Nic Petan is removing his equipment after a recent Maple Leafs practice when his tattooed upper left arm is exposed.
When asked about his tattoos, the forward, since sent down to the Toronto Marlies, quickly drops his shoulder pads onto the seat in his locker and starts explaining the origins behind the art.
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“I’m a big fan of tattoos,” said Petan.
Like the Columbus Blue Jackets, there is one consistent theme when talking to the Maple Leafs about their tattoos: Family. It’s the inspiration from events in their lives with their families, or the strong bonds they have formed when it comes to putting needle to skin.
Take Petan. His mother’s name is Rose, which is the reason forhis rose tattoo. Petan was also close to his grandparents, so he paid homage to them with various tattoos on his left arm.
He and his grandfather would often play cards, so he incorporated the numbers 33, marking year his grandfather was born, and 09, marking the year he passed away, put on playing cards on his arm.
In memory of his “nonna,” he also has a large tattoo of Saint Anthony of Padua. He also has the word “saviour” on his back to commemorate his Italian grandmother.
Petan gets most of his tattoos in his native Vancouver. The work on his arm took about nine hours to complete.
Family isn’t the only inspiration for Petan. Despite being a second round draft pick in the 2013 NHL entry draft, Petan has not had a smooth road to the NHL. He’s had multiple stops in the AHL and has yet to play a full season in the NHL.
The goal of making it to the NHL plays a part in his tattoos, too. Between his armpit and his elbow, he has the word “Passion” written, with a phrase that follows to remind him of how to approach his journey: “Be patient and follow the path to make a dream a reality.”
“All the things that mean the most to you in life,” said Petan, “I wanted to throw them on my body.”
That’s a message that Michael Hutchinson understands.
Hutchinson’s only tattoo is an impression of daughter Lilah Rae’s left hand from when she was 12 days old. He has it placed on the inside of his right forearm at the conclusion of the Leafs season last year.
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“I played with a couple of guys who had similar things done in the past,” said Hutchinson, “and I always liked the idea of it.”
Though he doesn’t consider himself the type to normally get tattoos, once Hutchinson’s wife Jenna gave birth to Lilah Rae, he immediately knew he wanted to get one. Hutchinson and his wife ordered an ink pad online and got the print of her hand. And as soon as the Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs, Hutchinson made his way to Forever Young Ink on Queen Street.
The tattoo itself took only 20 minutes, but still brought some unexpected pain to the goalie.
Hutchinson had lunch at noon, but didn’t eat again before his getting tattoo at 8 p.m. When the needle first hit, he began feeling light-headed.
“Your body goes into shock a little bit, so you want to make sure your blood sugar is up,” said Hutchinson.
A few handfuls of candy got him feeling back to normal, but the pain lingered afterwards.
“It felt like having a sunburn with people rubbing it,” said Hutchinson.
Hutchinson’s daughter is now eight months old and far too young to understand the meaning behind the ink. Hutchinson’s hope is that the art inspires conversation for years to come.
“She’s still discovering her own hands right now,” said Hutchinson, chuckling. “But I’m looking forward to a time when she will understand what it is. We’ll probably get a good picture of her hand beside it and we can see how much she’s grown.”
Given that so many of the Leafs tattoos are related to their families, it’s not surprising then that some players want to remain private about them.
Auston Matthews is one who didn’t want to go into much detail on the lion tattoo he had finished in Arizona.
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“It’s mostly family related,” said Matthews.
He said the tattoo has a few different meanings for him.
“It’s my favourite animal,” said Matthews. But principal to the tattoo was the Matthews family crest, which has a lion in it.
In total, the tattoo took between six-and-a-half and seven hours, while the sleeve on his left arm took roughly 24 or 25 hours.
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“It’s painful to go through,” said Matthews.
Matthews enlisted popular Scottsdale-based artist Bubba Irwin to bring his vision to life.
“I don’t know how much he’s wanting people to know,” Irwin said of Matthews’ design in 2017.
Travis Dermott also chose to remember some of his personal moments with ink.
In April 2017, he had a rose with thorns tattooed on his upper left forearm at Black Line Studios.
“It’s some personal stuff,” said Dermott. “My family, we were going through some stuff.”
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The tattoo was a means to never forget the importance of his family.
“It was something I wanted to keep with me,” said Dermott.
Dermott’s favourite tattoo is on his upper back, just below his neck: a large pine tree. He got the tattoo with his sister, who has the same one, to remember his grandmother who passed away five years ago.
Dermott’s grandmother used to own a large pine tree farm with a pond in the middle near Tottenham, Ont., that the Dermott family would frequently visit.
