Ales Hemsky, Ryan Whitney And Preferential Media Treatment
by Derek Zona on Dec 29, 2011 11:30 AM MST
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PrintOne of the finest yearly traditions in Northern Alberta is the turning of the fanbase. Each year management sours on a player, notifies the media of their sour disposition, and allows nature to take it's course. The Edmonton media takes up it's role as Oilers valet and begins to question the player's drive, commitment, real estate purchases and dating choices. To hear the media tell the story, each of these players has been some combination of a locker room cancer, a lazy player, a malcontent, uncoachable, a greedy player. Naturally, the fans follow the lead of the media and turn on each player. The cheers fade, the jerseys are shelved and just before the player is sent out of town, the boos cascade from Skyreach/Rexall like the player in question plays for the Calgary Flames. A more cynical observer might think that the team is trying to shift blame from management's poor performance to someone else, anyone else, each season.
Over the years the team has unleashed the media on players such as Jason Arnott, Kyle Brodziak, Mike Comrie, Dustin Penner, Joni Pitkanen, Miroslav Satan, Ryan Smyth, and Sheldon Souray. Each was a productive player, a contributing teammate and generally a good citizen in Edmonton. Each faced relentless media criticism and eventually relentless fan criticism until they were run out of town.
This year's target is Ales Hemsky.
Hemsky has struggled with his health since injuring his shoulder on this boarding from Michal Handzus. Prior to that hit, Hemsky played 443 of 517 games, 86% of all games, or 71 games per season. Since that hit, Hemsky has played in 69 of 174 games, 40% of all games, or 32 games per season. His shoulders have betrayed him to this point, but he's finding his way back to health this season, though probably slower than both he and Edmonton management would like.
Maybe his recovery timeline is the reason for the recent downturn in his press coverage. Beginning on December 3rd, with this article in the Edmonton Journal, titled "Hemsky still hesitant about shoulder" coverage on Hemsky has taken a decidedly negative turn. It came to a head today, during a media scrum at Rexall. During the scrum, Jim Matheson and Dan Tencer asked questions about Hemsky's health and lack of production, causing Hemsky to leave the scrum. The Oilers official radio station wrote this account:
Wednesday morning, Hemsky ended a brief scrum with reporters by uttering a profanity and saying "I'm done with these questions."
Prior to that, Hemsky said of trade rumours, "I'm not worried about it. It doesn't bug me. I know there will be lots of rumours and lots of stuff around. You guys will talk about lots of stuff. It's more about what you guys will talk about."
Matheson then added to the speculation by penning an article about Hemsky's possible destinations if he fails to produce. The fanbase is in the midst of playing their part - after reports of Hemsky's profane scrum, the typical fan message boards and social media outlets erupted with calls for a trade and messages pleading for a better, younger player.
Prior to this season, Hemsky was a career .8 points per game player. Since the lockout, he's been a .92 points per game player. His career shots per game average is 1.96. He's suffering through a very difficult recovery period, and he's attempted a comeback this season. During the games he's played with the injury, he's scored at a .5 points per game clip and put 1.82 shots per game on net.
The Edmonton media is questioning that production, his injuries, his commitment and his trade status.
Compare that to Ryan Whitney's treatment at the hands of the Edmonton media. Since coming to Edmonton, Whitney has played in 52% of all games, or 43 games per season. He's suffered a foot and an ankle injury and since his attempted comeback, his knees have betrayed him. He's trying to find his way back to the lineup this season, though probably slower than he would like, but Edmonton management seems okay with the timeline.
Prior to this season, Whitney was a career .58 points per game player. His career shots per game average is 1.61. He's suffering through a very difficult recovery period and he's attempted a comeback this season. During the games he's played with the injury, he's scored at a .18 points per game clip and put .35 shots per game on net.
The Edmonton media has been silent on his production, his injuries, his commitment and his trade status, and purposefully so.
Ryan Whitney gets preferential media treatment, while Ales Hemsky is left to run his fingers over the tire marks on his back.
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Ryan Whitney gets preferential media treatment, while Ales Hemsky is left to run his fingers over the tire marks on his back.
