When the uber video came out (the Sens are a proud sponsor of Uber), I was undecided if I should write about it. The hesitation wasn’t because I lacked an opinion, but simply because there wasn’t much that was shocking about it (albeit it’s amusing). The prevailing sentiment I’ve seen from the local media is that it’s much ado about nothing–these kinds of conversations go on with most teams in candid moments, but we simply don’t see/hear them. Others, such as Nichols, took a slightly different approach:
For some reason, they were stupid enough to put their team on blast while riding in an Uber.
Is this stupid? While there seems to be no law in Arizona preventing Uber drivers from recording their passengers in this fashion, I think its at least somewhat understandable that the players assumed privacy (although you should tip your drivers)–after all, we’ve had plenty of years go by without videos like this featuring NHL players. The org attempting to get the video taken down was a hilariously misguided move, but one I expected given how it handles things. Castigating the players for speaking their minds in this context is a bit much as far as I’m concerned, as I’ll get into below.
What did the players say that’s so inflammatory? There’s not much to it, really:
Marty Raymond, the only coach in NHL history to have the worst power-play and the worst PK within a calendar year
This is just a fact–an uncomfortable fact for Raymond and the couching staff, and he should be fired for that accomplishment–but it’s not something unknown to the public.
Here’s the other thing, too. We don’t change anything, ever. So why do we even have a meeting?
Inflexible coaching is a historic problem for the org and, again, not something that’s private–publicly we can watch Guy Boucher (and all coaches) use their systems and adapt (or not) on the ice.
More was said, but these are the ‘spiciest’ parts of it. My takeaway? At least the players care. These are not guys just happy to collect a paycheque–they recognize the team’s flaws and want them to be improved. I’d be far more concerned if they weren’t upset. The narrative about how all of this should be internal doesn’t move the needle for me–they are a terrible team in the midst of a rebuild, so if things aren’t changing internally then making statements publicly isn’t a bad idea.
The result of all this was entirely predictable: the players apologized; Marty Raymond was embarrassed but will keep his job; there was finger-wagging at both the Uber driver and the players; and in a week or two the story will slip away as yet another in the bizarre saga of the Melnykian regime.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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