jbeck5
Registered User
- Jan 26, 2009
- 16,315
- 3,300
Confirmed with Link: Chris Neil Extended 1 year 1.5 Million
- Thread starter Super Cake
- Start date
Maybe it's an older person attitude, but I celebrate when I see someone rewarded for their dedication and loyalty, or maybe it's the military's effect on me. But, I mean, it's really nice to see that there are some people in management and ownership that value these things in an age and society where people are just replaceable throw-aways.
For some crazy reason we tend to be OK with people being tossed away the moment it appears as though they have seen better days. Oddly enough, this is not an attitude that ANY of us would want to see happen to ourselves or anyone we care for in their workplace, and yet we tend to race to the bottom by attacking each other rather than those you support a system that treats workers like replaceable parts.
We should be supporting each others' successes, and being happy for a workplace that has compassion and loyalty to the workers. We should recognize that our personal desires for a sports team to win, should never become more important to us that the treatment of our fellow people. Not after a moment of thought.
So often we allow how much a person makes to be an excuse for how some people are allowed to be treated, or how we feel we are entitled to treat people, as though people deserve less compassion and humanity because they have more money than we do. We plugs that keep the machine going focus our disdain on the wealthier workers, rather than on those that hoard the wealth to begin with. Keeps us focused on the moot, keeps us raging on each other, while the power group gets smaller and more consolidated.
We don't get more because we don't fight for it, don't focus on it, and don't deserve it. We seem to enjoy watching people fail so much more than people succeeding, like their failures validate our own; misery loves company and all that.
Not so much of a surprise when our culture has moved away from areas of positive collaborative study such as philosophy (viewed as a joke study area in Uni) in favour of sciences, math, engineering, etc... Getting a job coming out of university, becoming a functioning member of the workforce, is no different now than it was in the industrialization era. What we need is a focus on critical thought and debate, celebrate the growth of the human spirit, of right and wrong, morals and ethics. We need a new period of enlightenment, but it's next to impossible when the areas that lead to the development of such thinking have been methodically crushed from elementary school to university.
We should never be OK we saying so much of what gets said in here, and I'm no bleeding heart. This board is sometimes the most brutal and harsh environment, where devoid of accountability so many of us get truly nasty, and for many it's constant.
Why is that?
Chris Neil has worked hard every minute of his 15 or so years with this team and deserves a retirement with the single team he has played and bled for. Some of you behave as though he has loafed for 1000 games, when the reality is that he has throttled the league for every single one of those games. When it seemed the leagued was passing him by he hit the gym hard over the summer to lose weight and gain speed, making him relevant again as a fourth line winger. This is a man who works hard to keep his job, never once being able to relax and rely on skill or draft position. So he gets a one year deal to get his 1000th game in, and people here are upset at this? As though the replacement fourth line winger is going to make a difference? As though the players in the room have nothing to gain by playing with a 4th line grinder who has managed to stay in the league for 1000 games? I mean Phaneuf credits Brian Marchment for crying out loud, as being one of the main influences on why he was able to become a steady professional in the league.
As a bonus, these kids need to play with role models (maybe Yak/Drouin would be better young professional players for example), and there is much to be gained from Neil for our young pros looking to become professionals in this league, AND he can still take a solid regular shift. There is a difference between role models that have retired and work with the team, and a few legends still playing; let's let our kids hove both while we can.
Hahaha, so there's that...
For some crazy reason we tend to be OK with people being tossed away the moment it appears as though they have seen better days. Oddly enough, this is not an attitude that ANY of us would want to see happen to ourselves or anyone we care for in their workplace, and yet we tend to race to the bottom by attacking each other rather than those you support a system that treats workers like replaceable parts.
We should be supporting each others' successes, and being happy for a workplace that has compassion and loyalty to the workers. We should recognize that our personal desires for a sports team to win, should never become more important to us that the treatment of our fellow people. Not after a moment of thought.
So often we allow how much a person makes to be an excuse for how some people are allowed to be treated, or how we feel we are entitled to treat people, as though people deserve less compassion and humanity because they have more money than we do. We plugs that keep the machine going focus our disdain on the wealthier workers, rather than on those that hoard the wealth to begin with. Keeps us focused on the moot, keeps us raging on each other, while the power group gets smaller and more consolidated.
We don't get more because we don't fight for it, don't focus on it, and don't deserve it. We seem to enjoy watching people fail so much more than people succeeding, like their failures validate our own; misery loves company and all that.
