It doesn't matter what their reasons were. They announced ahead of time they would consider retirement. That's what Cole did. Forget his reasoning! He said AT THE END of the season he would reconsider. If he wants to leave 8 million on the table, it's his effing business. When he signed, his contract was worth X amount. Now after the new CBA his contract is worth X-Y. Things have changed.
Also, you don't know what the puck is going on with his daughter and he does mention her in the clip. Maybe when he signed he thought his daughter could handle the move. After a year of living in Quebec he found out his daughter is having reservations or trouble. That coupled with the fact that his contract today is not worth as much as when he had signed, gives Cole all the right to consider retirement.
It's none of our effing business as long as he comes to play when he's collecting his pay cheque and I have no worries about Cole playing to his best.
Now if i were Bergevin I would look to trading him to an American team so his daughter is no longer an issue in his playing and we would get value in return.
As for this making it more evident that we should go after Quebecois players, I'm guessing you conveniently forgot about Briere, Lapointe, Lecavalier giving the Habs (and their mother land Quebec) the finger.
Of course the reasons matter, that's the whole point!
Cole didn't think about retiring after last season, he talked about it for the first time when the lockout happened and he was upset about rollbacks. He mentioned how owners needed to respect the contracts already in place. Don't you find it ironic now that he's questioning whether or not he will respect his contract??? Did I say ironic? I meant hypocritical.
If Cole wants to retire because he has lost passion for the game and really wants to enjoy time with his family, then that's all good. There wouldn't be one bad comment in this thread. But that's not what he said.
Every time Cole talked during the lockout it was about the cash, and he did it again now. He mentioned how every player in the NHL should take a step back and reconsider their careers due to the lost cash this CBA will impose. Now, if these guys lost 50% of their salaries, I'd understand, but that's not even close to it. Cole will lose a few 100K. To middle class people, that'd be huge, however, for Cole, he'd still be bringing in millions. So, is it really that bad?? I mean, so bad to the point that it pushes you to retirement??? Of course not. So why even mention it? It only makes him look like greedy.
As for his family, this isn't news. He knew about all this change before agreeing to this contract. If his daughter is truly unhappy, to the point where they're discussing moving back to Carolina, then fine that's very understandable. Also, this isn't the first time he moved. It was 4 years ago, but still, it wasn't the first time, and it certainly wasn't in a city that offered as much as Montreal.
And why talk about the CBA then?? It doesn't add up, and certainly, he would have mentioned that before anything. He talked about retirement when the lockout started, because of the rollbacks (cash), this is the first we hear about his family. So, it doesn't seem like that's really the reason.
But all of this really doesn't matter to me. What irks me is the hypocrisy he showed saying how owners needed to respect their contracts but now is question whether he'll respect his.
As for trading him. What would a team pay for a guy that wants to retire? It decreases his value a lot. So, he really didn't help Bergevin there by making this public.
I lost respect for Cole when he talked trash about Hamrlik just because he had a different opinion. This just confirms it.
