Bill Watters Leafs TV blames Bettman for Team Canada losing

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eye

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I enjoyed Bill Watters daytime talks during the lockout but his act is getting old fast. I have never seen anyone talk out of both sides of his mouth as much as he does. I was once a fan of his but now I am going to cancel my Leafs TV $1.99 a month option.

After supporting Bettman 100% during the lockout and supporting the need to change the NHL and stick with it (all he has to do is go back and listen to himself in about 1000 tapes) he now blames Bettman for destroying the Canadian game. He says Bettman has taken physicality out of the game, hence, removing the emotional advantage Canada once had. He supported Bettman a few months ago but now that Canada and the Leafs are struggling he is singing a different tune. How does calling the rulebook the way it used to be called when Watters was growing up a Leafs fan take physicality and emotion out of the game? The reason we were not physical at the Olympics is simple. Our Defense were not mobile enough as Gretzky decided to go with size rather than agility and our Fwds. lacked speed and aggresion. Also, please name one Canadian player that had enough skill to hold onto a puck for more than 2 seconds in this entire tournament or put the fear of god into a defending player. The only ones we have were not playing, i.e. Spezza, Staal, Nash who hardly played and Crosby. The only D we have that could have helped offensively was Dan Boyle but Gretzky wanted size and didn't want to piss off Pat Quinn by not taking McCabe.

Funny thing, I don't see the top Euro clubs lacking emotion at this years Olympics and you definately can see they have more skilled top end players than we did at this years Olympics.

Let's learn from it. We need to improve our skills, our speed, our quickness and our agility. Lessons can be learned if Hockey Canada and the NHL decide to. I doubt they will.
 

KrisKing*

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Yeah, what the hell does he know. It's not like he's ever been a coach or gm in the NHL.
 

Golden Slumbers

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If he stuck only to LeafsTV I wouldn't mind, but hearing his drivel on a mainstream network that really gets me, don't think I agree with a single thing the guy says.

And he wants Mats Sundin's babies.
 

Nihilism

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I love the "expert" panel Sportsnet puts together.

Watters, Stelleck, Kyproes.

All Leaf shrills. All failures in hockey.
 

Golden Slumbers

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Nihilism said:
I love the "expert" panel Sportsnet puts together.

Watters, Stelleck, Kyproes.

All Leaf shrills. All failures in hockey.

That's why I can't watch that network for anything hockey...they don't even try to be objective.
 

eye

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Bill Watters opinions are definately biased. He takes things personally just like Jeff Marek has done with Domi since Domi stood up to him. Watters works for Leafs TV but puts down Khavanov at every opportunity because he was picked up by JFJ. He supports Sundin no matter what and when Sundin is not playing well it's always JFJ or Pat Quinns fault. He puts down JFJ all the time and Leafs upper mgt. all the time because they put him out of a job. How many Cups did you win Bill when you were filling Ken Drydens and Pat Quinns water bottle?

Now he starting to blame Bettman daily for various issues even though he himself was on the bandwagon for Bettman and others to fix the game and stick with it. I have heard him say many times this is the NHL's last shot at getting it right and sticking with their decisions and now he is beating the anti-Bettman drum for doing what he wanted done.

Bill - here is some free advice. Take it like a man. Stop saying you don't want to be critical or talk behind someones back and then go ahead in the same sentence and do what you claim you didn't want to do. It's not Bettman's fault that the Euros wanted it more this year or that they have more top end talent than Canada at this point or that they play better on the big ice surface especially when the rules are enforced. This is about to change as our young stars are about to be handed the baton. Blame Gretzky and co. for being loyal. Blame Gretzky and co. for picking players based on the old styled NHL. Blame Gretzky for not taking many of this years top Canadian scorers but DON'T lower yourself to going back on your own opinions and blame Bettman for this years Olympic teams loss or for how poortly the Leafs or your Sundin is doing. I have heard Watters offer of about 3 dozen different line changes he would try if he were coaching the Leafs.

I guess it's easy to throw stones when your sitting behind a microphone.
 

ACC1224

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eye said:
Bill Watters opinions are definately biased. He takes things personally just like Jeff Marek has done with Domi since Domi stood up to him. Watters works for Leafs TV but puts down Khavanov at every opportunity because he was picked up by JFJ. He supports Sundin no matter what and when Sundin is not playing well it's always JFJ or Pat Quinns fault.

Now he starting to blame Bettman daily for various issues even though he himself was on the bandwagon for Bettman and other to fix the game and stick with it. I have heard him say many times this is the NHL's last shot at getting it right and sticking with their decisions and now he is beating the anti-Bettman drum.

