Tomas Plekanec of the Montreal Canadiens fired back at Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins, calling him "the player almost everybody in the NHL hates."

And the war of words has been joined.

On Tuesday, Boston's Brad Marchand was on stage at a charity dinner in Halifax, Nova Scotia when he was asked which opponent irritated him the most.

"There are a few guys," he said. "I'd have to say, at the top of my list right now ... Tomas Plekanec from Montreal. I hate him. Oh, I can't stand him. But I probably shouldn't say that. I dislike him very much."

Plekanec, whose Habs got the best of Marchand's Bruins in a spirited seven-game playoff series last spring, took the dig in stride.

"I enjoyed his comment about me," the Canadiens center told Czech journalist Zdenek Matejovsky "It comes from a person that actually almost everybody in the NHL hates!"

Plekanec and Marchand will get a chance to exchange pleasantries in-person on Oct. 16 at Montreal's Bell Centre. Think that one might be worth watching?