Nick Paul said farewell to Tampa Bay as he heads to Toronto but keen-eyed fans will notice he hid a little easter egg that shows he's ready to truly be a Maple Leaf.
The Maple Leafs acquired Paul from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Dennis Hildeby, a 2027 fourth-round pick, and a 2028 third-round pick on the first day of free agency as a way to improve the middle-six and add size, defensive experience and a strong penalty killer to the lineup.
Nick Paul's Canadiens photo catches the attention of Maple Leafs fans
He took the time to give the Tampa Bay Lightning their flowers though, as he put out a post on his personal Instagram that thanked the team for his time there though was looking forward to putting on a different blue and white jersey:
While we are very grateful for our time in Tampa, we are beyond excited for what's ahead. Coming home to Toronto and having the opportunity to wear the jersey of the team I grew up cheering for is something I don't take for granted.
But fans also noticed that in Paul's Instagram post, there was a bit of an intentional decision to add a photo of him fighting with Montreal's Jared Davidson. It doesn't show that Paul intends to directly target Montreal, but more that he's aware of the stakes and how his passion will resonate with the fanbase.
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He won't have long to wait either as Toronto has a split-squad preseason game against Montreal on Sept. 19 he will likely be involved in and open the regular season against them on Sept. 29.
Don't expect Paul to immediately start fighting everyone though, but it will give him his first taste of the Montreal and Toronto rivalry.
Paul already has some fresh history with the Montreal Canadiens
As passionate as Paul is about playing against Montreal, he has to temper his emotions at times. If Montreal knows he's willing to get in their face, they can bait him into making a mental error and drawing a penalty.
In that case, Toronto is out one of their premier penalty killers and he doesn't do any good sitting in the box. Paul has historically been someone who doesn't take a lot of penalties and keeps his cool, so he'll need to continue that regardless of how much Montreal wants to agitate him.
He just faced Montreal in the postseason and he'll have the most fresh intel about how to better attack them. He'll know which matchups work best, and he'll be more than willing to stick up for his teammates if anything gets hairy.
Paul also understands the importance of winning in Toronto, and as he grew up in an era where the team had already seen their most success - he's been waiting just as long as the fans and may be motivated to play extra aggressive in order to prove how passionate he is.
That can't get out of hand, and Paul needs to be on the ice more than he's taken off it with Paul's goal being that he'll do his damage on the scoresheet and by shutting down the Habs potent offence and power-play - not just by getting rough.
Will Nick Paul add more to the Canadiens/Maple Leafs rivalry?
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