I hated writing that title just as much as most Sens fans hated reading it. It's much easier to criticize an old man with some other, much-hated team than some old man with your favourite team. But with Head Coach John Paddock's recent comments, how can we think any differently? From the Ottawa Sun:
Dammit, is this for real? In a way, I understand these people are paid to win, and that sometimes the common idea is that these are the things it takes to win. But it's not. Paddock went on to explain that when an elbow/charge takes the other team's best players off their game, the team has a better chance to win. Newsflash, John: When I pay money to go to a Senators' game, I'd rather see Alex Ovechkin play offense than play scared. I don't pay to see Chris Neil charge at him and risk breaking his neck."I think there's some good penalties you can take," Paddock said yesterday. "I think there's good charging and the odd good elbowing penalty and stuff. I think there's nothing wrong with that.
"I think there's real good elbowing penalties. If you're playing in the playoffs and the other team's best player happens to get an elbow in the head, I think it's a good penalty."
Paddock went on to campaign for GM Bryan Murray to acquire Steve Downie, a move that might make me hate the composure of this team so much that I would have a hard time cheering for them:
"Every team likes those kind of players," Paddock said. "Do I think anything (Flyers rookie) Steve Downie has done so far this year is right? No. But I get a feeling there's 29 teams that would like him on their team, or in their organization."I don't want a player like Downie on my team, or in the league in any capacity. Feel free to disagree with me (post any rebuttals in our 'comments'), but that's not the kind of hockey I want to see. Clean hits, sure, but charges, elbows, and suckerpunches? These comments are almost enough to make me wish Jacques Martin was back.
Almost.
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