Tag Archives: Sportsnet

Armchair GM, Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Edmonton Oilers: Stauffer and Spector on Markus Lehto – “HE TRIED TO SQUEEZE KEN HOLLAND!”

In response to an interview Markus Lehto gave Sportsnet 690 in Vancouver where he said that he never said that if Jesse Puljujarvi wasn’t traded, he’d play in Europe, long-time Oilers reporter Mark Spector was a guest on the July 11th edition of Oilers Now and he and host Bob Stauffer had quite a bit to say about Lehto’s comments,

MS: Well, the lead quote in my story (on July 19th) and I reported it exactly as he (Lehto) said it was, “If he doesn’t get traded, he will play in Europe next year. He will not play in Edmonton.” 

We’ve been through this before Bob, we’ve all been in the business a long time. That was a direct quote from Markus Lehto in reference to Jesse Puljujarvi and that he said that directly to me over the phone. We’ve all been in the situation where we misunderstand someone or maybe someone says something that kind of means two things and what it appears in print it looks worse than he meant it. I’ve been through those. We correct them and we talk about them and we tend to get a phone call right away, Bob, when we mess up. And three weeks later, four almost, and all of a sudden Markus Lehto is claiming he was misquoted.

So, I would say to you, if he was misquoted my phone would’ve ran the next day. I would also say to you that I texted him this morning and I have not recieved anything back from him. I asked for a chance to have a chat and he’s not responding. This is an agent who is just a guy who said something that he’s maybe having a hard time backing up. I don’t know why he’s backing off it Bob. 

This is the part of the interview where Bob Stauffer interjects and lets us know why Lehto is backing off,

BS: Oh! I think we know why he’s backing off it! C’Mon! You know how this works here, he tried to squeeze Ken Holland! That’s what he tried to do. He sat there, looked at the timing of it (the trade demand)… When do a lot of trades get made Mark in the National Hockey League?

MS: After the draft.

BS: Right. Right after the draft. Like, on the Saturday of the draft there were a bunch of deals that went down. So, Ken Holland, that quote that came out that you had out on the Wednesday, I actually interviewed Ken Holland about two hours after that came out. I had a separate one on one interview and we discussed it.

Stauffer continues here with a bit of insider knowledge with regards to why Lehto is back peddling on his trade demand now,

BS: I had another agent say to me today, “Well, you know why he’s now saying that? Because they don’t have anything for him at the price point that he’d be qualified at in the NHL for him over in Europe. 

MS: It’s one of those situations where an agent, he took a risk, and that’s fine, that’s what agents are supposed to do and the risk has not worked out his way and that’s fine too, Bob. As a reporter, we’ve got two things here, we’ve got our objectivity and our accuracy/honest, right? I’ve been doing this 30 years. Have I ever had a player say to me, “I think you took that quote the wrong way.” Yeah! I mean 30 years of writing, I messed up a quote once in a while. Have I ever misreported a lead quote like that, that was never spoken? Not in 30 years, I have not, Bob. And I don’t intend to. 

MS: I’m okay with whatever Markus Lehto does, but when he starts saying he was misquoted, now he’s on my reputation. Now he’s saying, “Spec quoted me dishonestly.” and that’s where I come in. I wouldn’t be on your show, I wouldn’t complain about this, he can do what he wants, go get rich, I hope Jesse Puljujarvi has a 1000-game career somewhere, but start to tread on our reputation as reporters and we’ve got to step in here. He’s said exactly what he said. He said it to me and I reported it three weeks ago and at that time Markus Lehto did not stand up and say, “Hey! I didn’t say that!”, he didn’t say that for three weeks.

More from Stauffer,

BS: So what happened here is Lehto tried a power play. That’s what happened and this was rumbling since the Oilers were in Carolina, and I think we were in Carolina the first week of March. 

BS: I don’t like this course of action from the agent. I gotta tell ya. Now he’s blaming the media, he’s saying he’s being misquoted. I get it, I work for the OEG, I’m admitting the Oilers are culpable for the lack of development, but at what point is there culpability from the agent and for that matter, with the player?

