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I think the vast majority of kids fantasize about growing up and becoming a professional athlete, but sadly, most of us eventually reach a point in life where we’re forced to accept that’s just not in the cards.
Of course, there are plenty of people who are able to overcome the odds and do exactly that, and while you obviously need an insane amount of talent to get paid to play a sport at its highest level, you can still get a bit of a reality check when you’re competing against some of the best players on the planet.
I think most guys in the NHL would acknowledge they’re living the dream, but I also think the bulk of hockey players would admit that dream doesn’t necessarily reflect the exact vision they had when they were younger.
For every superstar like Connor McDavid or Alexander Ovechkin, there are dozens of roleplayers who don’t really spend a ton of time in the spotlight.
That includes Montreal Canadiens defenseman Chris Wideman, who is the textbook definition of a “journeyman” based on the path he’s taken since being drafted by the Senators with the 100th overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft.
Wideman has played for six different NHL teams during a career that also saw him take his talents to the KHL for a season, and while he signed with Montreal after returning from Russia, he hasn’t exactly emerged as a superstar since joining the Canadiens.
Wideman says he and his wife have also been subjected to plenty of criticism from trolls who can’t resist the urge to slide into their DMs to complain about how he plays, but he had the perfect response to that particular crowd of detractors when he addressed the issue on a recent episode of the Cam & Strick podcast.
Here’s what he had to say:
“My wife’s getting f****** messages on her social media, like, ‘Your husband f****** sucks.’
We’re like, ‘You don’t think we already know that?’ I’ve been making f****** league minimum for ten years. You don’t think I know that I suck?'”
Well played.