Bill - here is some free advice. Take it like a man. Stop saying you don't want to be critical or talk behind someones back and then go ahead in the same sentence and do what you claim you didn't want to do. It's not Bettman's fault that the Euros wanted it more this year or that they have more top end talent than Canada at this point or that they play better on the big ice surface especially when the rules are enforced. This is about to change as our young stars are about to be handed the baton. Blame Gretzky and co. for being loyal. Blame Gretzky and co. for picking players based on the old styled NHL. Blame Gretzky for not taking many of this years top Canadian scorers but DON'T lower yourself to going back on your own opinions and blame Bettman for this years Olympic teams loss or for how poortly the Leafs or your Sundin is doing. I have heard Watters offer of about 3 dozen different line changes he would try if he were coaching the Leafs.

I guess it's easy to throw stones when your sitting behind a microphone.

Khavanov sucking all year wouldn't have anything to do with it?
 

eye

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ACC1224 said:
Khavanov sucking all year wouldn't have anything to do with it?

Khavanov doesn't deserve to be called Fergy Khavanov everyday. It was a bit funny the first time he called him that but isn't anymore. When healthy he isn't bad and isn't the Leafs biggest problem. The problem is that the Leafs lack of depth means he plays more minutes than he should. He is a good 6th or 7th depth Dman on any NHL teams roster.
 

ACC1224

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eye said:
Khavanov doesn't deserve to be called Fergy Khavanov everyday. It was a bit funny the first time he called him that but isn't anymore. When healthy he isn't bad and isn't the Leafs biggest problem. The problem is that the Leafs lack of depth means he plays more minutes than he should. He is a good 6th or 7th depth Dman on any NHL teams roster.

Honestly I don't listen to Watters often and you're right the Leafs have lots of problems other than Khavanov. Hopefully we'll find out if he can play on any teams roster when if he gets moved.
 

shakes

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Nihilism said:
I love the "expert" panel Sportsnet puts together.

Watters, Stelleck, Kyproes.

All Leaf shrills. All failures in hockey.

Only on a message board can 3 people, who have worked and played for an actual NHL franchise and now make a lot of money sitting and talking about hockey on TV, be called "failures..".
 

Jimmi McJenkins

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How do you Leafs fans justify paying money to listen to this idiot, my god. And for the record the fewer Leafs fans that subscirbe to Leafs TV and go to Leafs games, the sooner the team will get better.
 

zx81

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ow does calling the rulebook the way it used to be called when Watters was growing up a Leafs fan take physicality and emotion out of the game?

Not to defend his opinion but the game was never called like that before.
It's really exaggerated this season with maybe 33% of calls being just plain ridiculous.
 

think-blue-

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I didnt hear the Bettman stuff, but he did have a lot of criticism towards Gretzky and co. both before the team was officially selected and recently after the loss. He's been moaning for a few days now about how the loyalty factor has hurt Team Canada and the poor selections (Where was Kariya/Shanahan/Phaneuf/Staal/Spezza..why was Bertuzzi on the team?)..
 

Scoogs

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Jimmi Jenkins said:
How do you Leafs fans justify paying money to listen to this idiot, my god. And for the record the fewer Leafs fans that subscirbe to Leafs TV and go to Leafs games, the sooner the team will get better.

Simple. We don't pay to watch Leafs Lunch. We pay (it's like $2/month or something) for the Leafs games that are on Leafs TV.

Leafs Lunch is a radio program that they decided to broadcast on Leafs TV because other than the actual games they show, the channel sucks.

I think if you talk to the majority of Leaf fans, you will get the impression that we hate Mr. Watters. Most of us dislike Jeff Marek as well. The only guy I listen to on that show, with great interest, is Dennis Beyak.
 

SENSational

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Jay Fresh said:
That's why I can't watch that network for anything hockey...they don't even try to be objective.

Seriously. And when they're going to talk about a team other than the leafs its only for the last minute.
 

KrisKing*

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SENSational said:
Seriously. And when they're going to talk about a team other than the leafs its only for the last minute.

I wonder why they call it the LEAFS network?
 

Gord

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zx81 said:
Not to defend his opinion but the game was never called like that before.
It's really exaggerated this season with maybe 33% of calls being just plain ridiculous.

you're right. We've all seen many a play that is a good clean play or hit called "interference" or some such drivel.
 

SwisshockeyAcademy

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Nihilism said:
I love the "expert" panel Sportsnet puts together.

Watters, Stelleck, Kyproes.

All Leaf shrills. All failures in hockey.
I like Stelleck very much. Watters is truly an idiot if he wants to go back to the old style NHL. Bring back the WHA for the 50th time and get Bobby Hull to promise to get the hooking , holding, and interference back in the game. That will bring everyone out in droves.
 

Big Mama*

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eye said:
The only D we have that could have helped offensively was Dan Boyle but Gretzky wanted size and didn't want to piss off Pat Quinn by not taking McCabe.

.

Thats odd since McCabe has scored as many goals as Pronger, Blake and JBo this season. Boyle is averaging .67 points per game and McCabe 1.1 points per game on an inferior team.

Why would Gretzky take the inferior offensive player Boyle over McCabe. Given that Team Canada was shutout 3 times McCabe should have seen more ice. But Boyle should have played ahead of any other d-men.
 
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