Washington Capitals defenseman Radko Gudas has earned a new nickname from his teammates since arriving at Toronto’s Hotel X, where the Caps, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, and Tampa Bay Lightning are all staying.

“Gudy is the mayor of the bubble,” Garnet Hathaway said on the Capitals’ podcast Between Two Blue Lines.

“Gudy’s played for Philly and Tampa and that’s two of the teams in here,” Hathaway said. “If you walk with Gudy, he knows everybody. Everybody likes Gudy.”

“He bullies them,” Nic Dowd added of Gudas, who has dropped the gloves 21 times in his career according to Hockey Fights. Gudas also one time tried to fight Andre Burakovsky.

“You’re terrified of him, but he’s also so friendly, so [a guy] will stop and have a conversation. I don’t think he’d beat you up.”

The revelation comes as the Capitals prepare to take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday at 4 PM – their second of three round-robin games before the first round of the playoffs. The Capitals landed Gudas from the Flyers last summer in exchange for Matt Niskanen. Gudas played four seasons and 290 games for the Flyers and three seasons and 126 games with the Lightning.

“Gudy’s an awesome guy – one of the best teammates you can play with. It’s weird. You see guys you’ve done battle with. You see a guy you’ve played with and it’s strange, but it’s fun at the same time,” Tom Wilson said of Gudas’s penchant for knowing everyone at the team hotel.

“There’s a lot of faces that I recognize,” Gudas added.

While the Czech defenseman has a lot of friends in the bubble, he may lose some with his honest analysis of how his former team measures up.

“[The Flyers] are a better team they were before. I think they’re doing a lot of good things,” Gudas said. “I also think we are the team that is known for how well things are done and can be done so it’s going to be a good battle tomorrow. I think we’re the better team though.”