I don’t think Hemsky’s shoulders will allow this…
by DarrenV on Dec 29, 2011 11:47 AM MST reply actions 2 recs
Hemsky deserves all he gets
Couldn’t disagree more with this post, Hemsky deserves everything he is getting from the media now. He has been causes more harm than good for this team for the past couple of years with his bad attitude, acts like a spoiled brat. He wants to be the star but not any of the responsibility, the BS that comes with it. I don’t care about his stats, if having a winning was based solely on stats the rangers would have been a dynasty with the great stat players they have signed. As for Whitney he has been up front, open, honest on his condition, frustration andes not blaming anyone else for his troubles, he maned up unlike Hemsky.
Again by fans and the team holding on to a false dream that Hemsky will be the “man” on this we hold on to him way past the time we could trade him for anything of value, at present we would be lucky to get a marginal player for him, what a waste of holding on to a failed dream, experiment. We had chances to trade him in the past and actually got something good, that has passed.
If Hemsky wants the tough questions to stop he needs to man up and proves us all wrong, he says his shoulders have been good for a while, sure can’t tell by his uninspired play
Oh hey, did you guys realize JohnnieOil has access to the Oilers dressing room? I mean, how else could he make statements about Hemsky’s “bad attitude”, “wanting to be the star”, and “acting like a spoiled brat”.
Seriously how the fuck do people think they know this stuff about teams? I always wonder why fans think they should know who the captain should be.
Everything you know about your team comes from what the team tells the media, and the media tells you. There’s two huge filters in there, and you don’t even know 1% of what goes on in the dressing room. It’s like me judging your worth as a father based on what I hear from your next door neighbour.
by julian.albrecht on Dec 29, 2011 12:02 PM MST up reply actions 9 recs
Well said, sir
Whenever I hear/read fans complaining about a player’s attitude, I just cringe.
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by Dirk Hoag on Dec 29, 2011 2:25 PM MST up reply actions 2 recs
I’m trying to figure out who Hemsky has been blaming for his problems.
Also… what does growing his hair out have to do with anything?
by TigerUnderGlass on Dec 29, 2011 12:14 PM MST up reply actions 4 recs
IS ALES HEMSKY A DIRTY POT-SMOKING HIPPIE? By Jim Matheson
Manager at Vancouver Whitecaps and western Canadian soccer website Eighty Six Forever and infrequently-posting flunky at Edmonton Oilers blog The Copper & Blue.
by Benjamin Massey on Dec 29, 2011 12:17 PM MST up reply actions 7 recs
That reminds me….if his sideburns have been transplanted to Hemsky maybe it’s safe for MPS to come back.
by TigerUnderGlass on Dec 29, 2011 12:24 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
At first i thought that was a joke. Then i realized I’ve seen stories like that before:
Is José Bautista Juicing? By Damien Cox.
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by Ubiquitous on Dec 29, 2011 12:49 PM MST up reply actions 4 recs
Well, you gotta at least ask the question…
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by Kevin Sellathamby on Dec 30, 2011 7:26 AM MST up reply actions 1 recs
My assumption here is that JohnnieOil is using sarcasm to get his point across and I’ve just misread the ‘tone’ of the email. I mean shit like ‘Rangers could’ve been a dynasty’’, ‘acts like a spoiled brat’ and ‘has no trade value’ are classic signs of sarcasm. Good one JohnnieOil, you almost had me there.
by Czechboy on Dec 29, 2011 12:43 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
Phew, I’ve been trying to figure out who the heck the great stat players we signed were.
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by George E. Ays on Dec 29, 2011 12:48 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
Clearly Scott Gomez.
Mike Weber Pressbox Incarceration Status: Free to roam the blueline.
"Ville Leino may stink but he’s still way better than Colin Stuart."
by Ubiquitous on Dec 29, 2011 12:50 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
Good one JohnnieOil, you almost had me there.
He almost got me as wel!. His incorporation of numerous spelling and grammar errors lent the whole piece a dollop of verisimilitude.
by Chunklets on Dec 29, 2011 12:59 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
He wants to be the star but not any of the responsibility, the BS that comes with it.
I don’t understand this attitude. Is it in the players contract that he has to talk to the media? Players field questions as a courtesy. If Hemsky doesn’t want to talk to reporters he doesn’t have to. He doesn’t owe them or us anything.
by melancholyculkin on Dec 29, 2011 12:21 PM MST reply actions 2 recs
That’s how I feel. It’s great if athletes are at least civil to the media and not deliberately jerks when dealing with them, but if they don’t want to talk, then stop pestering them and find someone else on the team who does.