MS: These are the games that are played, Bob, right? The games that are played are the agents taking care of his player and frankly, I think what happens is sometimes the agents tell the players… I’m not saying the agents are dishonest with players but they tell players what they want to hear maybe, ya know? They fill a player’s head full of all the positives and how great he is and how if anything going wrong it’s everybody else’s fauly. I don’t know if that’s what Lehto is doing with Puljujarvi, but I would suggest that… I certainly know if Jesse Puljujarvi was my son, I would say to my son to take a long look in the mirror and to separate the things that the Oilers have done wrong, and there have been some mis-steps on the Oilers part, there’s no question, but control the ones that you can control. Jesse Puljujarvi can be more successful and a better NHL player than he’s been and he can control a lot of those things regardless of what’s going on with the Oilers. He needs to focus on those things and make it appear, that it’s everyone else’s fault and that he has been hard done by.

Stauffer and Spector go on to talk about a scenario where Puljujarvi’s camp is getting squeezed because if they were going to go to KHL to play they’d probably have to be there by early August should the seasons over there start at the beginning of September. And so if they couldn’t find a way to do that, then perhaps Karpat (SM-Liiga) would be the next option down, but for sure they wouldn’t be able to cover the million or so dollars that Jesse would be getting paid in the NHL at minimum. Now that option’s out, so perhaps it’s time to revisit the Oilers and blame the media for putting words in the agent’s mouth…

You can listen to the entire interview right here.

This is a mess. Some of the local media and the fanbase are blaming Puljujarvi, some of them are blaming the Oilers, some of them are blaming the agent, and some of them are blaming everyone. The more days that transpire, the more I fall into that last category.

I feel bad for Jesse but I do agree with Spector in that he needs to grow up a bit here. It’s life hitting him square in the mouth for the first time and I’m not sure if he’s got the right people around him telling him the right things. He has to consider his actions here, right? I mean, if he gets traded and things don’t improve, all the guys that he’s traded for have to do is show up every night and work their bag off and Jesse will be forgotten and maybe that’s a good thing, maybe it’s not. Edmonton is a blue-collar town and while the fans are sick of losing, I think at the very least they’d be happy with a team that competed every night. So, if Pulju came back and performed as he did in the AHL, the fans would forgive him instantly. They forgave Zack Kassian and one could say Milan Lucic gets forgiven every time he wallpapers some guy but then he uses that up the next time he handles the puck, so it’s a bit of a rocky marriage there.

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Other Notes

  • Edmonton has yet to fill their final coaching spot on Dave Tippet’s staff and we’d heard names like Mark Lamb in the past and even Stu Barnes, but I’m wondering if it’s someone who has ties to BOTH Ken Holland and Dave Tippett. A fella like Lindy Ruff comes to mind for me.
  • Tyler Wright and Archie Henderson were brought in after Detroit decided not to retain them in an effort to upgrade the Oilers amateur and pro scouting departments. I think this is great! Some new blood and a different voice in those meetings should go a long way. Are the anti-Old Boys Club fans out there with their torches and pitchforks?
  • Former amateur (and pro) scout Mike Chiarelli is on his way to Minnesota according to Jim Matheson.
  • I’m hearing now that the chances that Milan Lucic is an Oiler at the start of training camp is down from 90% to 70%.
  • There are rumblings that a Calgary/Vancouver/Edmonton trade might go down. Is this the Lucic/Neal/Eriksson trade that was supposed to happen a month ago?
  • I’m not sure if the Oilers want to move another veteran defenseman, but Kris Russell’s name is coming up and could Calgary be interested in him should the find a way to deal TJ Brodie?
  • Keeping with the Oilers/Flames theme, some folks on the Twitter machine are proposing a Lucic/Puljujarvi for Neal/Bennett trade and I think that’d be really good for the Oilers but it does raise some questions. If JP wants top-6 TOI, how’s he going to get that in Cow Town? Their top-6 wings are sorted. How would Calgary ownership feel about cutting bait on their premier free agent signing after only one season? How would James Neal’s personality fit into the Oilers dressing room? Can Sam Bennett become the top-6 forward he was drafted to be?
  • If you’re a draft geek like me, there’s going to be an intense battle for the 1st overall pick between a very famous French prospect out of Rimouski by the name of Alexis Lafreniere and an emerging power forward called Quinton Byfield. I think Byfield is going to overtake Lafreniere because he’s 6’5″ and skates like the wing. He’s got edges like a little guy and he loves to punish the opposition physically. The other thing that is in his favor is that his birthday is in August, so that means he’s about as young as you can get for a draft prospect and he’s already near a point-per-game in the world’s best junior hockey league.

