Thursday, July 14, 2005

Red Wings CBA Quote Sheet

Chris Chelios:
"It's all about the lies and separating the players from the league and making us look bad because we have to defend ourselves. And that alone should be just cause for him (Gary Bettman) to get the gas after this is all done."
Considering Bettman's Jewish heritage, that already ridiculous comment is even more inflammatory. If the players want to earn people's respect back, that's not the route to take. Read Shanahan's take on it below. Ken Holland:
"I've got to get that CBA. I've got to know how it affects me. I've got to know what I can do...Obviously, the first order of business is to learn the CBA as quickly as possible. I mean, they're going to put down something in front of us that's going to be an inch thick, and it's going to be all the rules that govern what we can and can't do and how we run our business. Everybody in our organization is going to have a copy of that thing...Obviously, my hope is Steve wants to play one more year, and my hope is we can figure out something that works. At the same time, when it comes to every player, they've got to be paid fairly...We're going into a new world, and I can't be paying any players on potential, and it's hard to be paying any players on past service. Your players have to kind of be paid based on what he can contribute to the team. We've never dealt in a cap world before. Going into the new world, we're going to have to have some younger, cheaper players in the six, seven spot on defense, on the fourth line, in the 13th forward. That's what's going to kind of allow you to have some top-end players."
Mike Ilitch:
"It's brand new, and you can easily mess up. And (if) you mess up, the fines are going to be heavy. It can get disastrous if you don't comprehend everything and follow the rules...It gets everybody's competitive juices going. In other words, if we gotta scout harder, if we gotta go around the world five times and I've gotta have 25 scouts added...whatever you gotta do. Because you can't train these people that fast, you gotta groom them like every other business. We're confident that we can do a good job. We've got a good nucleus. We've been there before, and I think we're going to be OK."
Kris Draper:
"I do have a job again. I think the one thing as a player, you realize that we missed a whole year of playing hockey, a whole year off our career, so you are excited to be back playing...The one thing is, now it's very easy to sit back and say, we should have done this, done that, why we didn't we do more in September and August. I'm not going to second-guess this whole process. I'm disappointed we had to lose the whole season of hockey. But our committee put in 80 some meetings to get a deal done, to get hockey back, and that's what they did...Us as players, we realize that the end is in sight, so we have to wait and see what happens. Everyone calls it a 'whole new world' and we know there are going to be some changes. The one thing we have to realize is it was an owner's lockout. But we're going to get back to playing, and everyone is excited about that. There's been a lot of damage to the sport, and us as players are committed to bringing an exciting new product to everybody."
Brendan Shanahan:
"There will be hurt feelings from fans and some players for a while, but the best way to heal is to play great hockey, to give more to the fans. The players and the owners made this mess ourselves, and shame on us if we don't learn from it. Instead of assessing blame or offering apologies, we've got to concentrate on putting a better product on the ice...It doesn't serve any purpose for any smack talk from either side. I don't think fans are interested in hearing any more fighting. I'm sure there will be some players that express anger and frustration, but at this point, the majority of the guys just want to get back on the ice."
Jimmy Devellano:
"We've got to roll up our sleeves because we're going to be on a new planet for this franchise. We'll have to work with the new system, we'll have to adjust to it and we'll have to learn how to win with it. We're beefing up our scouting and player development. Nobody can predict if there's any real serious damage done, but I think fans will jump back on board here in Detroit...I do think (suffering through the lockout) was worth it because it was needed, and more teams will survive because of it. That said, you're not going to see us trading first-round picks to get a big-salary star at the trade deadline anymore."

5 Comments:

At 7/14/2005 10:56:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i wouldn't take chelly's comment too seriously (at least how you're looking at it) - the greeks had to struggle through a genocide of their own...

 
At 7/14/2005 11:07:00 PM, Blogger Brian List said...

I'm not the only one taking it seriously:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8574789/

That was the first article I found on it, there's been plenty of them. It's not Cheli's first time either: earlier in the lockout he said "Gary Bettman and his family should be concerned about their safety" , and outside of the fact that Bettman is Jewish, it's still a ridiculous statement to say someone should be gased, in reference to the Holocaust or not.

 
At 7/15/2005 12:00:00 AM, Blogger HockeyKnight said...

I guess it's going to take a while before the grape Kool-aid starts to wear off on some of the players.

Chelli lost probably his last year in the league. He's got to be what- 57 years old now? Cantankerous old coot! I think that's why he seems so mad. But it's still inexcuseable.

 
At 7/15/2005 08:59:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

History and genealogy have nothing to do with this issue and should be left out of it. Chris or any player have an obligation not to make statements like that publicly or any time for that matter. If it wasn't for bacteria, Chelios would have no culture at all!!!

 
At 7/15/2005 05:18:00 PM, Blogger matt saler said...

Absolutely tasteless remark by a guy with a history of making tasteless remarks.

I've appreciated his being in Hockeytown for years but I don't think I want him associated with the organization any more. If he's in the Wings' plans, I'd be shocked.

 

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