The Caps' Matt Bradley: A Serious (Funny) Man
Caps right winger Matt Bradley is seriously content to let his work on the ice and his role as
a locker room character take the spotlight. Photo by clydeorama.
"I'm a very, very serious person," is how Bradley, with a face any poker player would kill to have, describes his locker room demeanor.
Then he gives an actual, serious answer.
"Part of the reason why our team has so much fun together is because we keep it light off the ice," Bradley clarifies. "Myself and a bunch of other guys, we enjoy joking around, and it makes it fun coming to the rink every day."
But Bradley says he's far from the most mischievous guy in the locker room.
"There's lots of guys ahead of me. Brooks Laich is bad, Shaone Morrisonn. So I'm low on the totem pole as far as that goes," Bradley said.
An unselfish player who is always willing to take and deliver hits for the team (remember when he swooped in just as Alex Ovechkin and Steve Downie were squaring off?), Bradley has fast endeared himself to Caps fans, who even created a hashtag phrase on Twitter in his honor: #needsmorebradley. Caps fans apply this phrase, liberally, to everything from the Olympics to random TV episodes that they feel just, well, #needsmorebradley.
The nine-year NHL veteran believes it's his effort, shift in, shift out, to which Washington's hockey faithful relate.
"I guess they like work ethic, no matter who it is -- so if it's a hard working player, usually fans like that, because they know the guy's giving his 100 percent every game," Bradley said.
But Caps fans wowed by his tenacity may have missed the Stittsville, Ontario native's offensive prowess, which tends to simmer under the surface of Bradley's game. The topic comes up as soon as Bradley, who has scored eight goals -- one short of his career-high -- this season as a regular on the Caps' fourth line, starts listing his hockey-related nicknames.
"A lot of guys call me Sniper, because of my ability to score," Bradley joked, before admitting he gave himself the nickname -- spontaneously, during the interview no less. Bradley did admit, however, that Laich and Boyd Gordon have also nicknamed him "Mr. Offense."
"I think it suits, obviously, because I'm one of the offensive threats on the team," quipped Bradley.
Seriously: watch out, NHL goalies. You've been warned.