Grossly unprofessional? Says you.
Let some pinhead like Tambellini **** with your livelihood and see what kind of professional smile you manage to paste on.
Nothing that Souray said was even that outrageous. Here are the relevant quotes.
“I got challenged by management on the very first day of my first training camp. The very first day. I wasn’t even ready to play when I came here, but it was like, ‘We signed you, you go out and play.’ “I go out, play six games, and I get hurt.â€
“I’ve had the experience of playing in great organizations (in New Jersey and Montreal), and experienced a vastly different approach to things like that. I never had my character questioned there. I feel that’s all I’ve had since I’ve been here.
“You talk about Prongs (Chris Pronger) and guys like that, and it should raise an eyebrow when players who leave town are skipping out with a smile on their face.â€
“It’s not a players thing, it’s not a fans thing or a city thing,†the disgruntled defenceman told SportsNet in upping the trade request to a full-fledged demand. “It’s a management thing. They’ve given up on me, and it’s a two-way street.â€
Not to mention that Souray was willing to attend camp as required under is professional obligations, and gave indications that he was willing to let bygones be bygones.
"It was all smiles today as Sheldon Souray left the ice after skating at Rexall Place. It looked like Souray and the Oilers made up, and Souray was going to be a part of this team. He said he was looking forward to training camp, and said how things he said were five moths ago. He sounded like he really was sorry, and that he was willing to come back this season and help the young Oilers.
Then news came from the Oilers' rookie tourney in BC, Sheldon Souray will not be at Oilers camp when it opens. Steve Tambellini even called the media around for a little statement about the whole thing. According to Tambellini, Souray's agent was told last week that Souray was not invited to Oilers training camp, and that he was to wait for word from the Oilers on what to do next."
When asked if there were any overtures Souray could make to get back in the Oilers' good graces, Tambellini replied: "No, we're sticking with our plan."
That arrogant little worm. Pretending that he had even a semblance of a plan ... it still makes my stomach turn when I think that smarmy creep (and his equally creepy boss) paid millions to avoid having one of the best players on the team suit up. Its like a sailor shooting holes in his own boat. And the fans lapped it up. Some apparently still do.
Cause he got injured. And unless you want to call him a liar, he felt pressured to play before he was ready and his injury became worse as a result. Interesting how you conveniently say he sucked for two years but neglect to mention that the middle year he was a beast and pretty much the only guy on the team worth the price of admission.
Cause the Oilers overpaid him. Then waived him at inconvenient times. Souray was signed (by Dallas, a team vastly superior to the Oilers) on the first ****ing day he was available to sign. And after that he had no problem getting another deal with the Ducks (an even better team). So the little fable that Souray wasn't wanted shouldn't be repeated again.
No team wanted to step into the little drama the Oilers had going on. They were probably horrified at Tamby's behavior and didn't want to get involved. Not to mention they could see that Souray was done in Edmonton, so why help out Tamby or the Oilers when you know damn well they are going to buy this player out and you can get him for nothing next season?
Oh, there it is, belated and grudging acknowledgement that he was awesome that one year. Yeah and he could have been awesome for two or three more years if we'd had a management group even approaching the levels of professional competence generally expected.
And as for revisionist history, the only revising I see is a lot of people admitting that they were dead wrong about Souray. And good on them for stepping forward to say so.