Not so much of a surprise when our culture has moved away from areas of positive collaborative study such as philosophy (viewed as a joke study area in Uni) in favour of sciences, math, engineering, etc... Getting a job coming out of university, becoming a functioning member of the workforce, is no different now than it was in the industrialization era. What we need is a focus on critical thought and debate, celebrate the growth of the human spirit, of right and wrong, morals and ethics. We need a new period of enlightenment, but it's next to impossible when the areas that lead to the development of such thinking have been methodically crushed from elementary school to university.
We should never be OK we saying so much of what gets said in here, and I'm no bleeding heart. This board is sometimes the most brutal and harsh environment, where devoid of accountability so many of us get truly nasty, and for many it's constant.
Why is that?
Chris Neil has worked hard every minute of his 15 or so years with this team and deserves a retirement with the single team he has played and bled for. Some of you behave as though he has loafed for 1000 games, when the reality is that he has throttled the league for every single one of those games. When it seemed the leagued was passing him by he hit the gym hard over the summer to lose weight and gain speed, making him relevant again as a fourth line winger. This is a man who works hard to keep his job, never once being able to relax and rely on skill or draft position. So he gets a one year deal to get his 1000th game in, and people here are upset at this? As though the replacement fourth line winger is going to make a difference? As though the players in the room have nothing to gain by playing with a 4th line grinder who has managed to stay in the league for 1000 games? I mean Phaneuf credits Brian Marchment for crying out loud, as being one of the main influences on why he was able to become a steady professional in the league.
As a bonus, these kids need to play with role models (maybe Yak/Drouin would be better young professional players for example), and there is much to be gained from Neil for our young pros looking to become professionals in this league, AND he can still take a solid regular shift. There is a difference between role models that have retired and work with the team, and a few legends still playing; let's let our kids hove both while we can.
Hahaha, so there's that...
I liked Neil's game 5 years ago but not anymore. Yes, 1 year at $1.5 M is not going to sink the ship, as that sinking has already occurred. Keeping Neil for one more year to get 1000 games and retire a life-long Senator (maybe) is a good PR move, but not one that makes the team better. The GM needs to go. Now!
Yeah your right. The ship is sinking. This is like spotting multiple holes in the ship and being like "....meh whatever"
Of course the only reason I compared them to one another is precisely that they're career Senators, and that's why they've been given these extensions. If Phillips is not a career Senator, what's stopping Murray from trading him at the deadline a couple of years ago when the team was going nowhere? (especially since you have Phillips in such high consideration, imagine the fantastic return we'd get in such a trade!) If Murray and Phillips loved each other so much he could have always come back at the end of the season as a free agent.
It's the same thing with Neil. Since, in your own words, he's so insignificant, why is it so important to sign him when we possibly have plenty of other players who could play those same few minutes, likely better?
In both cases, as you said it's because they're career Senators. This matters most because we have to make up for failing to enshrine Alf as a career Senator and we can't let that happen again so soon after.
But it's ok, I don't mind having my ideas called stupid.
The point, and the answer to the rest of your questions is that the bolded part here is just not true.
You have to understand that the way you feel about Neil is not popular opinion. You may not like it, and you may not appreciate him, and for sure you are welcome to your opinions, but there really is no reason for you to be mystified.
If you consider that the owner, the GM, the coach, and the players on the team all love the guy, it starts to make sense why he is still here, and why it's important to the team as a whole to celebrate his 1000 games. If you start to consider the situation not as an extension of how you feel, or that it's in any way about you, it all starts to make sense.
Neil on the team matters to the owner, the GM, the coach, and the players, let that sink in for a second while pushing away your own feelings. THAT is why he is here, not for you, not for anyone else on here. They all see value in him being on the team, for his on and off ice presence. That should be all you need to know to answer your questions. Whether you agree or not is your personal opinion, and is inconsequential in terms of the reasons why.
The second part is that though there is a vocal minority on here who complain about virtually everything, and some who use Neil as the whipping boy, the bulk of the sens fanbase love Neil. As an example, in Vancouver, his jersey was all over the place. The reality is that most fans don't nitpick the team, they enjoy watching, and allow themselves to get caught up in the dram and storylines of the team, not get bogged down in analytic and minutia.
In my opinion you're missing the forest for the trees, all the stats in the world don't matter when staring at them drains the game of it's enjoyment. Neil means something more than numbers to the team and it's fan base, trying to minimize it just shows how far out of touch you've become to the beating heart of the team. If cold hard advanced stats is a replacement for that, good for you, but you should try not to lose tough with the other side, at least so that you aren't mystified by many actions of the team.
He needs go, but after the Phaneuf trade though right? That move bought him a day or so's reprieve.
