The world’s oldest tennis tournament is in town, and the excitement among fans is even exceeding the hype. Even world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka discussed the crowd’s excitement at the All England Club. “The atmosphere, sometimes my ears were like really blocked from how loud it was,” she said after beating Emma Raducanu. And, surprisingly, none other than NHL’s Rat King Brad Marchand is part of that crowd.

Yes, you read that right. After winning the most prestigious trophy in professional hockey, the Canadian flew all the way from Florida to catch some action on the grass court in England. The fans are accustomed to catching Marchand on the ice. However, this time his wife, Katrina Marchand, dropped a huge surprise featuring her two-time Stanley Cup-winning husband.

While there was nothing extraordinary about Brad Marchand waiting to cross the street, the location tag was the surprise. The 37-year-old NHL forward’s wife tagged London, England, and the other clue was Marchy’s white polo. The next two Instagram stories revealed the Instagram mystery as she tagged Marchand on clips, with one of them featuring Carlos Alcaraz. Yet, it’s safe to assume that few expected this.

After all, in the 16 years he’s been playing hockey, no one’s ever heard the Cats forward discuss his love for tennis. However, that didn’t stop the NHL forward from getting hyped up about tennis. Katrina Marchand’s last story was a clip of Marchand playing table tennis with the Director of Sales at Grand Slam Tennis Tours Jock Cooperrider.

“When you’re at Wimbledon and feel like you can be in the big leagues too,” joked Brad Marchand’s wife. Jokes aside, the hockey icon seemed to be enjoying himself and was finally taking some downtime, away from ice hockey. Although the Rat King spent a lot of time partying and celebrating the Cats’ Stanley Cup win with his teammates, he was the last of the big three to sign a contract extension.

Brad Marchand finally secured his future with the Panthers

The fact that the Cats’ playoff stars Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, and Aaron Ekblad would become free agents on July 1 escaped no one’s mind after their Stanley Cup win. Speculations started immediately because losing three of their core stars would be a problem next season. Thankfully, Playoff Sam broke the ice at the team’s first among multiple celebration parties.

Sam Bennett took the stage at E11even to proclaim he wasn’t going anywhere. While Aaron Ekblad did raise some concern, Marchand cheered the fans up the very next night. During the Cat’s celebration at the Elbo Room, the 37-year-old hinted at a four-year contract extension. Yet, things played out a little differently. The Panthers re-signed Sam Bennett and then extended Ekblad’s contract.

Bennet returned to the Panthers camp for an 8-year, $64 million ($8 million AAV) contract. Meanwhile, the star defenseman signed on the dotted line for an 8-year, $48.8 million ($6.1 million AAV) deal. Despite landing the two-time Stanley Cup winners for remarkably cheap contracts, their AAV ate into the $19 million cap. Meanwhile, rumors of Marchand returning to the Boston Bruins started brewing.

And that fan had to wait until the very last moments before free agency kicked in to hear the good news about Brad Marchand. The NHL veteran signed a 6-year, $31.5 million ($5.25 million AAV) contract with the Panthers. So, after a rollercoaster season that saw the Rat King win the Stanley Cup as a deadline trade from the Bruins, it’s safe to say that the hockey icon has earned some time off. Time, that he apparently wants to spend watching the Wimbledon.