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Around the Oilogosphere, Bakersfield Condors, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects, Rumors

Around the Oilogosphere – April 3rd Edition – Oilers Prospect Reports, Staying the Course, Top-10 Free Agents, Karlsson/Trouba Rumors, and More!

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Two more games until the end of this disastrous 2017/18 Oilers season that has been derailed by slumps, injuries (disclosed and not), bad coaching, and questionable GM-ing.

That special portion of the Oilers fanbase is looking for their sacrificial lamb. Some yearning for Todd McLellan to be fired or for Peter Chiarelli to get his pink slip but this is what I don’t understand.

Peter Chiarelli’s job was to get the Oilers into the playoffs ASAP when he was hired, right? Why in Sam’s Hell are you all concerned with how he does it?

We’ve got “smart” people complaining that he’s built this team around heavy hockey, well, has he?

He signed Milan Lucic and traded for Adam Larsson (who is +31 since joining the team). He got rid of a jaded goalie for Zack Kassian (nobody was complaining about that deal until this year) but you can’t even say Kassian plays a heavy hockey game if you take the time to watch him. Maroon was brought in and if you’re going to complain about his contributions to the team, then I suggest you head down the QE2 and shack up with the Shames because you’re just complaining to hear your own voice.

Are you going to shit on JJ Khaira’s performance this season? He plays a heavy game but I bet you’d take the time to criticize Chiarelli if he dealt JJ. Does Leon Draisaitl fall into this category as well?

So what I’m getting here is that special portion of the fanbase is so mad that Chiarelli traded their boys in Hall and Eberle (no mention of Yak ever which is unsurprising) for specifically targetted pieces that the team needed that they are blinded to the good things that Chiarelli has done for the team.

My advice: Be careful what you wish for.

The Gagner-Hall years were filled with skill. So much skill in that teams just bullied them into submission. Well, I’ll tell you this much, the bullying hasn’t stopped with those teams and yes, they’re still heavy teams. Those are veteran-laden teams who get the call more often than not.

So we go back to getting to the playoffs and not caring how Chiarelli builds the team to get there. To get out of the division and into the playoffs in the Pacific division, every team has to go through California and to do that they have to outmuscle Getzlaf, Perry, Burns, Thornton, Doughty, Lindholm, Carter, etc.

Many will point to Vegas and say, “SEE!” without taking the time to look at their roster closely. Yup, they’re a fast team and forecheck hard. You can’t deny they’ve also had above average goaltending and the coach has done a wonderful job but have you counted the number of expiring contracts on that team? We all know players playing on the last year of their deal play better (for the most part) and that’s exactly what the Golden Knights are doing and good on them for taking advantage. What will they look like next season?

I think you can look at an Oilers supporter on Twitter and immediately deduce if they are pro-Chiarelli or anti-Chiarelli quite easily and that’s what all of this is boiling down to.

Personally, whoever gets traded or loses their job this summer has it coming. I’m not so far up my own ass that I can’t say Chiarelli made some massive bets on his roster and they backfired. I supported Todd McLellan at the beginning of the year but have found myself frustrated as hell with his staff’s performances 80 games later.

I see the holes on the roster and it’d be nice to see upgrades.

This tweet kind of sums it up for me:

Speaking of Twitter, I’m going to start blocking people more liberally because it’s getting tiresome going around in circles for the sake of satiating another’s ego or my own for that matter. I’m not looking for people to always agree with my comments but I’m not looking for harassment either. It’s a drain.

