They went out of their way to do so like gentlemen. They are top notch in my books.

Lol this isn't surprising. I'm sure most of us wouldn't be too happy to be asked about the biggest mistakes we made at a job we got fired from.

On that note, when reading these "players were dicks" stories, it's important to remember that the blame can be on the fan or shared between the player and the fan when there's a bad interaction. Of course, sometimes the player was just being a dick.

 

[Psuedo Omega]

My uncle owned a cottage right next to Joe Nieuwendyk's in upstate NY, and I got to talk to him a few times. My uncle told him I played hockey and what a big fan I was. So, every July 4th we'd go to his cottage and Joe would always make it a point to come over and spend some time with me and my dad (huge hockey fans). He was always super down to earth, would talk about the Stars, and give me hockey tips. Awesome guy.

What some people might not realize was that Joe and Mike Richter were pretty close friends, and he'd sometimes come up to the cottage as well. I'll never forget when we went up when I was 13 and Joe brought Mike Richter over with him knowing what a huge Rangers Fan I was (even wore my Rangers jersey that day). I think my jaw about hit the ground despite trying to play it cool, haha. I couldn't believe it. He was also a super nice guy and took time to hang out and talk hockey with us. Class acts.

Needless to say, July 4th was my favorite holiday for a while. I loved it as a kid, but I don't think I realized how rare of an experience it was until I got older.

Joe bought a bike from my uncle's store, and when Dallas won the cup in 99 he brought the cup to the cottage with him. Good times.

 

[ScaredStreit]

Since people are posting nice things I figured I'd chime in. I used to live down the street from Tom Fergus for about 4 years (late 90's/early 2000's). He was a very nice guy, had a backyard rink and let my friends and I play on it all of the time.

 

[Daximus]

Chris Getzlaf, the CFL receiver? Gotta elaborate on that story.

My bad that was Scott Schultz younger brother. Ryan doesn't have a younger brother. Not as good of a story now.

 

[jetsforever]

Ran into Evander Kane just after he'd been traded and said I was a Jets fan. He was totally nice about it and took a picture. Friendly guy.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Rich Nash is the sweetest
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[Jack Burton]

Lanny McDonald really stands out for me. Such a humble man and nothing but all class, he also loves to water ski which is cool

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[takehisheadoff]

I grew up with a lot of NHL players. But I had the chance to meet Bobby Hull once. My hands are considered big this guy has meat hooks. He must have the biggest hands in the world. Really nice guy minus the fact it felt like he was going to break my hand when I seen him.

 

[Elimanator]

I met Justin Williams' dad lol. It was the weirdest thing. My dad is a contractor and i went to a meeting for him. I heard some guys talking hockey and i added some information as well. One of the guys said he was a Caps fan and i asked him why. He said my son plays on the team. I guessed Justin williams and that was him. So strange.

Also met paul henderson (im sure many have)

Not a hockey player but i met craig button at the WJC's. He was in a real bug rush lol

 

[GregSirico]

Adam Graves. Probably one of the nicest human beings ever.

Non hockey: met Mariano Rivera. Also another amazing human being.

It's weird the 2 athletes I met were some of the nicest people ever.

 

[Habsrule]

Brian Bradley grew up on the same street as my dad. My dad was about ten years older than him and took care of the neighbourhood rink in the winter. Brian's parents lived literally right across the street from the rink. He was out there all the time playing with kids much older than he was. It was a tennis court in the summer and rink in the winter. Every summer Brian would come to town for a week and stay at his parents place in Kitchener. I would collect as many hockey cards of his during the year and he would sign every single one of them them for my brother and me. We were maybe ten years old at the time. The park right across the street also had a baseball diamond. We played hockey or baseball there every day. He had came over to play with us. I remember him taking a snap shot with a tennis ball and hitting a friend of mine with it in the abdomen. He made the kid cry and he felt really bad about it. Super nice guy though.

I have nothing but the greatest things to say about Gregg Zaun. I took my son who was four to a Jays game last year. We went early and I had actually caught a Smoak batting practice homerun ball. We were walking around before the game started and we got to the Jays Central area. We walked up to the gated off area and Zaun had his head down into his phone. Me trying to be the greatest dad thought that it would be fun to get him to sign the ball I caught for my son. So I just called his name and he looks up at me. I had asked him if he can sign my ball, he kinda rolls his eyes and looks back at his phone and then just glances back up at me. I am then pointing to my son. He then gets up and walks over to us. I just asked if he can please sign this ball for my son. He says sure and asks for a pen, I then tell him that I do not have one. He chuckles and said that their is a pen over at his desk, he then picks up my son and carries him over to the desk. He puts him in Jamie Campbell's chair and starts talking to him. He signs the ball for him, even asked for his name so he could personalize it, was pointing to the cameras and just showing him what he does. He then brought him back over and lifted him over the gated off area and shakes my hand. I just thanked him. Great guy.

 

[Paris in Flames]

Peter Zezel was friends with a father of a kid on my hockey team when I was probably around 12 so he did this whole weekend where he came to practice on the Saturday and coached on Sunday. Was a really great guy.

Was at an event for the Leafs a few seasons ago and can confirm that Clark is a jerk. Sittler was too. Just seemed to resent being there.

Bower was as friendly as possible and Phaneuf was in the middle of a conversation with somebody when we approached. He politely said he would find us and we didn't believe him. 10 minutes later he cut his way through the crowd to find us. Was very impressed.

 

[xMOHAWKx98]

nicest probably Ryan Getzlaf. such a beauty. was his friends birthday/my best friends boss. Ryan just signed his contract and was buying everyone drinks.

Eberle is a ******. heard lots of bad stuff about him and met him twice sorry not met but got snubbed.