Gionta had an off year as well how much time did he spend on the 3rd line? Gomez had a terrible year the only thing that saved him was not having a viable option to replace him with. While Gionta and Kost aren't completely comparible I can see how the player may view himself as getting the shaft when things like this occur. It's easy for us to sit here and say shut up and play but lowering him to 3rd line duty could cost the guy millions in his next contract. There are always some players who will not fit into a coaches system I think this is what we are seeing out of Andrei more so than lack of ability or desire. His brother sure played much better outside the confines of the Martin system.
Gauthier wont trade him . These comments are nothing . He's not happy with his playing time and he dont like his coach no big deal and it's nothing new AK said almost the same thing last year.
Another player who complains about the coach and is completly ignored because we have the "bestest coach in the world!"
Probably traded or allowed to walk for nothing and will reach his potential elsewhere. Same story different year.
Sure. You're right...AK has been treated badly by what? 3-4 coaches? F the team. Let's keep firing/hiring coaches until we find one that clicks with Andrei. 'Cause really, the Habs owe him so much.
Honestly, I think the biggest problem with the Russian players is their agents. They're greedy and they make their players seem cheep and greedy. How come we see Canadians, Americans, Swedes, Finns and everyone else sign discount contracts yet Russians always want the most they can get? It's not the players, it's their agents saying "Let me worry about the contract, you just keep doing what you're doing"
Don Meehan is his agent so I don't think that's the issue here.
Gauthier wont trade him . These comments are nothing . He's not happy with his playing time and he dont like his coach no big deal and it's nothing new AK said almost the same thing last year.
Sure. You're right...AK has been treated badly by what? 3-4 coaches? F the team. Let's keep firing/hiring coaches until we find one that clicks with Andrei. 'Cause really, the Habs owe him so much.
You have convinced me, things are perfect right now. I sure hope gomez gets 20+ minutes a night all next season, that worked so well for us last season!
With the parade of all star coaches we have had anyone could have become a superstar. This guy obviously has no value or talent.
Throw all the crap that you want on management and Martin, but certainly not for Andrei Kostitsyn.
it's not about "throwing crap" at anyone, player or management/coach...
it's about trying to understand why the same situation keeps repeating itself so frequently. Individually, one could try to make a case to blame either management-coach or player in all of these situations, but that doesn't solve the problem as to why it happens so frequently with our franchise.
league-wide, i don't know if any team has had as many problems over the past few years over the same type of issue (young roster player feeling disgruntled with way team treats/communicates with them).
i follow the flames quite closely (living in Calgary), and even under Darryl Sutter (who is about the hardest type of individual to communicate with on the planet), you rarely saw these kinds of problems emerge.
there is a problem with the culture of the habs organization, and wether the blame lies more with certain players or with the leadership structure, ultimately it's up to the leadership structure to address the issue.
Do you not remember how dominant AK/Plekanec/Cammalleri were, as a unit? They all clicked so well and consistenly put the puck in the net.
Last year, he came to play. The line had a few games that they weren't producing as much, and AK got the shaft and was sent down to the 3rd/4th line. He was tossed into the fire that was known as the second line, to help Gomez get his game on, and when that didn't work, he got the shaft again and was kept in the bottom 6.
Poor AK.
FAct is AK has never lived up to his potential and plays well in stretches of 5-6 games and then pulls a where is waldo.
Meh. I'm starting to wonder just how much these types of comments are "dressed up" by the newspapers. It's either that, or every single Russian that every passed through our organization got the shaft, and I find that harder to believe than a journalist stirring the pot to get more readers or website hits.
100% agree. We're talking about Russia here. Their journalistic standards are simply not on par with those of North America. It's a cliché to say it, but you simply can't believe everything you read. especially in this case.
Do you not remember how dominant AK/Plekanec/Cammalleri were, as a unit? They all clicked so well and consistenly put the puck in the net.
