We’re back!

We don’t know about you, but we’re struggling with cheering for Brad Marchand as he played the hero for Team Canada in the  World Cup. He’s had our full support, as does pretty much anyone when playing for Team Canada, but we don’t love it. Still, it got us thinking, if we’re giving Marchand a temporary pass as the most hated player, who should we replace him with? We put it our panel to argue who nominate your most hated player to temporary replace Marchand until he’s back ratting it up in black and gold.

Kyle (@kyleroussel) – No doubt there’s a conflict in cheering for effing Brad Marchand. I’m still miffed that he was selected not only to the team, but to the tryout camp to begin with! But while we cheer him on toward gold, there’s no shortage of candidates to keep hating on.

If you want to hate on dirty players, Raffi Torres is still around – AND HE’S A LEAF! Steve Ott is still kicking around…these guys have no purpose for being in the league other than to hurt guys and while getting paid well to do it.

If you want to hate on piss-faced babies, Corey Perry is your guy to pile on.

Or if you like to hate on scummy people, you’ve got Patrick and Evander Kane.

See? Hating is easy! And fun!

Sean (@TheONeillFactor) – My most hated player is a sweater-vest wearing, Connecticut yankee who looks like the bad guy from an ’80s high school movie. The worst coach in the NHL recently, and accurately, referred to him as the worst Captain in his franchise’s illustrious history (a broken clock is right twice a day, and so forth). Rumour has it that he recently ran his most talented teammate out of town due to a power struggle in the locker room. I’m 90% sure he’s been involved in insider trading. He can go weeks at a time without scoring a goal.

Don’t @ me.

Kyle (@kyleroussel) – Pardon the tangent, but that comment about Pacioretty being the “worst” captain in Habs history really blew up, and for mostly sensational reasons. Let’s trace back the history of Habs captains all the way back to the glory years: Gionta, Koivu, Damphousse, Turgeon, Keane, Muller, Carbo, Gainey, Savard, Cournoyer, H. Richard, Beliveau, M. Richard. No need to go deeper than that.

Forget guys like Muller and Keane – who wore the C for a brief time. The only guy on that list who you can even begin to argue was a “crappier captain” than Pacioretty was Turgeon, who never should have worn the C to begin with.

Depending on whether or not there was something lost in translation, or broken telephone being to blame, the statement that Pacioretty is the worst captain is almost provable at this point – and that’s not necessarily a swipe at him. He just has very, very large shoes to fill. And judging on how things went last season, he’s off to a poor start. I expect him to be much better this season.

As for him running Subban out of town – let’s hope the truth behind that never comes out or he’ll be persona non-grata.

Sean (@TheONeillFactor) – I don’t actually believe for a second that Therrien actually said it. But I am selling all my Pacioretty stock – at this point, I’m like a Trump supporter just blindly willing to buy-in to any negative rumour or meme related to our not-so-beloved Captain.

Now that I’m a die-hard Nashville Predators fan I have no idea who my rivals are or who I’m supposed to hate.

Ian (@BoisvertIan) – Brad Marchand is still a Bruin, and that’s enough to turn me off. I will say that it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that he exchanges the spoked “B” for the maple leaf and he stops the goonery. He’s a very talented player. I think the black and gold makes him the player we all see him as.

Unless you’re Nathan Beaulieu, after the Habs preseason game against the Capitals, your least favorite player is probably Andrew Shaw. Yeah, he got a healthy slewfoot, but you don’t annihilate a kid with a vicious board and then pump up the crowd with the fight afterwards. Trying to cheer for Shaw is going to be hard.

Damon (@DTA23) – Shea Weber is my most hated player. All reports suggest that he is a great locker room guy and I know he didn’t make The Trade happen, but I loathe him for being in the trade.

CJ (@CJ_Casselman) – I used to hate players for different reasons. I hated Briere because he scored so many big goals against the Habs. I hated Vinny for snubbing the Canadiens. I hated Chara for the hit on Max. Living in Ottawa, I hate the Sens and Chris Neil specifically, although off the ice he is an incredibly nice guy.

I wish the topic would broaden to include fans. I love the Canadiens, but I struggle to identify a more fickle group of fans in sports.