There’s nothing wrong with a little good-natured fun at a teammate’s expense, and for Roope Hintz of the Dallas Stars, he's finding that out firsthand.
Upon his arrival back in North America from his native Finland, Hintz's teammates noticed he was sporting a new haircut that they felt made him look very similar to rapper Marshall Mathers, best known by his stage name of Eminem. And their new nickname for him comes right from one of Eminem's best-known hits off his third studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP.
“Some fun miscellaneous stuff from the North American leg of the NHL/NHLPA media tour: Roope Hintz's Dallas teammates saw his short, blonde haircut when he returned to North America, and immediately started calling him “The Real Slim Shady,” per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet in his latest '32 Thoughts' column.
At the time of the song's release in 2000, it became Eminem's biggest hit to date, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 list. It also earned him several awards, including Best Video and Best Male Video from the MTV Music Video Awards.
Roope Hintz is with the Stars for the long haul
Hintz, whom the Stars selected 49th overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, agreed to an eight-year, $67.6 million contract in November of 2022 to remain with Dallas for the foreseeable future; the deal pays him an AAV of $8.45 million.
One of the key offensive players for Dallas, Finnish forward Roope Hintz scored 37 goals in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 NHL seasons before experiencing a slight dip in 2023-24, finishing with 30 goals and 35 assists. With the retirement of veteran forward Joe Pavelski, the Stars will now look to Hintz to shoulder more of the offensive burden left by his departure.
In 392 career NHL games, all with Dallas, Hintz has scored 147 goals with 163 assists while adding 21 goals and 36 assists in 78 career postseason games.
Hintz and the rest of his Stars teammates will be reporting for Training Camp later this week at the Comerica Center in Frisco, TX; the Camp begins on September 19 which will be followed by their first exhibition action against the St. Louis Blues on September 21 at American Airlines Center.