NYDN – Group chats from Washington Capitals forward Brendan Leipsic and Florida Panthers forward Jack Rodewald leaked Wednesday night. They’re mostly Leipsic and his non-NHL friends bashing the looks and bodies of various women. Leipsic, 25, is a journeyman, having played for five teams since 2015 with 16 career goals. Rodewald, 26, is still a prospect, with ten games of NHL experience.
Here are some highlights from the chat; the screenshots are here. The quotes are all from Leipsic.
On former teammate Jake Virtanen and his friends: “Easily the worst crew in the world.”
On teammates Garnet Hathaway and Nic Dowd: “losers.”
On Tanner Pearson’s wife: “Look how fat Pearson’s wife is lol”
On Connor McDavid’s girlfriend: “Greasy beat up legs”
On his sexual conquests: “Second kill of the night she sat on my hog busted in 7 pumps. I was blow away”
On cocaine: “Love coke”
The Twitter handle @CapitalsDegen leaked a bunch of screenshots that largely make Leipsic look bad in Instagram group DMs with his boys, including Rodewald, though it’s unclear what the motivation was. There’s almost too much to get into as they size up random girls on Instagram, talk a whole lot about banging, and really just bury anyone and everyone that comes up. Either way, the NHL issued a statement that sounds not pleased but also doesn’t offer much in the way of actual punishment:
Statement from the National Hockey League. pic.twitter.com/aZm1M2wZBk
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) May 7, 2020
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It’s a tough look for Leipsic, Rodewald and the boys. Private conversations are private conversations and I’m sure none of these guys would have said anything remotely similar if they knew their texts would get leaked to the world. But they’re out there now and the kind of chats that would normally be filed under the dreaded “locker room talk” may make life extra hard on these guys.
And that is kind of crazy given what many know about hockey guys. I’ve spent some time around hockey guys from my years working in sports media and found them to be friendly and good times. I’ve been around women and men who know hockey and its players intimately even more. And the one thing that’s usually true: Hockey players do not give a damn. They bust their asses on the ice and then they hit the bars and clubs just as hard the second they’re off. A lot of them are decidedly un-PC in a world where that’s the expectation and the norm. Much like the fighting that’s slowly been weeded out of the sport, their full degen world views are part of the charm of hockey guys. But it also can be a thorn in the side of particularly vocal fans online who want to see the sport more progressive and inclusive to people of all backgrounds.
It’ll be interesting to see how the NHL handles it. Because Leipsic is mostly perceived as a “journeyman”, it wouldn’t be surprising to see serious ramifications come down on him, including possible job loss. And even if he is back on the ice whenever the NHL is back in action, he’s likely due some “between the boys” justice that will make life a bit less enjoyable in the locker room and in the games. Hope the seven pumps were worth it, my dude.
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