Signing Neil to a cheap 1 year deal, now THAT is the last straw, this man has done nothing in the last 3 days to make this club better!!!!
Sorry for the cheap tease, but your post reads ridiculous.
Alex The Loyal
Andlauer Appreciator
InTkachukWeTrust
Registered User
- Nov 10, 2013
- 1,810
- 736
I think some ppl are ovet reacting. Neil serves his purpose on the 4th line. Also has intangibles like making rookies work hard in practice, leadership in the dressing room and the odd goal. Not happy or mad about his signing just whatever
Those are all terrible reasons for keeping him. What does his leadership do? Does it help us win. He's been better this year than the last 4 years. That's the only reason to keep.
playasRus
Registered User
- Mar 21, 2009
- 9,284
- 2,015
For what it's worth, Alfie IS 6-7 years older than both Phillips and Neil and can't complain about when we let Redden go. Even letting Spezza go seems to have been the right move looking back now.
Chara though
and add guys still productive like Fisher, Vermette and Foligno
WadeRedden
Registered User
- Feb 24, 2016
- 846
- 257
Why does being a "career Senator" even matter? Is Alfredsson any less a Senator because he played a season with the Wings? Is Brodeur any less a Devil because he finished his career with the Blues? Is Michael Jordan not a Bull because he played for the Wizards? Guys switch teams all the time in pro sports. That's just the nature of the business, and it's not a big deal.
I'm actually shocked at how many people in here are saying things like "Oh, he's been a good soldier. Super loyal. He earned a retirement contract." Like, wtf is a retirement contract? The guy has been making millions of dollars for years now; he doesn't need or deserve some sort of charity parting gift. The thing that worries me is that this whole "legacy contract" thing seems to be becoming a regular custom for this club, and there's no question it hinders our ability to be more competitive on the ice. When you're a team like Ottawa that's working with a relatively small budget you just can't waste precious resources on overrated PR schit.
Uchiha
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- Jun 14, 2014
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SilverSeven
Registered User
Dirt cheap, short contract, and a 4th line role. Sounds perfect to me. Teams like the Oilers show how important it is to have leaders around youth.
SilverSeven
Registered User
So what...having Neil on the 4th line instead of McCormick is keeping us from a Cup?
Uchiha
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- Jun 14, 2014
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WadeRedden
Registered User
- Feb 24, 2016
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Do you really think we're short on vets? Methot, MacArthur, Phaneuf, Ryan, Anderson, Turris etc. We have plenty of guys with experience in the room.
Meh, whatever. What's done is done.
SilverSeven
Registered User
How many of those guys have played in a Stanley Cup Final? Hell, how many playoff series wins between them?
Sens of Anarchy
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- Jul 9, 2013
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Nac Mac Feegle
wee & free
- Jun 10, 2011
- 34,914
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Agreed.
When I think of specifically bringing in a veteran to help guide and mentor a young team, I think of the last few seasons teams have had with the likes of Selanne, Jagr, Yzerman, Ray Bourque, Messier, Brodeur, Lindstrom, etc...
Guys who are legends. Guys who are fitness fanatics. Guy that kids grow up wanting to emulate.
I'm not typing this to bash Neil. He did a hard job for us and has been a loyal soldier. And yes, veterans definitely are needed. Neil simply isn't the type of player I would gift a retirement contract.
**Funny enough, I don't really mind the Phillips retirement deal. His main problem was being over-played. But Big Rig was a monster for us on the top pairing for many years. He had the pedigree to teach some of our kids.
WadeRedden
Registered User
- Feb 24, 2016
- 846
- 257
Honestly, I hope McCormick never sees another minute in the NHL. He's painfully average to bad in every department and is too small to be an effective enforcer. When Darnell Nurse beat the **** out of him I just though "man, this guy is going to play like 70 games in the NHL and take 30 beatdowns in the process." I don't think the million bucks he'll make over his career will be worth the stage IV CTE.
Only Neil. That was almost ten years ago, though. Since then, guys like Turris, Methot and Karlsson have led this team to the playoffs and even beat the goddamn Montreal Canadiens in a playoff series. Phaneuf has like 800+ games of NHL experience. Plenty of maturity in that room without Neil.
He was top pairing by default. Mainly due to Chara leaving and Redden's game starting to drop off a cliff in 2006-07. Played well in that role for, what, a couple of seasons? 3 if we're being generous? So only 1 year of him being a top pairing guy where the team actually accomplished something worthwhile.
He was legitimately good, but was always better suited to being a #3 guy.
DylanSensFan
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