OILERS NEWS

Sportsnet – Takeaways: Wild simply too much for nosediving Oilers to handle – It says here that the coaching staff is the least of this club’s problems right now, but tell me how you defend a staff whose special teams are this pathetic?

Sportsnet – Oilers Prospect Report: Kailer Yamamoto Offers Promise Up Front – Of the top four prospects in the Edmonton Oilers organization, none were drafted first overall. In fact, one is a deep first-rounder, another from Round 2, and then a fourth- and fifth-rounder — a sign the Oilers are perhaps figuring out how to find players below the No. 1 spot in the NHL Draft.

The Oil Knight – OHL Playoffs Round 2 – Niagara vs. Hamilton – Despite the success in the Regular Season vs. the Bulldogs, Niagara is going to be in tough in this matchup.

The Cult of Hockey – Fans should be wary about buying “stay the course” narrative from Edmonton Oilers – Heading into the season, most folks predicted the Oilers would be one of the top teams in the NHL. On paper, this looked like a good-to-great team. There is a serious gap between these expectations and how things turned out. I see a number of possible courses of action…

Oilersnation – Monday Mailbag – UFAs, trading the first round pick, and Al Montoya

Oilersnation – Let’s find some positives from this season

The Hockey Writers – Oilers Six Thoughts: Benson, Maksimov, Skinner; and Others – Here’s a quick recap of what’s transpired during the CHL’s first-round action, and how the Oiler prospects are doing.

NHL RUMORS

Dreger and Friedman ponder cap space usage for Canucks

Friedman | Surprise team could pursue Karlsson trade

Ranking the Top-10 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents at Season’s End

McKenzie | Trouba probably looking to drive real hard bargain

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Around the Oilogosphere: OilersYYC Podcast Episode 39: Pat Steinberg

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*We’re experimenting with some content curation tactics here at Beer League Heroes and so many of the posts you’ll find coming from the BLH website will be snippets of full posts from other sites. We’re not interested in ripping any other writers off but we are looking to expand our audience a bit. If you’re blog has been featured in one of our “Around the Oilogosphere” posts and you don’t want it to be, contact us @beerleagueheroe on Twitter and let BLH know. He’ll be happy to remedy the situation. Otherwise, we hope you enjoy the content!*

An entire episode featuring Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg with Dave, Graham, and Jack on The Roundtable! Pat shares his views on the current state of the Battle of Alberta, the Calgary arena saga, and his experiences as an on-air host on Calgary sports radio.


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CREDITS

Guests

Music

  • Opening Theme: “White Veil” by Cowpuncher
  • Other music provided by Bensound.com

Read more here: http://oilersyyc.ca/2018/03/17/episode-39/

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Oilers Owner Daryl Katz Wanted a Coaching Change Back in January According to Insider

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Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman spoke about the Edmonton Oilers in their latest podcast (check it out here) from March 8th and it’s a nice 9-minute segment dedicated to the Oilers and their woes.

I want to transcribe some of it here for you today and comment on some of the things they say but if you’re the impatient type and simply want to hear the segment first, scroll down to the bottom and you can listen to it.

JM= Jeff Marek
EF= Elliotte Friedman

OSCAR KLEFBOM

 JM: Elliotte, Oscar Klefbom and the idea that they may be playing him simply to showcase him despite him being a little bit banged up. 

EF: I think a lot banged up. I’ve wrote a couple of times this year that Kesler is being held up by duct tape and a couple of guys reached out to me and said Klefbom is too. 

I’ve written a couple of times here too and I don’t understand why he’s playing. Like, I get guys want to play and you want to wait until someone is officially eliminated but he’s clearly hurting and there’s no logical reason for it. And finally someone said to me, you know what could be going on here?

They’re going to make a move here. 

JM: How can it be a showcase if he’s injured? He’s not going to show well.

EF: Well I think people understand what he was

JM: So do you need to see him now? That’s the point I don’t get. If you’re running him out there hurt, what’s the value there for anybody? Certainly not for Klefbom, not for the Oilers. 

