For six years Matt Bradley plied his trade at Verizon Center. For six years he parked his car in the underground garage, took the elevator up one floor and walked down a short hallway to the home dressing room.
Tonight he came in from the opposite direction, descending from the Florida Panthers’ team bus and making the long walk from the other side of the arena. When the game ends he will quickly toss his gear into an equipment bag, don a suit and head back to that same bus. Home for six years is no longer home for Bradley, who signed as a free agent with the Florida Panthers this summer. It’s an adjustment virtually every pro athlete learns to deal with at some point in their career.
“I really enjoyed my time here and have a lot of great friends on the other team,” Bradley said two hours before the puck dropped between the Caps and his new team. “But now I’m a Florida Panther, and I’m excited about that, and yeah, it’s going to be different coming in, playing on the opposing side. But we’re just getting ready for a game against a top team.”
It is a feeling teammate Tomas Fleischmann knows all too well. He played for the Caps for parts of five seasons and won an AHL title under Bruce Boudreau in Hershey. But on Nov. 30 last season he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche. Just eleven days later he was making the same walk Bradley did tonight – coming through the visitor’s entrance to play a game against the Caps.
“It was kind of weird,” Fleischmann said – then after a beat he cracked “But Brads is going to be okay. I’m not worried about him.”
Indeed, Bradley isn’t one to start shedding tears. The business of hockey is about getting on with it. And tonight if he sees Alex Ovechkin with the puck in the corner his job is to plaster his former teammate into the boards. Yes, the same guy who two seasons ago Bradley saved from a needless fight with Tampa Bay’s Steve Downie, jumping the boards – he always claimed on a legal line change – and racing across the ice before knocking Ovechkin aside to take over. Couldn’t have Washington’s star breaking his hand dealing with the likes of Downie, after all.
Moves like that made Bradley a cult figure in Washington. He was forever getting into scraps that were best left to bigger, stronger men. It seemed like three or four times a season Bradley left the ice with blood pouring from his face. That’s just the way he plays the game. It’s why he was so respected in the Washington locker room and why fans in Florida will likely feel the same way about him soon.
“You have to put friendship aside. It’s business,” Bradley said. “We’re here to get two points and win games. I’ll have to do whatever it takes.”
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