Though I have not followed them closely, arguably the greatest franchise in hockey, Les Canadiens de Montreal, are having a horrible season. Yet even worse, the once proud and distinguished franchise has now completed the trifecta of chintzy, petty, dishonorable, bordering on unprofessional off-ice tactics.
First, assistant coach Perry Pearn was relieved of his duties hours before a game. Not on an off day, when there were a couple in between games, but on the day of a game. Then, head coach Jacques Martin was fired just before a game-day skate. Again, not after a game so the team had a couple days to get used to their new coach and adjust to the news. Not in between games. Just before the morning skate on a game-day. Ouch!
Now, they have traded Mike Cammalleri in the middle of a game, pulling him off the ice after the second period to inform him he had been traded to Calgary (who had just started their game two time zones away. Admittedly, Calgary is not totally innocent in this deal either, though generally they have been a pretty classy organization recently. See Proud of the Calgary Flames team and Ken King's Leadership Example). What makes the off-ice details surrounding the Cammalleri trade seem even more petty is the fact it happened 24 hours after the player spouted off about Les Canadiens. GM Pierre Gauther says the deal has been in the works since early December, which may be true but Cammalleri's outburst clearly triggered the deal being done, and completing the deal in the middle of a game just makes it look like "you embarass us, we'll embarass you worse!" Except of course, that it just makes Montreal look more foolish. Cammalleri is laughing all the way to Calgary!
Even if you are having a hockey season from H-E-double hockey sticks, you can still do things in a professional, classy way.
No comments:
Post a Comment