EF: You know what? Honestly Jeff, there’s so many questions about this thing that I have. I can’t answer this question. But the fact is that I think that teams are scouting him, I think people were looking at him and I think they got to sign Darnell Nurse, who’s had a really good year and I think Klefbom has value. He had a great year last year, he scored 12 goals, he’s got a good contract. I do think people are looking at him. 

Oh, Oscar is definitely on the block and I do expect him to be dealt this summer because Chiarelli likes Ryan Nugent-Hopkins more and sees more value there. Also, the depth on the left side defense is a helluva lot deeper than down the middle.

My theory on why other teams don’t care if he plays is that his shoulder injury has been disclosed and it can’t get any worse by playing with it. As Friedman said above, they know what they could be getting in Klefbom and are willing to roll the dice.

I think another thing that is starting to get out is there might be a disagreement between player and team as to whether or not to get the procedure done now.

Players want to play (Pat Maroon, Cam Talbot, and Adam Larsson all come to mind this season for playing hurt), they don’t want to abandon their teammates, and it’s my belief that Klefbom is probably feeling a tad guilty and playing through his injury because back in 2015 he was in and out of the lineup, unsure when he was going to be able to come back. He might’ve got some flack from teammates or other staff for not getting back into the lineup.

I just reckon he’d prefer to play the year out and get that respect from his teammates. Of course, they’d understand if he chose to go under the knife but it’s his call, right?

WHAT HAPPENS TO EDMONTON IN THE OFF-SEASON?

JM: What happens to Edmonton in the off-season?

EF: You know, that’s a great question. I watched, I didn’t see Saturday night because I was in Maryland, but I watched the interview (Bob Nicholson one) with David (Ambder) and Cassie (Campbell-Pascal)… 

*cuts to interview*

EF: You know I thought Nicholson was dropping a lot of hints there and you got the sense he wanted to say a bit more but he was holding himself back. 

He (Nicholson) has a long history with Cassie and I think he wanted to say some more stuff but the thing that struck me was that they’re going to make changes but they’re not going to make changes for the sake of doing it. 

He said ‘we fire a lot of people here’ and I think he would prefer to keep Peter and Todd. That’s the sense I got but I think that may be decided by who else is available. 

Like what if Barry Trotz (WAS) is available? What if Joel Quenneville (CHI) is available?

And the other thing too is, I don’t know who really is making the final call here?

JM: By way of title it should be Peter Chiarelli. 

EF: Or Bob (Nicholson) or the owner (Daryl Katz). 

JM: Didn’t the owner want a coaching move during the season? Wasn’t it after that Dallas game? 

EF: There’s been some rumbling about that. This year you’re talking about? 

JM: This year. Yeah. And Wayne Gretzky was on the road trip. 

EF: There’s been a rumor about that. I don’t know if it’s true though. Daryl Katz doesn’t come out that much. It’s hard to check that kind of thing. 

JM: Any time I talk to anyone there it’s ‘Katz is fuming. Katz is fuming about this season.’

EF: I agree with that. Someone told me last year they were the highest revenue team in the NHL and they’re not going to be that way this year. Because that arena is such a cash cow. 

They’re not going to be there this year (no.1 in revenue) and I do believe that Daryl is upset but who’s making the call? Is it Katz? Is it Nicholson? Is it Chiarelli? Is it Wayne Gretzky? Is it somebody else? Like, nobody seems to have the answer to that. 

Now, I’m not exactly sure which Dallas game that is but I’m going to go ahead and assume it was the one they lost 5-1. A matinee game back at the beginning of January.

Don’t you remember? That was the game where Stauffer didn’t do his customary post-game tweet and things got VERY quiet. I wrote here that there was a meeting to discuss the futures of McLellan and Chiarelli and it wasn’t too long after that Chiarelli did a couple of media interviews to discuss the state of the franchise and that’s when Todd McLellan got his dreaded vote of confidence.

If the Capitals get booted in the first round this year, Trotz is out. If I’m not mistaken, he was on Oilers Now last week and he was saying there’s something off about that team and Trotz… So take that for what it is.

Is there a better coach than Joel Quenneville to take over the Oilers? He knows exactly how it is coaching a team with two teenage superstars and building a winning team around those players.