Random nonsense at @Baroque97
"It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." --Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
That’s naive. Today’s players aren’t just athletes, they are entertainers. When a hockey team hands you a cheque for $4M plus, it’s not just to play hockey, its to make the fans love you and want to spend money to see you play, buy team sweaters with your name and number on it, and anything else that can help the team make money to pay for your salary.
If you want to live in a world where athletes don’t have to deal with the media unless they feel like it, transport yourself back to the 1960s.
Don’t get me wrong, I think its stupid how much the media smothers actors and athletes, but it is undeniably part of the job now. Don’t take the cheque and the fame and then whine about the down side.
I’d prefer the members of the media didn’t resort to character assassination of players to satisfy their petty grudges.
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by Ubiquitous on Dec 30, 2011 9:33 AM MST up reply actions 2 recs
So would I, but it’s part of the celeb culture. Build ‘em up and tear ’em down. It’s the media roller coaster. It sells. People keep buying it. It’s a sad commentary on society, but if you step into the world of celeb today, you KNOW its going to happen. Your agent spends half his or her time trying to manage the ride.
If it’s a player’s job to become a fan favorite and the media isn’t going to let that happen, then it’s in the player’s (and the organization’s) best interest to simply not feed the media any more than they have to, knowing that no matter what he does he’s going to get skewered.
by J.J. from Kansas on Dec 30, 2011 9:46 AM MST up reply actions
Are you aware of any other major media group that does as much tearing down as the Edmonton media?
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
The Toronto media is famous for it. Larry Murphy anyone? The list goes on from there. Sundin, kaberle, mccabe, grabovsky, kessel, are all names they have gone to work on at various times.
The media seems to be turning on Ovechkin and working over Semin and Green in previous years.
by gcw_rocks on Dec 30, 2011 12:18 PM MST via mobile up reply actions
They do that as a course of their job. The Edmonton media waits until the player is set to leave.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
I'm not entertained
By boilerplate answers to rambling, sometimes semi-literate questions. I don’t care wtf a player has to say about anything other than how he is helping the team win – and in that case, I’d rather he just shut up and do it anyway. Talk is freaking cheap.
Besides, every team has SOMEONE who enjoys talking and telling stories and playing the raconteur, most of them are at the very least civil if not especially chatty, and a few are extremely quiet. Let the quiet ones go about their business and talk to the 80% who want to talk. It shouldn’t be a difficult thing for the media to do.
Random nonsense at @Baroque97
"It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." --Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
Frick, Derek. If you peek out of your basement window you’ll see the Edmonton Oilers Organization™ parking in your car with a zamboni. If you quickly delete all these Whitney/Hemsky posts they might relent…
by Yeti# on Dec 29, 2011 12:37 PM MST reply actions 2 recs
At least Allan Watt isn’t around anymore. He’d be prepping himself to kick Derek out of said basement. At any rate, nice work, Derek.
by Robert Cleave on Dec 29, 2011 1:08 PM MST up reply actions
Thanks Robert, much appreciated.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
I’m all for a good “the media sucks and people are sheep” story, but it seems counter-productive for a team to want to discredit and run down a player on the team. I get that if the media and fans turn against a player, it gives the GM some cover when they get rid of the player, and the GM will face less of a public backlash. But to me, that is outweighed by the need to receive some value for that player on the trade market. And having a player that is being run out of town by “public opinion” doesn’t seem to help the GM get that value.
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A more cynical observer might think that the team is trying to shift blame from management’s poor performance to someone else, anyone else, each season.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Not saying that isn’t what’s happening, but that attitude is also a sign of poor management to me. If Im a manager, and I want to cover up my horrible performance, having year after year of players being run out of town just draws more attention to my shortcomings. But they’ve got a guy who is performing decently in the face of an injury – a GM can’t ask for better cover than that! Its not my fault, its Lady Luck who is against us!
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Not saying that isn’t what’s happening, but that attitude is also a sign of poor management to me.
