Jalen Ramsey’s confidence knows no limits.
While the talented Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback backs up his trash talk every Sunday as part of the NFL’s most dominant secondary, we’re gonna go ahead and say he won’t be able to do the same with his latest proclamation.
In a feature on Ramsey published a few weeks ago for ESPN The Magazine, writer Mina Kimes noted the following:
“He’s never tried skating, but if he trained for six months, he says, he could probably crack the NHL.”
There was no chance that single line wouldn’t catch the attention of hockey fans and media members, some of whom decided to have a little fun with it.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan told several NHLers about Ramsey’s comments, and got some pretty great responses.
So, too, did the NHL’s media team, which put out a video including responses from Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and a very amused Evander Kane.
Responses ranged from a level-headed “that’s just not possible” (McDavid) to a welcoming “I think it’d be awesome” (Ryan Johansen), with the overwhelming response suggesting most of them would like to call his bluff.
“I’d love to see him actually try,” said Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele. “If a team picked him up, I’d like to play against him. That’d be a point night for sure.”
“I’ve been talking about this for a long time, I would love to have other athletes — NBA players, NFL players — come put on skates and play against us. And us go play against them,” said Kane. “Hockey players would do a lot better at any other sport than other athletes would do at ours.”
Now that would be fun. Can we make this happen?
[relatedlinks]