McGran: Senators’ backseat rip job might make them stronger,
How the team handles gripers will define the near future of franchise
Players talk about coaches. Coaches talk about players.
The difference, for the Ottawa Senators, is that an Uber driver recorded a handful of players complaining about their coaches and posted the conversation online.
The rest is social media history.
“You’ve got to always be aware,” said Leafs defenceman Travis Dermott. “In a media area like this, there are always eyes on you. If you’re going to talk like that, you probably should make sure you’re pretty safe about it.
“Tough bounce for them, but it could happen to anyone.” Indeed. “It’s more me looking back at my Uber rides to see what I was doing and what I was saying,” Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves said of his reaction to the Senators story.
“You never want to be filmed when you don’t know you’re be- ing filmed.”
The nervous laughter of players aside, there are some real lessons to be learned, says University of Ottawa professor François Gravelle.
“It could either build or destroy the team,” said Gravelle, who’s taught and researched leadership for 20 years. “It’s an opportunity for the coaches to open a discussion with the players. Part of it could be a lack of understanding of the message on the part of the players, or a misinterpretation of the message sent by the coaches. If it’s well-managed, it could be a team-building experience rather than a team-crumbling experience.” Gravelle saw the bright side. “It’s the type of conversation you would not have in a press conference, but what it showed was engagement and passion towards the team. In that sense, the fact they were talking, the fact they were concerned, is encouraging. The team is rebuilding and they’re going through growing pains. They’re coming out of a difficult time. Athletes are always eager to perform, and impatient. I see this as positive. They do care. They’re talk- ing about the team, their concerns, what they’re going through.”
He added that it’s less than ideal that private conversations were made public and dirty laundry was aired, an issue that applies far beyond hockey.
“It’s a definite warning,” said Gravelle.
But that’s the world these days. Apologies were issued, statements were made to try to calm the situation.
“It’s disappointing the way the video got released,” Senators forward Mark Stone said in Ottawa.
“We dealt with this long before this video was released. As a coaching staff, as players, as management, it was dealt with internally the way it should be.” There was a remarkable amount of sympathy for the Senators, a team with a troubled recent history of being its own worst enemy as far as creating negative stories.
There was also anger toward the Uber driver for invading privacy. Uber promised to investigate the incident, calling it a “clear violation” of its policies.
Still, there was a feeling the Senators involved didn’t say or do anything that unusual.
“It re-emphasizes that that’s the world we live in and you have to be aware of your surroundings,” said Leafs centre John Tavares.
“There are always people out there that might recognize you,” added Leafs winger Kasperi Kapanen. “You’ve got to act like a professional and don’t do anything stupid. You have to hold yourself accountable and learn from that.”
In the big picture, fans got a good look at a stark reality: A hockey team is no different that any work environment. Which employee hasn’t complained about a boss? Which boss hasn’t wanted to get more out of a worker?
“The fact of the matter of is, every single team does this,” former NHLer Todd Bertuzzi told Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver.
“We sit in cars or we’re out for dinners and we rip on them. And the coaches, when they’re all together, they rip on us. It’s an ongoing thing. We used to lambaste every coach, talk about what’s going wrong. We called it hot-stoving. The coaches are no different.”