I was offended by watching this, well maybe more disgusted than offended? I haven’t made up my mind on that one yet. I warn you before watching this, that if you are a girl, you will be too.
Today off of PD, I found the Dallas Stars marketing dept has really sunk low on this one, with the cheesy 80’s porn music, the slow closeups…and the “where are my pants?” script writing?
Are they for real? They really did say “Where are my pants?“
GM Mike Gillis and Coach AV had their media address today. They went over the normal stuff, the dissapointment of not being in the playoffs anymore and such. Top of Gillis’ list is to resign the Sedins before July 1st, before Burke sends them a fruit basket to wish them Happy Canada Day. After July 1st he will begin to speak with Luongo and Kesler about their contracts that are entering the final year.
A number of players are heading into surgery:
-Pavol Demitra needs shoulder sugery
-Taylo Pyatt need knee surgery
-Alex Burrows will have bone chips removed from his wrist
-Ryan Johnson will have another surgery on his finger that he broker earlier this year
And a happy 48th birthday to Vigneault!
You know this is going to be a tough week for the Vancouver sports media and fans. The earliest game for the Canucks vs. X opponent will be Friday or Saturday. These past few days have been pretty hard, it’s like being in Canuck withdrawl. As we have never swept a 7 game series, we’ve never had to feel this waiting before. We could ask Detroit fans how it feels like, but I have never met many of them that I actually like.
The Canucks media will have another few days to write stories about nothing. Don’t you find they have been doing that over the past few days? Want some examples?
-Gallagher has starting talking about the salary cap and the Sedins’ contract. Hate to break it to Mr. Negativity, but he’ll have plenty of time to talk about salary caps and contracts in June.
-Botchford wrote about Luongo’s puck handling. In the article Kevin Bieksa says: “He’s good at playing the puck.” Luongo isn’t awful at handling the puck, but he ain’t great. Turco or Brodeur is good at playing the puck, if given the choice, I would prefer Luongo to stay in the crease, not become the extra D man.
–Sundin doesn’t know if he will be ready to play game 1. Hopefully he can decide if he is ready in the next 5 days, this time he has a time limit rather than taking say….6 months?
-Ed Willes posts THIS article about media and Luongo. With excerpts of:
“That’s a good question. But before I answer it, I want to talk about something that’s been bothering me; something you guys have missed. First off, let me say Roberto Luongo is not an embellisher. I’m not going to name names, like Miikka Kiprusoff, but Roberto would never put on an act. That’s why I think what’s been going on is a disgrace. The league has said it will protect the goalies but they’re treating Roberto like a human piñata out there. He won’t say anything, of course. That’s why I’m bringing it up.”
*may not have been actually said
Ed, the Vancouver fans can’t figure out when you media type are joking. They couldn’t figure it out when the Kurtenblog posted THIS in the Province either.
So as you can see from the above examples, this week will be a hard one on the media for coming up with new stories.
They will have some opponent analysis depending on how the San Jose/Anaheim game goes tomorrow, if Anaheim and Calgary wins, the poll questions can switch to, who do you want to play more Chicago or Calgary? If both Anaheim and Chicago wins tomorrow everything in the West will be wrapped up and we can move onto the pre-series analysis.
Random hockey related stories:
-A Flyers draft pick is charged with killing referee and burying body. Of all the NHL teams this guy was drafted through, it had to be the Flyers.
-Want to see what a broken finger looks like? Matt Walker blocked a shot during the game on Saturday night, check out the reaction from the fans behind the bench when he took off his gloves.
Since the Canucks have been doing so well in the past few weeks, the media began to run out of things to talk about. So when Burrows and Kesler mentioned the notion of taking less money to stay with the team, to give them a better shot at winning a cup, the media ran with the story. The fans loved it. It sounded like two young guys that were talking some sense from a fan perspective. As I have read/heard in the past few days, not everyone thought the same thing. Then Luongo goes on After Hours on Saturday and says: “I think first and foremost, I want to win the Cup and whichever team is going to give me the best chance to do that is the team I want to be with”.
The media began to question if that meant Luongo won’t re-sign. Yeesh. Now these past few days, of non-stop analysis has got me a little irritated.
Regarding Luongo’s Statements
1. Luongo never said he didn’t want to resign with Vancouver, he gave a very standard answer that any hockey player say…HE WANTS TO WIN THE CUP
2. Why can’t Vancouver be THAT team that wins the cup? Do you think we are not good enough?
3. We are a hockey city that players want to play for, we are not Phoenix or Atlanta or Florida etc. where players hate.
4. Why are Vancouver fans insulted? This is not about us the fan, it is about a player making an evaluation as to where he wants to play.
5. Could this not have been a message to management that says, I’m serious about winning, you have some big contracts to sign and/or resign, show me you mean business and put a good team in front of me.
6. Luongo is a UFA. This is his decision for whatever is best for him and his family. If he wants to take less money to go to another team he thinks will win the cup, that’s his decision. If he will go to whichever team with pay him the most, he can make that choice to. He was not drafted here, there’s no emotional tie to Vancouver, he was traded. He did resign here which means he wants to play here, whether he will still want to play here in another year will be his decision.
7. This is a business. Players come and go, the NHL is a business, and sometimes, contracts end and players move on.
Back to the media events:
Glenn Healy, NHL union exec, spoke to Kesler about his statements. From what has been reported, it looks like he gave him a gag order.
In The Province: “We talked to Ryan and he regrets some of the comments he made,” said NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly. The quote from the Kelly just sounds bad. Did he only ‘regret’ it after the NHLPA suggested for him for ‘regret’ it?
Obviously Kesler’s agent was none to pleased. I can’t imagine that made his job any easier (though Mike Gillis may share a different opinion).
I felt that Kuzma, who wrote the original article with the quote from Kesler, and his reputation has been dragged through the mud on this issue. Did the media attack Hossa when he said similar things last year? I can’t remember the NHLPA coming forward and saying that Hossa regretted his comments. Kuzma wrote a good article, that did not require much dissecting to figure out what Kelser’s quote meant.
I understand the comments are not good for the union, who wants all of their players to get as money as people are willing to pay them. I’m not saying that I expect the players to not take as much money as they can get either. They get paid big money because there is a demand for the sport. High ticket prices and sales drive up revenue, which drive up the cap, which drive up the player’s salaries. If the money is there, I’m not going to be mad at a player or their agent for getting them a good deal.
In the end, if anyone were to silence Kesler and Burrows, it should be the guys on the team. If the Sedins and Ohlund, and the other players whose contract are up their year are disgruntled, then they have a right to have their opinion. It’s their locker room. It is true, that no matter what Kesler says, the other players do not have to listen to him, but if you thought what he said was a little off balance, then they should have just approached him directly. If it’s NHL code not to say things involving other people’s contracts, well then it should be spoken about behind closed doors. According to the Vancouver Sun, that has been done. The added comments from the union and the PA were not required, they just made them look bad.
Was this the media’s fault? No, the media was doing their JOB. There hasn’t been much bad things to say about the Canucks lately, and when a feel good story could be written with a good quote, it was printed.
At this point, I hope we can just move on from this subject and get back to the final games of the season. The players should only focus on the games coming up to the playoffs and then play their hearts out during the playoffs. Let’s just get back to playing hockey.
Vancity Canuck 