Nathan MacKinnon is finally hitting back… kind of. While it seems to be mostly in good fun, it was a bit surprising that the Colorado Avalanche star didn’t comment on rumors he was a bit of a diet freak, spent thousands of dollars on in-house trainers and dieticians, and was often a really difficult teammate if players ate sweets or junk food during the season.
During the NHL media tour on Thursday, MacKinnon did finally respond to comments from former teammate Nikita Zadorov, calling him a “donkey” and someone who was “looking for a good quote.” He noted that the memes got to be a bit much, but that it was all blown way out of proportion due to Zadorov’s tendency to overexaggerate.
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MacKinnon didn’t seem to care much that Zadorov felt the need to share his diet habits with the public after moving from the Avalanche to the Chicago Blackhawks, and now to the Calgary Flames. Still, MacKinnon was happy to respond, jokingly calling his former Avs’s teammate, “a bit of a donkey.” He added, “I saw all of the memes. That got a little out of hand. I’m a regular guy. I’m not crazy. I get In-N-Out after games.”
As for whether or not the comments from Zadorov were true, MacKinnon responded: “People see a Russian translation and think it is the Bible, I guess. I don’t know. It’s all good. He went a little extreme. That’s what Z does. He loves a good quote.”
Whether MacKinnon is a lot like Michael Jordan when the Chicago Bulls were winning championship after championship, or he’s laid back and really doesn’t care what the players eat, it’s interesting to see how the media picked up on Zadorov’s comments and ran with it as though it was an issue that might have been anything more than a joke or a rib from a former teammate. Even if it were true, the reality is MacKinnon wants to win. A lot of NHL players can only hope they have someone on their team pushing them as hard as MacKinnon might be pushing the rest of the Avs’ roster.
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