The Oilers have been the worst team in the league for a number of years. They’ve made terrible move after terrible move. I think that’s a sign of poor management.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
You’re just not in on the master plan. They have plotted out their scapegoats every year through 2025.
by TigerUnderGlass on Dec 29, 2011 4:25 PM MST up reply actions
You make it sound like this is something unique to Edmonton. I’m a NYR fan – we’ve had 11 years of Glen Sather. His results have improved recently (especially in drafting) but he sucked horribly for a good 7 years, and it didn’t make a difference. In hockey, the GM usually gets years before a change is made, even if it seems obvious to the world that the change should be made. The GM’s relationship with the owner is probably the single most important reason he lasts in his job, good results or bad.
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This post has vastly increased the credibility of Zona's opinion in my book
I’m so glad your calling this out.
Just where does anybody think we’ll get a point-per-game player to replace Hemsky?
It’s easy to type stupid BS when you’re recovering from shoulder surgery…try playing a sport (or working) through it. At least he’s trying to work through it, and he’s still better than half the NHL right now.
I still don’t think management is doing an atrocious job. It’s a tough league. But there have definitely been mistakes (trading Smyth, letting Pronger go for nothing – no offense to Smid, more recently not signing another available defenceman to bolster the blue-line, etc)
Case Study: Buffalo Media spent all last year tormenting Tim Connolly so Buffalo signed stupid Ville Leino instead.
This year’s project is Ryan Miller.
Mike Weber Pressbox Incarceration Status: Free to roam the blueline.
"Ville Leino may stink but he’s still way better than Matt Ellis."
That Leino contract is just ridiculous, who was he bidding against, Tallon?
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and as I love to remind the Buffalo News’ Harringon: Connolly is making Buffalo look dumb
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by PPP on Dec 29, 2011 4:03 PM MST via mobile up reply actions 4 recs
For the next Sabres game you should compile a whole bunch of “Tim Connolly sucks” articles from TBN.
Mike Weber Pressbox Incarceration Status: Free to roam the blueline.
"Ville Leino may stink but he’s still way better than Matt Ellis."
by Ubiquitous on Dec 30, 2011 9:31 AM MST up reply actions 1 recs
I wish there was someone in the Edmonton media who wasn’t on the inside so they could write about things like this.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
I may have missed the boat on this, but one thing that struck me about Whitney’s ‘heart on my sleeve’ interview the other day was when he said that his injury made him ‘only an average player’, but he was being paid for something much better than that. At first I thought he was being more than a little vain. I think it’s rather clear that he has been a disaster on the ice because without mobility he has no game. There’s no way he is an ‘average’ NHL D-man at present.
But then I realised that context is important: in Edmonton the average D has no mobility to begin with. Whitney with only one working leg is still a step above Cam Barker. Moreover, his complete lack of mobility means he can’t get himself out of badly position looking for a caveman hit like Theo does every second shift. No mobility also means he isn’t able to hit someone hard and stupid enough to get suspended for half the frickin season like Sutton.
The fact that this season ‘One-Leg-Whitney’ is indeed an average D in Edmonton is a sad, sad commentary on the GM.
Bear in mind ...
… “average” doesn’t mean what we were taught it means. Neither does “mediocre” or “.500”.
Oilers fan through thick, thin and anorexic. Writer for The Cult of Hockey.
by Bruce McCurdy on Dec 29, 2011 2:35 PM MST up reply actions
Ouch.
Oilers fan through thick, thin and anorexic. Writer for The Cult of Hockey.
by Bruce McCurdy on Dec 29, 2011 3:04 PM MST up reply actions
sad, sad commentary on the GM.
Unfortunately there is a lot of that around. My biggest gripe about MSM is that none of them are questioning ST. In there defense, if ST doesn’t like what he hears from them he can revoke their “inside access” but in my humble opinion, Tambellini should go before any of the players do.
Insert Witty Comment Here
by VanillaAcid on Dec 29, 2011 3:21 PM MST via mobile up reply actions
There’s a prospect around the corner who will be better.
Believe in the future.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Have to ask...
Zona – do you think we should trade him or sign him?
Sign him.
http://www.blackdoghatesskunks.com/2011/01/scorched-earth.html
And the key is simple. They get good players and they keep them.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
to what kind of deal (i.e. how much is too much in terms of $$ and term)?
