News Article: Karlsson and Dorion/Melnyk didn't talk after November

[Acidrain66]

I have an EK bias? lol...

Go read your own posts

 

[Acidrain66]

Absolutely! Along with the rest of the team. They gave up nothing major off the roster and added EK!

Lol they filled the team with scrubs and the season hasnt started yet, let's see those smiles after 10 games..

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

It's easier to pick on ownership and management because we have proof in direct quote after quote after quote of them contradicting themselves and lying. They only have themselves to blame for the backlash.

With this Karlsson smear campaign it's nothing but assumptions based on quotes that could mean many different things or hearsay.

Karlsson was the best player on this team by a huge margin and maybe the best player we ever see put on a Sens jersey, so any dislike within the room likely comes more from a place of jealousy than anything. Natural talent quite often breeds jealousy from those that have to pour everything they have in to their training just to be average.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

First it was Melnyk vs Alfie, then Melnyk vs Turris, and now Melnyk vs Karlsson. But yeah let's keep blaming the players (Heatley doesn't count).

Man I’m struggling to see a constant here.

It must be those 200 empty seats in the ECF.

 

[BatherSeason]

Jumbo Joe and Burns won't let that happen,

Because you know for a fact that these guys are supreme leaders. The amount of cups they have won should be a clear indication that the are both great leaders, also the fact that Thornton had his captaincy removed is another sign of how fantastic of a leader he is. How many cup finals have they been to??

Who knows, maybe they are fantastic leader?? Maybe EK was brought over there to bring in some leadership? Ever wonder that?

Aren't you from Montreal?? How do you have such a good read of the fanbase from so far away??

 

[coladin]

Ask Coladin, Ice tray, the count, JD1..you get the picture

For what, exactly? Blaming them for not winning, showing up, being pros? Yes.

What else is there ?

 

[coladin]

Man I’m struggling to see a constant here.

It must be those 200 empty seats in the ECF.

They had 20,500 4 months earlier so...more than 200. Lot more

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I think they forgot to mention signs with the Leafs in the off season

 

[swiftwin]

Matt Duchene on Karlsson (before the trade):

"Those are the things I want to sit back and watch," Duchene said. "The nice thing is is I'm kind of the last domino in that sense. Those are things I want to see.
"Erik, that's a little bit different situation, but with [Mark], that's a guy I'd love to move forward with as a teammate. Him doing a one-year deal, it's a little bit different and makes you think a little bit, but I want to see what he's saying and we'll talk through it. Having talked about it, we both really like it in Ottawa and we both want it to work, so that's the biggest thing."

Matt Duchene on Smith (going on waivers):

“I’ll be honest, it’s a kick in the balls for us." "It’s tough because we love Smitty. He is a great leader, he is a great player. Unfortunately, I guess, sometimes in this business, things happen that are sometimes beyond hockey reasons and things like that. It’s tough right now, we are hurting.”

Losing Karlsson is no biggie, but losing Smith is a kick in the balls. But hey, Duchene is just Melnyk's lapdog, right?

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Matt Duchene on Karlsson (before the trade):
Matt Duchene on Smith (going on waivers):
But hey, Duchene is just Melnyk's lapdog, right?

Have you heard of these? I can give you a quick lesson on how you can make use of them if you like.

 

[BatherSeason]

Matt Duchene on Karlsson (before the trade):


Matt Duchene on Smith (going on waivers):


Losing Karlsson is no biggie, but losing Smith is a kick in the balls. But hey, Duchene is just Melnyk's lapdog, right?

Lol, anything that fits the anti-Karlsson narrative.

Maybe the Smith on waivers situation was the final straw. You know, after the goaltender's trade request, the Ass GM fondling a young man, the fact that the front office is non-existant, the fact that he has yet to receive a contract offer.....you know the snowball effect? Ever think that way?

 

[swiftwin]

Lol, anything that fits the anti-Karlsson narrative.

Maybe the Smith on waivers situation was the final straw. You know, after the goaltender's trade request, the Ass GM fondling a young man, the fact that the front office is non-existant, the fact that he has yet to receive a contract offer.....you know the snowball effect? Ever think that way?

You mean the goaltender who, according to Mendez, said he's the happiest he's ever been here a few days ago? Edit: and the same goaltender who said he's "too old for drama" last summer?

I'm not pushing a narrative. I'm merely posting quotes. Make of it what you will.

 

[Acidrain66]

For what, exactly? Blaming them for not winning, showing up, being pros? Yes.

What else is there ?

What about management being cheap and hiring cheap staff and not going after ufa's that could fix the teams needs. Instead they look in their backyard dumpsters to fill the voids.

 

[Cat Herder]

I want to set the record straight regarding my earlier post.

I am not ANTI Karlsson.. He seems like a nice guy and a great hockey player.. I am just wondering how good of a leader/team mate he is.... he is probably liked in the room, but I get the feeling people would not fall on their swords for him (Alfredsson they would have).

That is not a bash on Karlsson, I am just saying in hindsight, he was probably not an awesome choice for captain.

