One thing Linus Omark didn't do today was stir up trouble with a quote dealing with him leaving the Oilers. No, that was done by "sourced" material full of ignorance or insidiousness and released to Twitter:
#NHL--- #Oilers Linus Omark tells Norrbottens-Kuriren news that if he can't find an NHL club, he will play for Luleå HF of the SEL.
— NHLwiki (@NHLwiki) July 11, 2012
This reads like Linus Omark intends to force a trade out of Edmonton and without that trade, he will not report to the Oklahoma City. It was re-Tweeted 30 times and not a single person checked to see if it was true. This tweeter continued:
@charlesbrosky He refuses 2 go to the AHL saying it's not an option and he puts EDM in an uncomfortable position. NHL teams frown upon that.
— NHLwiki (@NHLwiki) July 11, 2012
These two tweets touched off a temporary feeding frenzy on Twitter as outraged Oilers fans took to their keyboards to tell Omark just how much of a big jerk he was and how happy they were that he was gone. Not a single person checked to see if it was true.
Enter Martin Lundén, a Swedish Oilers fan and a person that actually reads and speaks Swedish. Lundén found the original quote and translated it properly, without making up everything about the quote:
If a lockout should occur, something Omark says he "haven’t been thinking about that much, as I just want to find a home (i.e, a team to play for)"
And that's not the only thing that was made up about those two lifted sentences. Check out Martin's complete write-up for the rest of the ridiculousness.
What I don't understand is why Oilers' fans hold Omark in such low regard and treat him with such contempt. Every time any sort of quote hits the media, the vultures descend from every angle, and rip into Omark. Why? I mean, sure, he's not a teenager in a town obsessed with them, but still - he's a very good player who should be a solid NHL regular - the Oilers don't have many of those - should the fans chase them out of town, spitting epithets the whole way to the Alberta border?