Last year, he came to play. The line had a few games that they weren't producing as much, and AK got the shaft and was sent down to the 3rd/4th line. He was tossed into the fire that was known as the second line, to help Gomez get his game on, and when that didn't work, he got the shaft again and was kept in the bottom 6.
Don't even bother man. When you're arguing against people who have prejudice bias against the guy and also favor other people based on nationality it's a losing battle. Half of them can't even admit it to themselves so why would you expect them to admit to you that it isn't all 100% Andrei's fault?
People hate the guy cause he's a Euro. If he isn't Zetterberg then he's just a scrub who never tries hard etc.
FAct is AK has never lived up to his potential and plays well in stretches of 5-6 games and then pulls a where is waldo.
Good old cliche again. Can you use facts instead of these cliche?
Please tell me, before last season starts, what did you expect from AK? If you tell me AK would get 20-25-45 pts by playing on every lines, I'd be happy.
Stop thinking AK is a 30-35 goals scorer and life will be more beautiful for you.
It was translated properly and Kostitsyn did say this to the journalist.
And the audio tape does exist lol.
I'm sure we have plenty of people who speak Russian just lining up around the block to attest to the fact that it's word for word
Either way I'm not the only one to think it's just the media possibly dressing it up to get readers. Plus lets face it the guy who interviewed them was looking for any dirt he could find. This was much worse than the Montreal media questions and that's saying a lot.
"Why were you so inconsistent last season?" = basically what he was responding to. I'd be quite annoyed even answering that question and the entire undertone of the interview is that Andrei is annoyed with this guy and thinks he's an idiot. Would not be at all surprised to hear that Sergei put Andrei up to this in the first place. Like I said Andrei got into the NHL for being a good hockey player, never denied he could comparable to the IQ of a brick. To me it was Andrei deflecting what seemed kind of like an attack on the way he played. Excuses for sure when a mature person wouldn't make them but it isn't like he was like "What areas of your game do you feel you need to improve on" and Andrei responds "The part of my game that gets JM fired"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stradale
Good old cliche again. Can you use facts instead of these cliche?
Please tell me, before last season starts, what did you expect from AK? If you tell me AK would get 20-25-45 pts by playing on every lines, I'd be happy.
Stop thinking AK is a 30-35 goals scorer and life will be more beautiful for you.
In his defense if Andrei goes to an offensive minded team he will score 30 maybe 35 if healthy.
The real deal is to stop expecting a defensive minded team to put up high offensive numbers. Andrei is a part of that team. You like offense? Go watch San Jose or something. This is a team focused on the W column by playing a rock solid defensive game. They want to win the cup not have somebody win the scoring title.
I want AK to stay. JM gotta let him know he's now on supporting cast with potential to play top line minutes. AK's concern is it's his contract UFA year so you gotta let the guy know he has a place on this team and he'll feel more secure.
This isn't nothing new actually... Aren't we all used to this? I mean, the list is pretty long of youngsters failing to reach their potential in Montreal or having attitude issues. What's going on? Ribs, Lats, SK74, Grabovski, O'Byrne just to name a few. Now AK46 is acting up again. Weird no?
Don't worry if he's Canadian he'll be able to be a downgrade and still not get **** on like Andrei has been.
If he's Quebecois he'll be considered our next future 80pt guy even if he's been a career 40pt guy who doesn't hit, lacks size, has less drive than Andrei etc. Because in Montreal if you're a Euro player you suck unless you put up 80pt carrying your team throw hits and never quit.
Every mistake a euro makes is "lazy scrub" but if a non-Euro does the same thing it's "not his fault" or "insert other excuse".
That's right, everyone is a racist except from you. And hockey fans are all very dumb people who can't see the difference between a player who gives his 100% every night and every shift, and another one who doesn't care most of the time, NO MATTER what his ethnic background his. It must feel weird being the only intelligent fan in Montreal, isn't it?
Andrei Markov, Alex Kovalev, Saku Koivu, Mats Naslund, etc. These players have been worshipped in Montreal, but hey, we're all a bunch of racists because we think Kostitsyn doesn't give a steady effort.
