(no subject)
Jan. 28th, 2008 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bzarcherAaaand Selanne is back.
Am I a bad hockey fan if I increasingly think that allowing Niedermeyer and Selanne to basically sit out over half the season and then come back to the Ducks is horseshit?
If you don't go to training camp, don't play in the first 40 games, and are on a one way contract (ie: Not in the AHL), I don't think you should get the chance to play. You made your decision by skipping out on the first half of the season. "Oh, look, the team's doing well, so I suppose I'll come back!" Bullshit! How is this reasonable or fair to the other 29 teams in the league? I bet a lot of them with injury prone or older players would love to give a couple of them an extra 4 months of off season.
In pretty much every other sport, if you're still -under contract- (and yes, they BOTH are under contract this year), refuse to attend training camp, and don't play for the first 1/3 of the season, you're done for the year. No "well, I might retire", no "I don't know if I have the passion to play". You didn't play, you forfeited your game checks for that first part of the season, and now your contract says you get to sit at home until next season and not earn any checks at all. Maybe you can come back in the off season if it matters so much to you now.
This feels less and less like they wanted to retire and more like gamesmanship from Burke and the Ducks to make a big move for the playoffs without having to give up anything at the trade deadline, and it stinks to high hell.
Am I a bad hockey fan if I increasingly think that allowing Niedermeyer and Selanne to basically sit out over half the season and then come back to the Ducks is horseshit?
If you don't go to training camp, don't play in the first 40 games, and are on a one way contract (ie: Not in the AHL), I don't think you should get the chance to play. You made your decision by skipping out on the first half of the season. "Oh, look, the team's doing well, so I suppose I'll come back!" Bullshit! How is this reasonable or fair to the other 29 teams in the league? I bet a lot of them with injury prone or older players would love to give a couple of them an extra 4 months of off season.
In pretty much every other sport, if you're still -under contract- (and yes, they BOTH are under contract this year), refuse to attend training camp, and don't play for the first 1/3 of the season, you're done for the year. No "well, I might retire", no "I don't know if I have the passion to play". You didn't play, you forfeited your game checks for that first part of the season, and now your contract says you get to sit at home until next season and not earn any checks at all. Maybe you can come back in the off season if it matters so much to you now.
This feels less and less like they wanted to retire and more like gamesmanship from Burke and the Ducks to make a big move for the playoffs without having to give up anything at the trade deadline, and it stinks to high hell.
