Sometimes the biggest threat comes in the smallest package

 

The Oil have been getting about as much respect as a tribute band of a tribute band of the band Air Supply lately. We get that, it’s fine. Respect from the TSNs of the world ain’t what’s fueling the SS Oilers Battlecruiser these days. But beware—sometimes the littlest people can lay a beating on you, and you’ll never see it coming. Loyal Nation fans among you might remember the story we had awhile back on He Ping Ping (featured below in the tuxedo).

He Ping Ping is the world’s smallest man. He possesses no particular skills, and from all accounts has a large number of female admirers. These ladies are the main focus in his life, and Ping Ping considers himself a ‘ladies man’ above all else.

We once compared the Oil to He Ping Ping back in the darker days of the early season. They didn’t do much, didn’t play physically and were mostly just something cute that people came to stare at, whilst drinking $50 beers. It would have been easy for the Oil to play out the stretch run like 20 little He Ping Pings: laying about dressed in tuxedos, merely making appearances and going through the motions in the hope that the ladies would take interest.

Instead the Oilers have been hard at work, quietly lifting weights and going about their business. And the results are starting to show. By no means are they a giant yet, but these days the Mighty Oil are reminding us less and less of He Ping Ping, and more and more of another fellow, Aditya Dev, shown above.

Now we know that a man of the caliber of Aditya Dev needs no introduction for 99.6 per cent of the population of Earth. But for those of you living under a rock, in a cave, at the bottom of the ocean, Indian muscleman Aditya “Romeo” Dev is the world’s smallest bodybuilder At just two feet, nine inches. The 19-year-old hails from Phagwara, India and trains for hours upon hours each day. Though Aditya weighs only 21 pounds, he can lift 3.36 pound weights—no small feat for a man his size. He is widely considered to be the strongest dwarf in the world.

Now while some laugh, others stare and most can’t comprehend why a little fellow like that would dedicate himself to the science that is bodybuilding we can tell you this:

Compare, if you dare, to the Mighty Oilers. Once a lazy womanizer like He Ping Ping, the Oil have been going about their business in the gym, and on the ice. “Why bother?” some have asked. “They’re too far gone to make any play. They’re too small, they aren’t tough enough.”

Well what say you now nay-sayers? Three points out and playing Minnesota tonight with a chance to move one point back. Two days of a good ol’ fashioned take-you-out-behind-the-woodshed beating of the very same Wild. All that work doesn’t seem so crazy now, does it?

Lift those weights, Aditya Dev. Work on those tiny muscles.

Play your hearts out, Mighty Oil. Beause you never know what dedication can bring you, no matter what size you are. And you never know who you can whup, if you try.