I’m a Hemsky fan, but I’m worried. He’s had a rash of injuries to body parts that don’t traditionally heal well and he’s the kind of guy who makes his noise with his offensive ability. How much of that has he lost?
Can you sign him to a 4 year deal at $4-5 mil? Would he agree to it? If this was 2 years ago I’d say it’s a no brainer.
Now? It’s a really tough call to make.
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I’d go two years at anywhere from a $4.5 cap hit to $5.5 cap hit.
by melancholyculkin on Dec 29, 2011 6:20 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
Each year management sours on a player, notifies the media of their sour disposition
Do you have any proof of this? I would love to see an email or fax where the Oilers management team let the media know who their whipping boy is going to be.
Statements like that one perpetuate the idea that bloggers are just throwing crap off the wall and seeing what sticks.
Maybe it is as simple as the fact that Hemsky has continued his streak of getting injured, is an impending UFA (as compared to Whitney) and his production has been well below his historic levels. Hemsky doesn’t talk to the media for a few weeks, gets asked a few tough questions, gets his hackles up and the media reporting that is surprising?
At the start of the year it was apparent that the Oilers wanted to see where Hemsky’s health was before they started talking contract. I don’t have a big problem with that. Now that he looks like he may have big time durability issues and his production is down (likely as a result of the injuries), the trade talk is predictable. The talk of his poor practice habits and dodging of the media is nothing new.
Do you have any proof of this?
Nothing but 11 years of the exact same behavior from the team and media.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Wait, your position is
That what happened with Jason Arnott, Kyle Brodziak, Mike Comrie, Dustin Penner, Joni Pitkanen, Miroslav Satan, Ryan Smyth, Sheldon Souray, and now Ales Hemsky is all just a series of unconnected similarities?
If it’s the case that the Edmonton Media is just picking on one member of the Oilers with the regularity they seem to have, then what are we looking at here? Is this something that happens with other organizations with any sort of regularity like it seems to happen in Edmonton? I know that just about every fanbase has one player they think is complete garbage, but in my experience, I haven’t seen another city where the media consistently picks out and sours on a guy like this. If this were part of a normal media cycle, then why doesn’t this happen in Toronto more regularly?
At this point, the overall picture isn’t even about Hemsky; it’s about the pattern of team coverage which has emerged in Edmonton which does not seem to happen elsewhere. If it’s as simple as all of your understandable excuses about why it is the way it is with Hemsky then fine; it’s just a bit odd and off-putting that it looks to fit into a much larger pattern which is not good for the organization.
by J.J. from Kansas on Dec 30, 2011 7:10 AM MST up reply actions
And some of the transitions are amazing.
Moreau’s last year, all everyone could talk about was how magnificent Sheldon Souray was and how much better off the Oilers would be with Moreau being gone and Souray taking a bigger leadership role. A full year later, Souray impregnated all the teenage girls and kicked every puppy within 150 km of Rexall, or at least you’d think he had based on how much he was trashed.
In theory, there is little difference between practice and theory, but in practice there is!
Tactical contributor to the Copper & Blue and just as boring on the twitters... @dawgbone98
Honestly
Souray last year is the first time I ever took notice of it. It got to the point where there were just so many articles coming out trashing him that found their way out into the general hockey blogosphere that a lot of people (myself included) started to wonder what the hell was going on and whether Souray could possibly be as much of a chemistry-murdering malcontent as the news made him seem.
by J.J. from Kansas on Dec 30, 2011 8:52 AM MST up reply actions
Jason Arnott was when I started thinking the media were a pile of dogshit.
by DarrenV on Dec 30, 2011 9:09 AM MST up reply actions 1 recs
The timing on these posts is great as I’m currently halfway through reading 1984. At this rate, any mention of Hemsky as a good player and teammate will go down the memory hole and his picture in the 2006 team guide will be replaced by someone more appropriate. Be careful Derek, the thought police are watching you! They must be the ones who park the zambonis.
Gilbert Brule already seems to have been vaporized and become an unperson this season…. (a multimillionaire unperson that our tickets are paying for).
I read 1984 years ago and can’t remember much of it, other than the happy ending where we won the Cup.
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by Bruce McCurdy on Dec 29, 2011 11:36 PM MST up reply actions 2 recs
I don’t think that’s what they kept in Room 101…
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Wow
That comment hurts me, Bruce, yet I love it!