The defenceman smiles when recalling his grandmother. The first time she saw him play was when he was in the OHL, playing for the Erie Otters. It was the first game she had seen since he played minor hockey, and when she arrived at the arena to see it packed with thousands of fans, she couldn’t understand what all the hoopla of watching her grandson was about.
“Why the hell are they here?” Dermott remembers her saying.
While the tree tattoo is now on its own, his rose tattoo is now part of a larger sleeve. For Dermott, his growing number of tattoos are “part of a bigger picture.” It’s a way for him to help tell his own story.
“It’s like your life, right?” said Dermott. “You’re painting a picture of what your life is going to be from birth to death. Tattoos are a cool way to keep that, a piece of art that you can always see. Adding it piece by piece, which is like your life.”
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He estimates his sleeve is “two-thirds” done.
And like anyone’s life, he’s not sure what comes next.
Mitch Marner’s most meaningful tattoo is his first: The Marner family crest. He was 19, after his third year in junior and went to a London tattoo studio to have the crest tattooed on his upper right arm.
“I just kind of feel like they’re always with me,” Marner said of his family and the inspiration to get the tattoo done.
As a kid, Marner would often search for the crest on the internet to try and understand it. He knew his family lineage stemmed from England, but he had never been there. He found himself asking his father, Paul, about the country, though Paul left when he was a child.
Reading about England has made him want to visit one day and “try and catch a soccer game down there.”
The entire tattoo took three hours. Midway through the process, while he was still in the chair, Marner took a picture of the tattoo and texted it to his parents with a simple message: “Surprise.”
They texted back: “Is that what we think it is?”
Once they saw the final product, they were impressed.
“My mom didn’t care at all,” said Marner. “They thought it was super cool.”
That tattoo has led to others, including the one he had done in the summer of 2017: the Greek god Zeus, on his inner right forearm.
“I was reading up on Greek mythology for a few summers,” said Marner of the Zeus tattoo. “I like the story of Zeus and how he was a guy that everyone looked up to and everyone went to for answers. I liked all the things I read about.”
What stuck out to Marner was how Zeus was a “leader.” That finalized the decision for him.
“You want to be someone that everyone goes to for answers and respects and wants to lead the way,” said Marner. “You want the younger generation to look up to you and see that there’s more than playing hockey. It’s about what you do off the ice and how you treat others. That’s something that I really value.”
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To bring his vision of Zeus to life, he enlisted Toronto tattoo artist Cesar Mejia, AKA “Ceez,” who was doing a one-day guest spot at The Village Ink in Yorkville.
“When it came to Mitch’s tattoos, it’s almost like he wanted to connect with his roots,” said Mejia.
Mejia and Marner spent the entire day together, first reviewing possible images, then stencilling the image before finally tattooing.
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The entire process took 10 hours, filled with, according to Mejia, “a lot of talking, laughter.”
“You end up building a bond over the first day together,” said Mejia.
Mejia was unfamiliar with Marner until a few days before their appointment.
“Here comes this super-talented young kid but he’s super chill and easy to get along with,” said Mejia. “There was no ego behind him. It was a cool experience. Being a Torontonian myself, being born and raised here, it was a privilege.”
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For every tattoo that has an emotional resonance, there are often just as many that are done in the spur of the moment.
Enter Andreas Johnsson, who says sarcastically, “I have a great tattoo.”
In the summer after Johnsson had just finished his season with Frolunda HC, the then 20-year-old, along with a few friends, took a trip for the weekend to Copenhagen. After a day spent in the many bars in the city’s famed Nyhavn neighbourhood, the friends quickly made the decisions to get tattoos.
Johnsson opted for a moustache on the inside of his left index finger. The moustache can only be revealed when he holds up his index finger on its own.
He won’t stop laughing when talking about his decision.
The tattoo shop was closing for the day when Johnsson and his friends made their plea. Normally, tattoo artists won’t work with someone if they’re obviously inebriated. But Johnsson feels the artist made an exception this time around.
“It was such a small thing,” said Johnsson. “He saw quick money. He had just closed. (It cost) 500 Danish kroner (roughly $100 Canadian)”
Twenty minutes later, Johnsson had his first and only tattoo.
The next morning Johnsson awoke with a clear conscience and without any regret.
His parents would see the tattoo weeks later and at first believed it was a henna tattoo. When it hadn’t washed off a month later, they became more curious. He then confirmed it was an actual tattoo.
But still, no regrets.
“It’s a funny story,” said Johnsson.
(Top photo courtesy Toronto Maple Leafs)