But I do get where Friedman is coming from. Nobody is really sure who’s at the wheel of this cheese wagon. I mean Coffey was brought in by Gretzky, right?

SPEAKING OF COFFEY

JM: And what’s Paul Coffey’s role here?

EF: My guess is that he ends up coaching but I don’t know if that’s head coach or assistant coach. 

JM: He’s scouting in Ontario.

EF: I heard that, could he be a GM? I’ve been told he’s got no desire to be GM. I think he wants to coach. 

GM! HA!

If Coffey wants to be a head coach, he’s got all the right people in place to make that happen in Edmonton but that idea, at best, is a terrible one. That said, IF he puts in the reps as an assistant coach and is promoted from there, I think most could get on board with that because he’s earned it.

Who is he scouting in Ontario? Ryan Merkley? They share some playing attributes.

I mean if he’s scouting kids for the upcoming draft, then there’s a good chance he’ll have an official title by the start of next season and watch where he’s sitting at the draft or possibly the draft lottery.

THE TURN AROUND

JM: How close do you think they are to turning it around? Knowing the composition of this team.

EF: They’re not as bad as they’re playing this year. I refuse to believe that. 

JM: They need wingers.

EF: They need wingers but that should be, in theory, the easiest thing to find. Now, I will say this, I think one of the things they’re going to have to figure out is how to convince Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl that they shouldn’t play together. 

JM: They want to play together. They want to be on the same line. 

EF: Ya but I think that’s gotta change. You’ve got to show them Pittsburgh and say ‘Guys, why did they win two Stanley Cups back-to-back? Because they got Crosby on one and Malkin on another and you get someone like Kessel and he plays on a 3rd’.

JM: Yzerman, Federov. Keep going. 

EF: You gotta. Those guys have to learn that they can’t play together. Maybe in certain situations. Crosby and Malkin play together on the PP. Maybe you put them together on a line here and there but generally, they got to play apart. 

I 100% agree here. The Oilers are by no means this bad. Their 5×5 scoring tells us all we need to know not to mention IF they had some goaltending and special teams, they’d be a 100pt team again and that’s without Eberle or Hall or Pouliot or Mark Fayne.

I grew up being spoiled with the Jagr, Lemieux, Francis line in Pittsburgh but they didn’t always play together either but when they did, the Pens were almost guaranteed to score. A line like that today would be like having McDavid with Laine and Bergeron… Ridiculous, right?

WHAT ELSE?

JM: They need a save and you’re hoping this is just the outlier year for the netminder and he comes back like he did last season. 

EF: Yeah but look, I agree with you. Talbot had a rough year but if you look at their team this year, you know, Larsson was worse than last year, Klefbom, because of the injury, was worse than last year, Sekera, who was a pretty big player for them was out for half of the year. 

Sometimes you have to bet on our guys aren’t going to be that bad again. Things are going to be better next year.

JM: But you’re not going to go into next season with the same lineup. 

EF: No no. That’s why I wonder about the Klefbom thing. 

JM: Then again, the idea of we’re not going to make changes for the sake of making changes is- You’ve got a fanbase that’s torches at the castle gate right now. That volcano needs a virgin. 

Two things here,

  1. There will be sacrifice but how many, we don’t know.
  2. How could you NOT call this year an outlier will all the f*cked up stats and EVERYBODY but 4 players regressing this year?

Is it possible to have two outlier seasons in a row? Obviously, last year was one and this year is another.

Since the Oilers went away from hiring within the OBC it’s been some sort of episode from Black Mirror or something.

  • yr 1 – everyone is hurt
  • yr 2 – nobody is hurt, 100+ pt season but season ended on a bad call
  • yr 3 – 75% of roster regresses plus injuries, plus players’ dads dying, plus worst home PK in NHL history, plus PP eating sh*t

I’m really on the fence with firing the main men and making a huge trade. Terry Jones said it before me, if you fire those men you take the onus off of the players and they need to be held responsible as well, no matter how noble their actions may be.

