That's Todd Richard's profound statement after yet another game where the Wild took the entire second period off and a good eight minutes of the third period as well. "I Dunno."
Followed by the most passive comment yet: "It's something that we talk about, and we have to correct it," coach Todd Richards said. "Answers for it, right now, I don't know. That's something we have to deal with."
What's this WE shit, Todd? What are YOU going to do about it?? When are YOU going to get off YOUR ass and start calling these lazy players out? In front of each other. In front of Chuck Fletcher. In front of Craig Leipold. Hell - in front of an arena full of fans who paid premium prices for that bag of flaming dog crap you called a game last night. YOU should have been screaming YOUR head off on our bench from beginning to end of that second period. We should have been hearing YOU rip into the players for letting the Rangers get anything off of us. This was supposed to be our sweet revenge night, not Gaborik's. Instead I have to listen to I. DON'T. KNOW.
And yet, WE aren't practicing on Sunday. Not even an off-ice workout. No team meeting. Not a Come To Jesus meeting between the coach and the players. NOTHING. AT. ALL.
Message to Chuck and Craig: maybe YOU should make yourselves heard as well. Screw this crap about not getting into the coach's space. Hell, we're way beyond that. You know, there's nothing like a Come To Jesus meeting with the GM and OWNER to make the EMPLOYEES aware that their jobs are on the line. You want to send player's agents into Twitter overload? Drop in on the guys during practice and make it clear that NOBODY's job is safe. Oops, that would only work if the coach was actually having a practice.
What's the cost of benching some of these 'star' players and letting the young guys in Houston come up? What's the cost of putting certain 'star' players on the 3rd and 4th line? What's the cost of having our AHLers with the dream, energy and motivation to play in the NHL show what they're made of? What's the cost of letting our 'star' players know they won't be getting calls from any other GM in the future because the cat's out of the bag - YOU SUCK ON ICE in terms of work ethic. It can't be any more costly to our owner than the $10 million he's claiming to have lost already on his investment.
I've said it a million times before but maybe I need to send the message to the owner, not the players?
Hey Craig, you're boasting a fortune off of the announced 18,600+ unsuspecting fans who paid premium prices just to get in the door last night. The profit from the section of Rangers fans who had the beer cup snake which measured some 15-20 feet long must still be ringing in your ears. Take that money and put it to good use. Get t-shirts made up for everyone on the team and make it mandatory dress code from here on out:
I'M A 60 MINUTE MAN, ARE YOU?
Better yet - send them out to all of your STH's. Maybe an arena filled with fans wearing white t-shirts emblazoned with I'M A 60 MINUTE MAN, ARE YOU? would help send the message to a team that's consistently lazy. I mean, we're there for the full 60 minutes every game so maybe we should be helping the guys get the message since our coach doesn't have it in him. Oh, and Craig - don't cheap out on the quality of the t-shirts - they'll need to make it through 30 wash loads.
Bright Spots From The Game -
- Robyn! In her Wild jersey with complementary red collared shirt underneath, right down to her purple suede shoes. You made the game worth being at, girlfriend!
- Chatting with Tim between 1st and 2nd periods. Thanks for making the trip around the arena to visit us!
- Brent Burns having his way with Marian Gaborik behind our net, along the boards in the 3rd period. I thought Robyn and I were going to pee our pants with laughter and delight.
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