Sportsnet: Bryan Berard on his departure from Ottawa

[Byron Bitz]

Interesting listen, seems like Melnyk isn’t the first Sens owner to not want to pay their players. Berard basically says he wanted to play for Ottawa but they didnt want to pay him like other first overall picks were being paid and they couldn’t come to terms on his ELC. He set the record straight that he has nothing against the city of Ottawa or Sens fans so I think all can be forgiven now. At the Time everyone in Ottawa hated Berard for this, the media portrayed it as him refusing to play for the Sens but now it seems ownership was to blame for the whole fiasco.

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[guyzeur]

Interesting listen, seems like Melnyk isn’t the first Sens owner to not want to pay their players. Berard basically says he wanted to play for Ottawa but they didnt want to pay him like other first overall picks were being paid and they couldn’t come to terms on his ELC. He set the record straight that he has nothing against the city of Ottawa or Sens fans so I think all can be forgiven now. At the Time everyone in Ottawa hated Berard for this, the media portrayed it as him refusing to play for the Sens but now it seems ownership was to blame for the whole fiasco.

Fiasco or circus? cause I'm pretty sure the trade for Redden was a good thing for the Sens.

 

[Speatleysson]

The Senators have always struggled with this. Like being a small market team wasn't enough, they are sandwiched between two of the biggest markets in Toronto and MTL, and they have always had to pay their players in USD with a struggling CAD currency. Jean Chretien also killed the Senators when he made it illegal for corporations to host government workers/officials at games. No corporate sponsorship in Ottawa whatsoever = frugal owner.

 

[Sens]

That was a very good trade

 

[Sens]

Fiasco or circus? cause I'm pretty sure the trade for Redden was a good thing for the Sens.

Rhodes helped give the goaltending some stability as well for the first time

 

[SensHulk]

I thought Berard also took offense to being sent back to Junior and thought he was good enough to be in the sens. I remember him doing an interview a while back stating this as the main reason

 

[Micklebot]

A few years ago he said it was just because of the direction the franchise was going and it not being a good spot to develop, now its because we didn't want to pay/play him right after being drafted like other 1st OA so we traded him to another team that didn't play him for a year?

Whatever, i think playing another year in junior was best for him and the team he eventually played for...

Not sure how the team saved money by not playing him in year one, back then contracts were pretty different from what i understand

 

[BoardsofCanada]

A few years ago he said it was just because of the direction the franchise was going and it not being a good spot to develop, now its because we didn't want to pay/play him right after being drafted like other 1st OA so we traded him to another team that didn't play him for a year?

Whatever, i think playing another year in junior was best for him and the team he eventually played for...

Not sure how the team saved money by not playing him in year one, back then contracts were pretty different from what i understand

This is what I remember as well. I listened to an interview (I think it was on you tube) and he said he didn't want to play for a last place team that was spinning its wheels. The trade worked out great for the Sens and they became a top team a few years later.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

I'm curious about the law around preventing the government from handing out free tickets. Is this a permanent thing that cannot be reversed?

 

[IranCondraAffair]

I'm curious about the law around preventing the government from handing out free tickets. Is this a permanent thing that cannot be reversed?

I'm pretty sure the law is actually to prevent private industry giving tickets to government workers to prevent bribery. Obviously a suitcase full of cash is a bribe, but what about an invitation to sit in a luxury box?


Unfortunately the law can be interpreted so that the Senators can't even give tickets to like...95% of Ottawa's adults.

 

[IranCondraAffair]

"...also on Wednesday, another former Gosselin ad executive testified she saw no problem in entertaining public officials in a private box at the Corel Centre in Ottawa.
Wendy Cumming, who worked as a vice-president for Gosselin from 1997 to 2000, testified that her company entertained Guité and his family, as well as cabinet ministers and public officials.
This provoked a sharp rebuke from Gomery, who asked Cumming repeatedly if this was a conflict of interest....
"There are special rules dealing with public servants ... you're not supposed to bribe a public servant," the judge told her.
Cumming described those encounters as "relationship-building," and said there was no link between the entertainment and the federal contracts that netted her former firm more than $14 million.
She said she never discussed sponsorship contracts with Guité.
The inquiry also heard that Gosselin Communications was charging commission fees of 25 per cent for securing sponsorship money for the Canadian Tourism Association. The firm would then charge the government another 12 per cent fee if it managed the sponsorship project..."

Sigh...

 

[robsenz]

He was probably looking at the type of money Daigle had thrown at him as a comparable...I wouldn't be surprised if his expectation was completely unreasonable

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Here's the link............