Book this though, Talbot, Montoya (IF he’s with the Oilers parent club and not in the minors), and Puljujarvi will have great years as they’ll be going into their contract years. I think it was Lowetide who said to keep Pulju away from McDavid so that the Oilers don’t run into another Leon Draisaitl situation and I’m not sure I agree with that. Good players are good players and should be paid as such.

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Sportsnet’s Reaction to Whitney/Armstrong Comments on Ryan Smyth

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Millard: And were you waiting for the phone to ring from the boss?
Marek: Ummm, no! No.
Millard: Bosses call?
Marek: One, yes. He said he had our back.

This is from the March 3rd Hockey Central @ Noon podcast hosted by Darren Millard. Disgusting that there’s nobody being held accountable for the embarrassing performances from Armstrong, Whitney and now Marek. I actually was okay with Marek’s response during the telecast but after listening to this podcast, I can’t side with him on this one. I like the guy and I think he’s the heir apparent to Ron MacLean but his judgment on this one is right bloody terrible.

Could you imagine if Whitney or Armstrong would’ve made fun of Wendel Clark, Mats Sundin, Doug Gilmour, Saku Koivu, or Ray Bourque? There’d be backlash no doubt. But since it was Ryan Smyth and he’s from out west, that’s fine.

Weird that Whitney and Armstrong haven’t been heard from since…

“I told Horcoff I wouldn’t do it!” – Ryan Whitney

That’s two times in a week he’s taken a shot at Horcoff. Whitney and Taylor Hall had a good chuckle at the former Oilers’ captain’s expense on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast last week. Now, Gretzky AND Smytty… Wonder what kind of gems Whitney has up his sleeve next? Maybe he takes a shot at Messier’s guarantee at some point? Or maybe this is a gentleman (barely) that is so sickened with himself and his career as an NHLer that he has to revert to taking pot shots at some of the classiest players to put on an NHL sweater.

So, this is what was said if u don’t want to listen to the link in the tweet above.

Marek: At the intermission we thought we’d do a little bit about pranking players, chirping players, that kinda stuff. Ryan (Whitney) told a story about Ryan Malone about how whenever he’d see Whitney come by the bench, he’d you know, loosen the Gatorade bottle and sure enough, dump all over him.

And Colby told a funny story when he played in Atlanta in a game against the Colorado Avalanche and Ryan Smyth was a member of the Avalanche. And all in unison, like all 16 guys all along the bench, started crying. Like doing the Ryan Smyth 2007 press conference when he was an Islander.

**Somehow I don’t think that these two stories equate… Maybe it’s just me.**

Millard: Oh, when he was traded from Edmonton and he was at the airport?

Marek: Correct, when he decided to turn down the offer to stay in Edmonton and ended up getting traded instead and then Ryan Whitney jumped on it and talked more about, you know, cause in the press conference Ryan Smyth talked about bringing the Cup back to Edmonton. He (Whitney) said,

“The Islanders? Potvin’s not there anymore, Billy Smith’s not there anymore.”

And Twitter was not amused. The nerves were close to the skin. We just thought it was a harmless chirp story involving the Atlanta Thrashers and a member of the Avalanche.

**The thing that pisses me off here is that Marek insists on identifying Smyth as an Islander in this instance. Technically, that’s true but come on… He knows very well that even he played for the Islanders, the Avs, and the Kings, that Ryan Smyth was really an Oiler his whole career. And Kevin Lowe could’ve very easily kept Smyth if HE were willing to pay him a little bit more at that time.**

Millard: Here’s how deep it went. Elliotte Friedman was MC-ing a charity dinner in Winnipeg last night and Scott Oake was being honored, Darcy Oake was there as well. And Elliotte looks at his phone and he’s starting to get troll tweets,

“You’ve never played the game. Why are you chirping Ryan Smyth?”

Elliotte said what the hell happened, so we brought him up to date. So…

Stellick: You kid Eddie Olczyk about his speech right? Like he knows… (inaudible)… When the emotion of when the Jets left, “We’re gonna bring it back”, and we said, “Eddie, what were you going to bring back exactly? Were you gonna win it in Arizona and bring it back or?” anyway, people get caught up in the emotion.

