It's about time. Feels good to prematurely panic again.
We’re talking about a kid who has, for several months, so badly wanted to atone for what he did (or really didn’t do) last season that he’s twisting himself in knots. I can see it in practice. I can see it in games.
Murray didn’t suddenly forget how to do his job. He’s pressing, trying to get 40 wins by November.
@ColePens it was mostly a joke, but if MM is putting so much pressure on himself that it is affecting his game perhaps he should go see someone.
There are no usable UFA goalies to sign. (Mason still hurt? Lehtonen sign for pennies vs retire/Euro leagues? Maguire, Leighton, O'Connor...yeah...great...)
The Pens were supposed to use limited assets for LW/D upgrades.
We'll see if that plan has to change to backup goalie upgrades.
Plus the fact that by all accounts his dad was his rock throughout his career. Who knows. I don't think it's a stretch to say that probably more players in general could benefit from a sports psychologist (or regular therapist).
We have a family friend that is a sports psychologist and more athletes than people think use them, but as he said, it’s obviously kept private.
It's too bad that there's still such a stigma around mental health that people feel the need to hide that stuff. Can only imagine it makes it worse in a sense. Obviously people aren't obligated to share anything from their private lives they prefer not to (I was also naïve in the sense that they made such a big deal whenever the announced Flower doing it, I assumed it was so rare for big-time professional athletes to use them, though some of that was probably just for optics).
Of course, for all the strides made, it'll take twice as long when it comes to sports, athletes, and the "toughness" culture.
I always think of the whole Sopranos theme, how Tony knew he would get whacked if anyone found out he was seeing a shrink.
Personally I just worked through things on my own even though many people who care about me encouraged me to see a professional when my mom died. My dad went the opposite way and joined a grieving group and saw a professional, and he told me it helped him a great deal.
Each individual has to grieve in their own way, and I keep telling people who seek my advice when they lose a parent like I did, that there is no timetable on the process.
My cousin just lost his wife to cancer, and his idiot brother told him it was time to get over it like two months later. Meanwhile when their father died, his brother absolutely lost it at the funeral from his grief. So you would think uh... he’d understand...
Just how many people are... clueless.
Sorry for your loss, especially at that age. Everyone handles grief in their own way. All too often its easy for us to want to "robot-ize" these guys because there is such a wide disconnect between what we see on the ice and the realization that these are humans with families and emotions as well.
To be frank, Im surprised he came back as quickly as he did at the time. I mean, some people like to go back to work to help not focus on the loss as a coping mechanism but still...I cant imagine how difficult that must have been.
I have faith he will round into form though. Until then we have Jarry and Desmith. At the end of the day, the issues we currently have go beyond the goaltending...
I'm certainly not blaming JR for not going after a vet back up, just saying for me personally, I don't think all that much of DeSmith. I see Jarry as the real future back up / 1B goalie, so keeping him in the AHL makes sense and then giving Murray a vet back up would have been reasonable. Based on Mackey's 20 thoughts, it sounds like Murray is going through some mental and emotional challenges after a tough year and having a guy that's been through ups and downs for a decade+ in the NHL could have potentially helped.
Cool, but where's Guentzel?