On TSN 1050 this morning Darren Dreger was talking about the Evander Kane situation and whether or not he was a fit in Toronto. He said there is interest however if Kane cannot handle his situation in Winnepeg how would he be in a city like Toronto. He then dove into how we “the media†has to also shoulder some of the blame. By no means was he going to apologize ; however went on to explain that when things are great in Toronto there is probably not a player in the league that wouldn’t want to play on the leafs, but when things are bad the media turns every situation into a circus. He used LA as an example, they are floundering and just put Mike Richards on waivers yet it’s almost a non story now. He said it’s the medias job to be critical when the leafs are bad however it makes a GM’s job very difficult. Players see what happens here and have options to sign with other teams, and are able to put Toronto on their “No Trade†list.
Long story long, it was somewhat refreshing to hear Dreger be this honest. It’s a sentiment that I have believed since my early days as a leaf fan. We leaf fans have such highs and lows. When we are in the playoff picture, we are contending for the cup and when we’re not blow it up. It’s our right to be like this, however its partially fueled by media. The media try their best to alter our perception of the team to get us to read/listen. I know a lot of people have somewhat shut out Dreger because he hasn’t called an actual trade in quite some time. Kind of just throws dirt at a wall and hopes it stick. However his actual hockey opinion usually is spot on and relatively level headed. All I ask is that fans ignore the “guerilla warfare†media (for lack of a better word) like “Steve Simmonsâ€, “Bruce Arthurâ€, â€Damien Cox†“James myrtleâ€, “Dave feschuk†and listen to people with actual hockey knowledge. One thing in common with all of the guys I mentioned, is that they work for the newspapers. They write daily columns and need to do what they can to get people to read. This is why their opinions are so jaded and farfetched. They are the same when they are writing about the NFL, the Jays, the Raptors, the Argo’s etc. It baffles my mind that anyone would take their opinion when they have no direct attachment to the sport. At the end of the day, we are all still going to be leaf fans and at the end of the day we all want this team to succeed. Lets not let the media get the best of us.
Rant over.