**Jesus… They’re comparing Olczyk’s speech to what happened to Smyth? Reaching much?**

Marek:  I understand the nerves are close to the skin in certain markets. We all do. I think we all know where those markets are.

“We built this Smytty on greasy goals!” Click the image and pick up a 16-bit Smytty right now!

Millar: The idea of crying after a trade, that’s a long gone, uh, habit. This year, Curtis Lazar was skipping out of Ottawa.

Marek: Oh I know. But that was a new lease on life and he was going back out west.

Millar: But your first trade is always supposed to be this shocker.

Marek: Well Colby mentioned up in strategy room on trade deadline day that when his mom called him to tell him that he was traded from Pittsburgh to Atlanta, that he cried.

Millard: Colby cries when the weather changes more than three degrees.

Marek: I know… When the waitress messes up his order at the restaurant for breakfast, “I asked for the hash browns, what has the world come to? What kind of god would allow this to happen?”

Stellick: Devante Smith-Pelly, he cried. Got caught up in the emotion right? It’s part of realizing he was going. You know other guys… Whatever.

**So this is how they justify it? Armstrong cried… Is that right? So why weren’t we hearing THAT story? Can they honestly compare Colby Armstrong and Devante Smith-Pelly to Ryan Smyth in any way, shape, or form apart from they all played NHL hockey?**

Millard: So, do you apologize?

Marek: For what?

Millard: For taking up Twitter’s valuable space and time last night.

**I’m pretty certain this isn’t what Millard wanted to say. There was a little pause before he forced this out and that’s too bad. I would’ve like to have heard Marek’s response to the real question that wasn’t asked here.**

Marek: I didn’t send out any tweets about it. I responded to a couple. Man did we hear it. Just when you think, like, your summing up; no, you’re still adding up. I got a note from Colby this morning, he’s flying home to Pittsburgh; he’s in the air and he’s sending me the tweets. He goes,

“Still coming in.”

Millard: When did you realize last night was becoming something?

Marek: Right away. As soon as the intermission was over, we went back upstairs to the next period and BOOM! Timeline explosion. Timeline bomb. Boom!

Millard: My first inclination is, because I’m panicky worry wort, all that kinda stuff, was ‘oh no, oh no’. Then there’s other kind of people, Doug MacLean would be that, where were you guys?

Marek: Uhhh Colby was a little surprised at the reaction because he’s loveable, nice guy Colb. Right? He’s everyone’s buddy. I think he was surprised at the nature of the negativity.

Millard: That’s a little worried to me.

Marek: A little bit worried, yeah. Ryan (Whitney) just kinda ‘unh’. Boston boy, shrug it off. Big deal, hit by a pitch, you know, no autopsy-no foul.

Millard: And were you waiting for the phone to ring from the boss?

Marek: Ummm, no! No.

Millard: Bosses call?

Marek: One, yes. He said he had our back.

**One called. I wonder how the other bosses communicated their opinion on the matter?**

Millard: GOOD!

Marek: It’s what you want from a boss.

Millard: So, did you pile on after that?

Marek: No, we left it. I said,

“Guys, back up, phones down. We gotta watch the game anyway.”

Millard: Hey guys, have you ever had an entire city mad at you? Well yeah, actually you did. Sorry Gord (Gord Stellick was the GM of the Maple Leafs for a short time from April of ’88 to August of ’89).

Millard: Do you know Ryan Smyth?

Marek: I’ve talked to him on radio a couple of different times.

Millard: I think he’d find it funny.

**Well Mr.Millard, he didn’t find it funny. At all. Did he?**

Gregor Show – Mar 3 – Ryan Smyth by The Jason Gregor Show

Some of the interesting comments from Smyth re: Whitney/Armstrong:

  • You know obviously I’m not going to stoop to that level. Not appropriate. They do what they want on the panel and I let them be.
  • There is a time and a place for it (chirping) in my opinion and in this situation, that’s how they obviously felt and let ’em be.

THAT is how you respond to clowns like Whitney and Armstrong.

Ryan Smyth is a class act and has always been a class act. Not only for the Edmonton Oilers but for every hockey team he’s every played for, including Team Canada.

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