Nathan MacKinnon laughs off “diet” story; says he’s not “crazy”

The Colorado Avalanche are considered one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this season. That’s in large part to Nathan MacKinnon, who is their best player. Which is impressive for a team that boasts the likes of Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog, and Cale Makar.

MacKinnon is considered a fierce competitor both on and off the ice. His legend grew this offseason when a Russian interview with former teammate Nikita Zadorov spilled the beans on Nathan’s diet.

Zadarov calls out MacKinnon’s diet

“He’s crazy like that, he eats well. He doesn’t drink either. He only drinks water,” Zadorov said. “Two years ago in Colorado, he got rid of all the desserts he could. He also removed them from the locker room and pre-game meals. He had the white sauce (carbonara) removed from the menu when eating pasta. He even replaced regular pasta with chickpea pasta so we would eat more protein.”

“He would say, “Guys, if you want to eat this sh*t, you have the off-season to do it. When you step in here, there won’t be any more of that, because we’re winning the Cup this year.” Zadorov also explained that it worked. “All the kids on the team see him do it,” he continued, ” they look up to him and want to do their part.”

So what did MacKinnon think of all this?

“Yeah, it got a little out of hand,” MacKinnon said during the NHL media tour. “If you guys all know [Zadorov], he’s a bit of a donkey. 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.”

Those quotes set off a firestorm on social media with hockey fans dropping memes left and right. MacKinnon admitted they were funny but wanted everyone to know: “I’m a normal guy, I’m not crazy.”

MacKinnon a true leader