The room was said to be clique like when Emery, Heatley and Spezza were here as well. Alfredsson seemed to rise above that. I get the impression Karlsson was involved in the cliques. (again just my impression)

Regardless, I would rather have him on the team than traded away

And no I dont give Management a pass, the whole scenario is messed up .. Melnyk should be forced to sell by the league.

As for Dorion, hard to say if he is a good GM or nor, after all he has not had the opportunity to operate as one withour Melnyk controlling every move (or so it seems)

 

[Ice-Tray]

I want to set the record straight regarding my earlier post.

I am not ANTI Karlsson.. He seems like a nice guy and a great hockey player.. I am just wondering how good of a leader/team mate he is.... he is probably liked in the room, but I get the feeling people would not fall on their swords for him (Alfredsson they would have).

That is not a bash on Karlsson, I am just saying in hindsight, he was probably not an awesome choice for captain.

The room was said to be clique like when Emery, Heatley and Spezza were here as well. Alfredsson seemed to rise above that. I get the impression Karlsson was involved in the cliques. (again just my impression)

Regardless, I would rather have him on the team than traded away

And no I dont give Management a pass, the whole scenario is messed up .. Melnyk should be forced to sell by the league.

As for Dorion, hard to say if he is a good GM or nor, after all he has not had the opportunity to operate as one withour Melnyk controlling every move (or so it seems)

Pretty much what I've been saying, but it will be attacked as a smear campaign by the usual suspects. Some folks just don't want to see their heroes as humans.

 

[swiftwin]

Pretty much what I've been saying, but it will be attacked as a smear campaign by the usual suspects. Some folks just don't want to see their heroes as humans.

I find people around here struggle with being pragmatic. Everything always has to be black and white, one extreme or the other. There's never any middle ground.

 

[Flamingo]

How many other posters are being paid?

I don’t care if it’s #MelnykOut or pro-team, I’m on board.

 

[coladin]

What about management being cheap and hiring cheap staff and not going after ufa's that could fix the teams needs. Instead they look in their backyard dumpsters to fill the voids.

I like our prospects. And they need to play. Did you want Tavares instead?

 

[coladin]

I find people around here struggle with being pragmatic. Everything always has to be black and white, one extreme or the other. There's never any middle ground.

Extremists. Ugly around here. No one is happy, but others take it to a whole other level.

 

[NorthCoast]

Pretty much what I've been saying, but it will be attacked as a smear campaign by the usual suspects. Some folks just don't want to see their heroes as humans.

Both sides can take it too far. What are we really talking about here? Could the sens have won the stanley cup with EK as captain. Hard to make a concrete argument against that. They were one goal away and had cap space to spare. Move the roster to a market that could afford another 7 million dollar player and maybe they win the cup. So it's very plausible that a team with EK as captain could win a cup.

I think a lot of what is being described as "leadership" in this thread is actually professionalism.

EK loves Ottawa. Played his heart out on a bum ankle to help lead the team on a deep playoff run. Goes into the season believing that they are tweaking to take another run and he will be a part of that as the captain for the long-term. A few months later everything goes sideways and now the direction is a rebuild without him. (Whether true at the time or his personal perception doesn't really matter). He was bu.tt.hurt over it and it no doubt led to him going through the motions for the rest of the year...including leadership responsibilities. Why fix a room he is about to be leaving?

Is it professional or mature? No. But I don't really blame him much for that. I blame management for creating the situation where they potentially devalued an elite asset by causing a rift with the player half a season before trying to trade him.

 

[Acidrain66]

I like our prospects. And they need to play. Did you want Tavares instead?

Lol what do you think?? Do Taveres grow on trees? So I'm pretty sure you know my answers.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

 

[MiscBrah]

Here look at this quote I found from Drew Doughty on EK:

"He's a phenomenal player. Some of the things that he does on the ice leaves me speechless. I look at him and I try to do what he does, but I just can't do it. He's an incredible player and from what I've noticed from speaking to him he seems like a great guy as well."

This has nothing to do with whether or not EK was a POS or the most amazing person to ever enter a locker room. This has to do with the Ottawa narrative that must be created to make every player who they force out the door the bad guy just because they are too cheap to pony up the cash.

 

[branch]

Karlsson BAD Melnyk GOOD

 

[DaveMatthew]

The idea that this team or organization is better off with Karlsson, or that he was a bad captain, is laughable. How quickly people forget that he played through significant injuries to lead this team to the ECF a little over a year ago. Meanwhile, "meant-to-be-captain" Mark Stone had 8 points in 19 playoff games that same year...

The terrible season last year had a lot more to do with Karlsson coming back from major surgery, our coach refusing to adapt his system, Oduya replacing Methot, Anderson/Condon imitating swiss cheese, and our "put-us-over-the-top" new number one center Matt Duchene scoring 2 goals in his first 23 games here than it did with leadership or locker room morale.

Dorion putting the blame on that is nothing more than him trying to distract from the fact the he completely mis-evaluated the roster and made personnel terrible decisions, and some fans/media (cough Steve Warne) eat that up.

We can talk all we want about hard work and leadership as we want, but guess who else works hard and has leaders? Tampa, Toronto, Boston, Nashville, San Jose, etc. The shitty new for this team? They also have talent.

PS. I'm a big fan of both Duchene and Stone even though I used their struggles to illustrate my point.