Drake Batherson didn’t just watch Brad Marchand‘s jab at Tim Stützle go viral from a distance — he actually reached out to him about it directly.
Marchand sent hockey Twitter into a frenzy last week after commenting “Hahahah …..stutzle….hahaha” on an Instagram post suggesting Stützle could be named Ottawa’s next captain. What most fans didn’t realize is that Batherson and Marchand are actually offseason training partners, working out together every summer near Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Brad Marchand’s mockery
The Senators have been searching for a new captain since trading Brady Tkachuk to Marchand’s own Florida Panthers this offseason, reuniting him with brother Matthew Tkachuk. That vacancy is exactly what sparked the original Instagram post naming Stützle, Thomas Chabot, and Jake Sanderson as the finalists for the role, and it’s what set Marchand off in the first place.
Speaking to reporters at the Rideau View Golf Club in support of the Senators Community Foundation, Batherson revealed he texted Marchand almost immediately after the comment blew up, per Sportsnet.
“I texted him,” Batherson said, per Sportsnet. “I said, ‘Marshy, what are you doing?’ No, that’s just Marshy. He’s been doing that for years, and I told Timmy. It’s all good.”
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According to Batherson, Marchand didn’t take the situation seriously at all, brushing it off as the same act he’s been running for two decades, saying he’s just laughing. “He’s been doing that for 20 years, that’s just Marchy being Marchy,” Batherson said.
Stützle himself didn’t seem bothered by any of it either, telling TSN’s Bruce Garrioch directly, “I don’t care about his opinion.” He expanded on that a bit further, adding, “I don’t really care. I think he’s a great player trying to get in other guys’ heads.”
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