Mike Babcock and now Bill Peters death watch

[dash]

Re: Peters punching & kicking players.

In one way, it's surprising that a guy with Brind'Amour's stature in the league wouldn't go to management and report this incident. Or maybe he did and nothing happened (we will likely never know). I guess if any good can come out of this, it's that hopefully players will stand up for each other and management/ownership will take these types of reported incidents seriously moving forward.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Now, where did I leave that can of worms...

Is Boychuk angling for a Fox News gig post hockey?

I think hes angling to be adopted by trump

 

[dash]

I'm surprised to learn Zach is only 30 years old - He needs a couple more goals in the NHL to match where he was drafted (#14 in the 2008 entry draft).

 

[BGDave]

I guess if any good can come out of this, it's that hopefully players will stand up for each other and management/ownership will take these types of reported incidents seriously moving forward.

Amen.

 

[dash]

Eric Francis is also reporting that Bill Peters will not be on the Flames charter out of Buffalo tonight...

 

[dash]

Eric Francis just said on tv that Bill Peters has left the team (i.e. is no longer in Buffalo) - He hasn't been fired/dismissed, but it's certainly a fait accompli.

 

[esls79]

Eric Francis just said on tv that Bill Peters has left the team (i.e. is no longer in Buffalo) - He hasn't been fired/dismissed, but it's certainly a fait accompli.

Word to the wise - watch out for those cabbies in Buffalo

/I hear they play rap music

 

[dash]

I don't know, that's a pretty aggressive finger poke...

/Probably depends on what was said, but I'm leaning towards okay.
//After all, it's hockey, not backgammon

 

[dash]

This is not going to go away anytime soon (Bill Peters is done as head coach of the Flames, but the investigation is still gathering steam).

 

[puckhead]

yeah that letter was pretty weak lawyer-stuff
- said he apologized right after, contrary to what Akim stated
- said it was isolated incident, again contrary to reports
- said it wasn't directed at anyone, except (presumably) the only black person in the room
- didn't address kicking and punching players in Carolina

 

[puckhead]

Akim Aliu coming forward also reminds me what a POS Steve Downie was to him in junior hockey...

for those that don't remember:

In September 2005, senior players on the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires demanded 16-year-old Aliu and his fellow rookies strip naked and jam themselves into the washroom on the team bus — the legendary “hotbox.” Aliu refused. A couple of weeks later, at least partially in retribution, 18-year-old Steve Downie cross-checked Aliu in the face during practice, cutting him for 10 stitches and knocking out two teeth.

Aliu’s father threatened to pull him off the team. “Downie wants to kill my son,” he told the Windsor Star — not implausibly, given Downie’s temperament. Indeed, in a rational universe, Aliu would have just hopped on the next train back home to Toronto and asked his coach to find him another team. He was a highly touted prospect. Any organization that didn’t insist on jamming naked 16-year-olds together into bus washrooms would have been happy to have him.

Ah, but this country’s best 16-year-old hockey players can’t just play hockey where they want. That would be un-Canadian! The Spitfires “owned his rights,” as we say. It was Downie, not Aliu, who skipped town, claiming mistreatment. And eventually Windsor traded the exclusive rights to both players’ unpaid labour to other OHL teams. Whenever Aliu returned to Windsor with the Sudbury Wolves or the London Knights, Spitfires fans booed him every time he touched the puck. The little jerk had cost them Steve Downie.

Spitfires coach Moe Mantha, who was suspended for 40 games, currently coaches the equivalent of a Junior A team in Minnesota — a bit of a comedown. But Mantha’s assistant coach at the time, D.J. Smith, is now head coach of the Ottawa Senators. And his other assistant coach, Bill Bowler, is general manager and vice president of hockey operations for the Spitfires. Hopefully the OHL’s “zero tolerance for hazing” policy works better now than it did 14 years ago. Don’t bet on it.

Chris Selley: Mutiny long overdue in messed up world of hockey

 

[dash]

yeah that letter was pretty weak lawyer-stuff
- said he apologized right after, contrary to what Akim stated
- said it was isolated incident, again contrary to reports
- said it wasn't directed at anyone, except (presumably) the only black person in the room
- didn't address kicking and punching players in Carolina

Agree with all of the above puck and it's a tricky (complicated) situation due to the fact that these incidents happened when Bill Peters wasn't the head coach of the Calgary Flames. I think the Flames are working in conjunction with the NHL to determine all possible avenues forward. Aliu is going to meet with the league as is Bill Peters, but it is interesting to hear that the commissioner has far reaching powers under the NHL constitution to impose considerable punishment to Bill Peters.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Time to add Julien to the thread title.

 

[forty_three]

Time to add Julien to the thread title.

Are there similar allegations against him or is it just because the Habs suddenly can't punch their way out of a wet paper bag?

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Are there similar allegations against him or is it just because the Habs suddenly can't punch their way out of a wet paper bag?

The second thing, for now.

I suppose maybe this should just be a Coachgate thread and Julien deserves his own “le regarder du mort”. Either or.

Thing is I think the Habs kinda have to fire Bergevin if they’re firing Julien. This is his second coach. Rare to see a GM get to fire two.

 

[dash]

 

[dash]

It will be interesting to see if Bill Peters will ever be considered for a NHL head coaching gig again. I think the odds are long indeed. I think there will also be a communication in the future regarding a financial settlement reached between the league/Flames and Bill Peters.

 

[dash]

It's actually kind of crazy when you look at the sequence of events over the last couple of weeks:

1. Leafs off to a shaky start
2. Babcock canned
3. Initial tweets from Commodore on Babcock (expected)
4. Follow up tweet from Commodore on Peters (not expected)
5. Tweet from Aliu
6. Tweet from Jordan regarding Peters abuse in Carolina
7. Peters canned

Likely none of this happens if the Leafs get off to a good start this season, but if it changes the hockey culture and also makes it easier for players to come forward regarding the abusive behavior of coaches, it's a step in the right direction.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

It will be interesting to see if Bill Peters will ever be considered for a NHL head coaching gig again. I think the odds are long indeed. I think there will also be a communication in the future regarding a financial settlement reached between the league/Flames and Bill Peters.

I also wonder if coaching contracts will soon have a clause whereby the newly hired bench boss has to disclose whether he has ever used inflammatory language/tactics during previous head coaching duties.

Then there is a clear way to void a contract in instances like this. That is if the coaching applicant does not disclose something that comes out later.