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What shall we prove next?
The Edmonton mainstream media doesn’t hammer Ryan Whitney for his play, and doesn’t dig into his injury status. Surely this is proof that the MSM does the bidding of Oilers management.
The Edmonton mainstream media hammers Ales Hemsky for his play, and digs into his injury status. Surely this is proof that the MSM does the bidding of Oiles management.
What shall we prove next?
by David Staples @ The Cult of Hockey on Dec 30, 2011 8:09 AM MST reply actions
The two statements you put in different paragraphs are connected. Hemsky’s contract is expiring, he’s widely rumoured to be on the way out, and he’s a career Oiler; if I were a completely unscrupulous bastard in the Oilers organization I’d want to burn his reputation so the fans don’t object when we get rid of this loyal, dedicated, high-value servant for the bag-of-used-jockstraps-style return we got for Dustin Penner.
These hatchet jobs have only really started coming around this year. In years previous, there wasn’t much attention given in the MSM to the way Hemsky (and others) played through injury and then mysteriously always wound up suffering another one.
Chickenfeet is under contract through 2012/13 and is being brutally, brutally mismanaged to the extent that his career is being put at risk and his effectiveness on the ice is absolutely nil. Shedding a light on the extent to which he’s being demolished by the Oilers would make the organization look bad. In this light, it’s interesting that nobody’s asking the tough questions about Whitney with excuses of “well, if you had to face him in the dressing room…” when they’re perfectly willing to get down and dirty, beyond the point of mere inquisitiveness, with Hemsky.
Manager at Vancouver Whitecaps and western Canadian soccer website Eighty Six Forever and infrequently-posting flunky at Edmonton Oilers blog The Copper & Blue.
by Benjamin Massey on Dec 30, 2011 8:22 AM MST up reply actions 4 recs
This was my comment on the 1st article on the Media treatment of Whitney’s injury: "It’s weird to me that Whitney’s situation was taboo when they’ve been hounding Hemsky about his shoulders and other health issues (and trade rumours) the whole season…he finally got frustrated in a recent scrum and swore, saying he won’t be answering anymore such questions.
Is Hemsky known to be thicker skinned? Is Whitney more well-liked and so treated with kid gloves? And why are Whitney/the Oilers willing to risk the long term health of this player during “year 2 (or is it 3) of a rebuild”?"
Your last paragraph hits the nail on the head for me… I just do not understand why the media has to be careful of what they SAY to and about Whitney but it seems the Oilers don’t have to be careful about what they DO with him.
I can’t find it now but I remember the media at one point talking about how Hemky was coming out of his shell a bit and being better with the media… after he became more comfortable with his English no doubt (don’t get me started on the compound run-on questions media frequently throws at non-English speaking players…). But suddenly he’s a malcontent (again?).
I just don’t get it.
by tanya.corbin on Dec 30, 2011 1:38 PM MST up reply actions
The reason is dead simple.
Ales Hemsky can’t block the media on Twitter. Ryan Whitney can.
(No, I’m not going to let that go. It doesn’t get less stupid the longer this process goes on.)
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by Doogie2K on Dec 30, 2011 11:25 AM MST reply actions 1 recs
I find it, well, stupid that a management of a team that is perpetually sold out, with no hint of a hiccup on the horizon, would sabotage the rep of their own player for the lack of having the balls to make a hockey trade based on merit.
Lowe and ST complain that they couldn’t get a player of any note to sign. Well no doubt dumbasses. Hockey players can read. The hatchet jobs alone should be enough for Katz to pull the plug on them if he cares at all about the reputation of his team. The team talks about class but displays little in action.
Hockey players can read.
So can agents. No agent in his right mind would advise his guy to go to Edmonton and watch his value die.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Great post
I increasingly tune out the hockey MSM because it seems as though many journalists (with some excellent notable exceptions) are content to either lazily craft dubious stories or just plain pull stories out thin air. Thankfully there are great fans (such as many of those on this and other SBN blogs) who who see through the nonsense.
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Editor of Hockey in Society
Thanks for the compliment. Your site is one of those that sees through the nonsense.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
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Sat 04/07 | L 0 - 3 |
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Fri 03/30 | L 1 - 4 |
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