Predators' Ryan Johansen gets 'Grinched' up for children's hospital visit

Stan Temming

As the story goes, on the day he returned all of the gifts to Whoville and saved Christmas, the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes.

Although that information comes from a questionable source (there’s no reason to believe that Dr. Seuss had any medical knowledge, whatsoever), it’s likely that the actions of a few of the Nashville Predators on a recent off-day will make your blood-pumper swell, too.

Members of the team visited children at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville to spread some of that wholesome holiday cheer. While many of the Predators handed out gifts and signed autographs, it was Ryan Johansen that ended up stealing the show.

Members of the Nashville Predators, including Ryan Johansen dressed as the Grinch (back row, second from left), visited a local children’s hospital to spread some holiday cheer. (<a href="https://twitter.com/1045TheZone/status/1072996759889162240" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:@1045TheZone//Twitter);elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">@1045TheZone//Twitter)</a>

Dressed up as the Grinch, a number of funny videos emerged. In one of them, Johansen was walking with Nashville’s captain Roman Josi and reciting lines from the 2000 film How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Although Josi was wearing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer costume, Johansen decided to cast the blueliner to play his character’s dog (Max) for the scene when the Grinch dressed his four-legged sidekick up as Rudolph, who Josi was actually dressed up as.

(Got it? Good.)

And you know what, his impression of the Who (who is, well, really more of a ‘What’) isn’t that bad.

The way Johansen plays to the camera is great and the fact that he made reference to a line that’s a bit of a deeper cut in the film has to be appreciated.

It was clear that Johansen’s chemistry with Josi was there, however, the 26-year-old showed he could mesmerize an audience while alone on screen, as well.

There’s certainly is reason to think that Jim Carrey would be proud.

It’s always fantastic to see professional athletes, people that are looked up to, take some time out of their busy day to give back to the community, especially at this time of the year. Furthermore, to see Johansen and his teammates play it up a bit was hilarious.

So, can we expect a remake of How the Grinch Stole Christmas to come from the Predators organization in the near future? There’s definitely a certain someone that has shown the potential to play the film’s lead role if they did.

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