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About This Page: This is a discussion on LA Kings Talk within the LetsGoKings.com forums, at Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fan Forum. Originally Posted by Maverick
Rich Hammond reports: Inside the Kings
[ Article text removed, please go to Rich's blog to read it. - RR ]
You can't have copied text
Understand that to put 3.2M of salary into perspective - that is MORE earnings than most will accrue in their entire working life.
So for someone with THAT kind of annual salary who choses NOT to take care of where he, his wife, and their new born are going to live is just stupid to me.
Its bad enough to be THAT cheap with your family but to go and make some big public issue sez all I need to know about this guy.
Its not the Kings problem to house your family Dan, most real men don't have to spend allot of time working that one out.
Cloutier's basic fallacy is that he expected to be treated like an NHL player when in reality he was an AHL player, and a crappy one at that.
A sense of entitlement runs throughout his quotes: he's entitled to a first-class airline ticket, he's entitled to a four-star hotel, he's entitled to a #1 spot in Manchester, etc.
Meanwhile, you have guys in Manchester who haven't experienced the luxury of NHL treatment and wouldn't complain about ANY of this stuff. These guys ride the bus. And these guys are pretty much all better than Cloutier.
I see a connection between this and Lombardi's philosophy (as described in the "Breakfast with the GM" posts) on having guys like Boyle and Purcell spend more time in the minors before bringing them up. NHL players get spoiled.
Kopitar missed 10 games last season because of his back. I believe Kopitar said after the season, that he was ready to play after 4 games at most, but the team doctors didn't let him, just in case.
The difference is that the King org cares about Kopitar and couldn't give two $h!ts about Cloutier.
I feel bad for the dude. So what if he played sub-par. He is a human being and doesn't need to be called names by us yahoos.
Yea the whole "he's an athelete and should be able to take the heat" statement doesn't really hold water. He's just a guy trying to make it in the world just like you and I. He just makes more money than us.
"I haven't had too many things to smile about since I've been here."
"I had a great time up in Vancouver and was treated great up there by management and everybody. It was a little different coming here. It's been difficult at times, hard on me. But I'm a hockey player and I've dealt with it and I still have to go out and play and stop the puck."
"They said: 'You're going to go down there and play every game, good or bad, get your game back and see what happens. I actually thought it was going to be a good thing. But I got down there and all of a sudden I'm not playing."
"So I said: 'All right, what are your plans for me?' They give me the old: 'We still believe in you' and all that. I played 14 games and I was down there for four or five months; you're not going to get your game back that way, especially after being out almost three years."
"I said: 'I can't, we're expecting a baby here. I don't know if it's a big thing to you guys, but to me it's the most important thing. Finally, I called the [Players' Association] and they said after 28 days you're entitled to get a place."
"It was great because I was going through such a tough time down there, not playing. Then we had the baby and it put things in perspective, like there are other things."
"I thought: These guys obviously have no future for me," he said. "They're just going to leave me down here and let me rot. I didn't even go on the trip. I'm like, Jesus, what's going on. All of sudden, they come back [from the trip], they play me for one game and they call me up. I said: 'Why are you guys calling me up? I haven't played.' They said I was the best option."
"Obviously, I'm a very emotional guy; I'm a competitor. But it's been so hard. Maybe if I get bought out, there are a couple of organizations I could go to. But I don't want to go through this again. I wouldn't want to put myself through this again."
"Don't get me wrong, it's been a great career. I got a chance to play 10 years, made a lot of friends, played in some great cities, made tons of money. But to end it like this, that's not the way anybody wants to end it."
Reading those quotes from Cloutier, did he really say anything so terrible? Sure you don't like laundry being aired in the press, but you can thank the writer for the slant of that article.
Can everybody please read this post, taking the spin of the article out and away from the quotes, and see that nothing actually bad was said?
The difference is that the King org cares about Kopitar and couldn't give two !ts about Cloutier.
I feel bad for the dude. So what if he played sub-par. He is a human being and doesn't need to be called names by us yahoos.
Yea the whole "he's an athelete and should be able to take the heat" statement doesn't really hold water. He's just a guy trying to make it in the world just like you and I. He just makes more money than us.
My point was actually, that I don't believe he was really playing with a career ending injury. They don't give **** about Clouts? They actually tried and wanted VERY hard to "make" a 1A goalie out of him. He was the number one option, at least they wanted him badly to become that. And you really believe that they were playing an injured player like that, a player that they were considering to be #1 choice for the most important position in ice hockey? Well, fine, because I don't.
I hope I don't break my arm patting myself on the back... it'll be the only time this year I've been right about something:
Quote:
Originally Posted by CBGB
A quick ORBITZ check finds that there's only ONE FLIGHT that has 1st class to Vail, Colorado!!!!!! (and during ski season, In Vail, I can imagine it's probably SOLD OUT!)
Cloutier insisted upon having the surgery as soon as possible, which meant booking flights and a hotel on Jan. 11, 2007 for a Jan. 12, 2007 surgery. That was a holiday weekend (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) and there was only one available flight to Vail, Colo. According to the Kings, that was OK with Cloutier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CBGB
Something doesn't make sense. They can't find a hotel 30 miles from his doctor? In VAIL???? During SKI SEASON???? I'm shocked! Maybe everything was SOLD OUT and the only thing they could find was a MOTEL 6.... instead of NOTHING?
The Comfort Inn in Vail, located 10 miles from the clinic, was the only hotel to have rooms available on three consecutive nights, and the Kings decided to book that rather than have Cloutier change hotels mid-trip. The clinic later found a different hotel for Cloutier and his wife, and the Kings paid for all five nights.
Can everybody please read this post, taking the spin of the article out and away from the quotes, and see that nothing actually bad was said?
You really need to read those quotes. There's some out and out disrespect going on.
I have a little disagreement with my supervisor, but we mutually agree that I want to stay and he wants to honor his contract with me. So what do I do? I talk to a REPORTER about how my company is left me to rot and doesn't believe in me ("They give me the old: 'We still believe in you' and all that) That is called waving your dirty laundry in public.
That's twice you've said that nothing bad was said. In what way is it constructive to say to an out of town reporter "They're just going to leave me down here and let me rot. I didn't even go on the trip. I'm like, Jesus, what's going on". If it was said to family and close friends is one thing. How you can say that nothing bad was said is beyond me.
- RR ]
daxx1313
