Gritty and Kevin Hayes are fighting for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Fear not, Philadelphia Flyers fans, the 2020-21 NHL season is saved.
Now granted, the season is going to look noticeably different from what we are used to. The Metropolitan Conference will take a year reprieve in favor of a new, geographically restrictive ‘East Division’ and both the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoff will exclusively feature intradivision bouts, but hey, that just means the Flyers get to play the Penguins eight times in the regular season, so that’s pretty cool, right?
(Read more on that here if you’d like).
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However, one member of the Orange and Black is not particularly happy about the conditions of the NHL’s return – not unless one very specific aspect of the proposed season is changed.
That’s right, in a proudly not deleted tweet, Flyers power forward Kevin Hayes laid it all out on the line, explicitly stating: “If Gritty is not allowed in the building for games then I don’t think I can play this year!”
Oh what, you think I’m just joshing you? Do you think Hayes wouldn’t legitimately opt to sit out the 2020-21 NHL season to fight for his 7-foot-1 orange friend’s honor? Well, read Hayes’ tweet yourself and let me know if you sense even a single ounce of sarcasm in the 28-year-old former first-round pick’s tweet.
Big decision to make! If @GrittyNHL is not allowed in the building for games then I don’t think I can play this year! #GetGrittyIn
— Kevin Hayes (@KevinPHayes12) December 21, 2020
See what I mean? Seems totally, firmly, 100 percent legitimate to me.
Now to be fair, the former New York Rangers/Winnipeg Jets center isn’t the only person miffed about Gritty’s reported expulsion from the Wells Fargo Center next year. The big, orange, chaotic good mascot got in on the fun by launching his own Change.com petition to reclassify himself as an essential worker – presumably so he’d be allowed to appear at games.
Allow me to share an excerpt from his impassioned plea to Gary Bettman,
"Without me, where is the joy? Where is the artistry? Where is the downright tomfoolery that delicately balances with the on-ice battles and displays of athletic prowess? One cannot simply exist without the other."
Where is the joy? Where is the artistry? My goodness, does the NHL even understand what they are doing? To paraphrase another true artist, Gritty is a peacock, and Bettman’s gotta let him fly.
Since violently bursting into existence like an orange, googly-eyed supernova in 2018, Gritty has become a South Philly institution akin to roast pork sandwiches and water ice. Heck, one could even make the argument that Gritty may even be more popular than the Philadelphia Flyers as a whole, as he’s clearly transcended hockey to become a personified representative of the City of Brotherly Love as a whole.
In summation, is Gritty the best competitive advantage in hockey? Based on Kevin Hayes’ willingness to take the league to the glass even at the expense of a five-minute major, that’d be a resounding duh.