Bryan Berard explains why he asked the Senators to trade him - Sportsnet.ca


Berard attended Sens training camp but the team decided to send him back to junior, which didn’t sit well with the blueliner, so he requested a trade.

“For me, it was a little bit of an ego thing,” Berard said Tuesday during an appearance on Hockey Central. “I wanted to play as an 18-year-old. I thought I was pretty much ready to play as an 18-year-old. We went into Ottawa’s camp and I had a pretty good camp.

“It really wasn’t anything against Ottawa or its fans, the organization was just in tough shape then.”

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

I'm pretty sure the law is actually to prevent private industry giving tickets to government workers to prevent bribery. Obviously a suitcase full of cash is a bribe, but what about an invitation to sit in a luxury box?


Unfortunately the law can be interpreted so that the Senators can't even give tickets to like...95% of Ottawa's adults.

Ahh I see thanks.

 

[guyzeur]

I'm pretty sure the law is actually to prevent private industry giving tickets to government workers to prevent bribery. Obviously a suitcase full of cash is a bribe, but what about an invitation to sit in a luxury box?


Unfortunately the law can be interpreted so that the Senators can't even give tickets to like...95% of Ottawa's adults.

You're totally off the track, Federal employees are just not supposed to have fun.

 

[Tuna99]

That game were Hossa hit his eye, so terrible. Berard was fun to watch Pre injury. Overall I think Redden was a better dman

 

[bert]

Fiasco or circus? cause I'm pretty sure the trade for Redden was a good thing for the Sens.

Was a brutal trade actually, they essentially traded Berard and Straka for Redden and Rhodes. Berard never gets hurt he is a way better player than Redden. Chances of that freak accident happening considering he would be playing with the sens are very slim.

 

[guyzeur]

And Redden was injured as well. Berard had more offensive flash but he wasn't really good defensively.

 

[DrSense]

It was par for the course back then and nothing to do with Berard. Phillips and his camp walked out of training camp over contract negotiations before he ever played a game. Yashin had numerous run ins with management over failed promises. Daigle's deal was a bad one, and Sexton basically got gun shy about ever paying anyone market value again. And this was back in the day before rookie cap, and Sexton had already messed up the market values with what he paid Daigle.

Redden was terrific and that trade worked out, but Berard was more talented. If not for a slew of injuries, he would have been the better player IMO, but it worked out fine. But he would have really brought a dynamic to our team in the late 90's and early 2000's that we needed. We needed an elite puck rusher to compliment what Chara, Volchenkov and Phillips brought to the table. Redden was a great puck mover, but we never had an elite skating d-man back then.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Who else refused to play for Ottawa/ requested a trade? Other than Berard, Yashin, Heatley and Tim Gleason

 

[LeProspector]

Who else refused to play for Ottawa/ requested a trade? Other than Berard, Yashin, Heatley and Tim Gleason

Didn’t Spezza request a trade?

 

[Sensung]

Who else refused to play for Ottawa/ requested a trade? Other than Berard, Yashin, Heatley and Tim Gleason

Craig Anderson.

 

[jbeck5]

"...also on Wednesday, another former Gosselin ad executive testified she saw no problem in entertaining public officials in a private box at the Corel Centre in Ottawa.
Wendy Cumming, who worked as a vice-president for Gosselin from 1997 to 2000, testified that her company entertained Guité and his family, as well as cabinet ministers and public officials.
This provoked a sharp rebuke from Gomery, who asked Cumming repeatedly if this was a conflict of interest....
"There are special rules dealing with public servants ... you're not supposed to bribe a public servant," the judge told her.
Cumming described those encounters as "relationship-building," and said there was no link between the entertainment and the federal contracts that netted her former firm more than $14 million.
She said she never discussed sponsorship contracts with Guité.
The inquiry also heard that Gosselin Communications was charging commission fees of 25 per cent for securing sponsorship money for the Canadian Tourism Association. The firm would then charge the government another 12 per cent fee if it managed the sponsorship project..."

Sigh...

Lmao my mom worked for Gosselin and I know all these people met him.met Wendy. Went to his cottage. I was a kid but I remember all these names. My mom was told to sign papers in the mean time for Gosselin's wife and was being investigated. She was just an admin/secretary.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Craig Anderson.

I dont really count that one because it came at the height of the sh*t show. It was like “Ya Craig we know you all don’t wanna be here but sorry we’re not taking trade requests at this time”

 

[Sensung]

I dont really count that one because it came at the height of the sh*t show. It was like “Ya Craig we know you all don’t wanna be here but sorry we’re not taking trade requests at this time”

Craig Anderson asked for a trade.

Too bad we didn't accommodate that request.