It’s understandable why Matthew Tkachuk is the most-hated player in hockey on one fantasy sports website’s list of them. But Connor McDavid placing fourth on the list produced by Rotowire? OK, wait. Let’s take a step back. Maybe this list, titled ‘The Most Hated NHL Player in Every State and Province,’ is mislabelled. Maybe it should be ‘The NHL Player Whom Fans in Every State and Province Envy The Most.’ Because hate, while usually formed out of one’s fear of loss as well as anger or injury, is different than envy, which is a more complex way to describe what’s going on in a fan’s brain when it comes to singling out a player who has caused them emotional grief. Because what fan wouldn’t want their team to have what Tkachuk has – recent Stanley Cup wins with the Florida Panthers – and what McDavid has – the possession of a dizzying set of skills for the Edmonton Oilers and the title of the world’s best hockey player to go with several National Hockey League accolades. The same dichotomy could be said for Nos. 2 and 3 on the list -- the Panthers’ Brad Marchand, a well-known agitator, and the Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon, considered one of the game’s best scorers. Tkachuk led the way as the most-hated in 14 states or provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, North Dakota, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Marchand comes in with 10, MacKinnon nine. Meanwhile, McDavid is hated in eight, including six western states, Florida and . . . Hawaii. Now, beyond the Cup rings claimed by Tkachuk and Marchand, there’s the ‘pest’ label both have worn over their careers, their abilities to rile up opponents – and, by extension, fans – with their work to distract and throw them off their games. It’s easy to see how one could ‘hate’ that when it’s their favourite team on the receiving end. Add to that Tkachuk and Marchand, who both have led teams in scoring, enjoyed Cup success soon after being traded away from their longtime squads to the Cup-winning Panthers. It just so happens those teams are Alberta’s Calgary Flames, fierce provincial rivals of the Oilers, and the Boston Bruins, whose loyal fanbase loathes the idea of their former greasy captain lifting the Cup with a team that has edged them out of the playoffs in recent years. But while it’s hard to conceive at times, what fan wouldn’t cheer that sort of influence on a game? Envy is wanting something someone else has, and while it’s easy to understand why hockey pest-like qualities would annoy opponents and their fans alike, if such players are members of their favourite team, one can understand the attraction. And it’s not as though the Oilers and the Avalanche haven’t employed such players in the past, all the way to Cup glory themselves. It’s been a while, but Edmonton once employed the infuriating-to-opponents likes of Ken Linseman, once known as ‘The Rat,’ and Esa Tikkanen back during their 1980s heyday. And the Avs roster once boasted Claude Lemieux, whose abilities of getting under his opponents’ skins and scoring in the playoffs once earned him a Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP. In the end, each player on this Rotowire list is on it because they have an effect on games. McDavid frequently talks about his desire to play in high-stakes games, from playoff and Cup Final contests to showdowns at the Olympics, as do Tkachuk, Marchand and MacKinnon. “I just want to win a gold medal, that’s the only thing that matters,” McDavid said in the days before this year’s Winter Olympics before donning the Maple Leaf to, alongside Marchand and MacKinnon, represent Canada, ultimately losing to a U.S. squad that boasted Tkachuk. Talking about Tkachuk’s hijinks in what certainly produced memorable moments during Battle of Alberta clashes in January 2020, then Flames head coach Geoff Ward recounted Tkachuk’s drive while playing the Oilers and irritating Zach Kassian. “It’s part of their DNA,” said Ward of the then-22-year-old Tkachuk’s targeted-but-deemed-clean hits on Kassian, who took out his frustrations by trying to fight a ‘turtling’ Tkachuk during a game, leading to a two-game suspension for the Oilers enforcer. “They look forward to big games, and they look forward to having opportunities to make a difference. “(Tkachuk has) become an NHL player for reasons . . . and part of that is the way that he plays.” With files from The Canadian Press
