Brenden Dillon was traded to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday for two draft picks. And there’s one teammate he already knows, uh, quite intimately.
In 2018, Dillon, as a member of the San Jose Sharks, fought Garnet Hathaway, then of the Calgary Flames. And you guys, it was an angry bout with lots and lots of face-punches.
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It’s not Dale Hunter once fought people on his own coaching staff weird, but that’s definitely going to be an awkward conversation in the locker room.
I imagine it will go like this.
Garnie: “Hey.”
[Both players slide their hands slowly into their sweatpants’ pockets and look around the locker room hoping someone will interrupt their conversation.] [10 seconds pass which feels more like an eternity.] [They make eye contact again.]
Dilly: “Hey.”
Garnie: “So, yeah.”
Dilly: “Yea…”Garnie: “So that time I hit you late at the bench and then responded by punching you several times in the face… That was small of me. I just wanted to say–”
[Suddenly their eyes dart to the entrance. Alex Ovechkin enters the room with a large plate. “Mamma Lucia! Mamma Lucia!” he screams. “CHICKEN PARM IS HERE!” The two players laugh.]
Dilly: “Bro, no. Don’t. It’s cool. I’m sorry for punching your ear, your eye socket, your chin, your–”
Garnie: “No! You had every right to. I lost my cool. You were just trying to get pucks deep and –”Garnie: “Dilly?”
[They hug]
Dilly and Garnie: “Dilly dilly.”
During his nine seasons in the NHL, Dillon has fought 26 times, including this bout with Troy Brouwer when the Brouwer Pouwer leader was still in Washington.
Weird.
Headline photo courtesy of NBC Sports California
