Radulov has actually been excellent most of the time he's been back. His downward trend only started recently. Not sure what the reason is.
With any luck, perhaps this suspension turns out to be the best thing for him. Perhaps it's a wakeup call that makes him realize that if he continues, he's going to piss away a possibly promising NHL career.
If not, then he'll either go back to Russia or we'll move him and life can go on.
Hmm, interesting. When he first came back over I remember hearing the hype but obviously haven't kept up with it. Think this will cause any locker room troubles? The yotes are the kings of dealing with locker room distractions, I'm sure they could lend some advice
Trotz should just tell Radulov to pack it up and go home. Dude's a sponge trying reap the benefits of the hard work put in by all the guys who stuck it out through thick and thin.
The way the league AND the team worked hard on bending the rules to bring him in it's not Radulov's fault.
btw, I applaude the team for dealing with the issue the hard way. What's most important is that was really unfair to other guys tryintg hard win something here.
An athlete caught out in Scottsdale would basically be the equivalent of an athlete getting caught out on Broadway..................................except 45 minutes from the hotel, not 45 steps.
The way the league AND the team worked hard on bending the rules to bring him in it's not Radulov's fault.
No rules were bent. Two provisions of the CBA conflicted which caused the league to decide which took priority. In the end, the team's suspension of a player under contract trumped the provision for players who start the season outside of North America. A position which the NHLPA and the BOG both took.
An athlete caught out in Scottsdale would basically be the equivalent of an athlete getting caught out on Broadway..................................except 45 minutes from the hotel, not 45 steps.
You don't know what you're talking about. No rules were bent. Everything was above board and the team, the NHL and the NHLPA were in agreement.
I know very well what I'm talking about. Agreement doesn't mean no rules were bent. do you need to read a quote from Daley again to realize?
Anyway, the point is the Preds took a wildcard on Radulov. Right know it's really biting them in the .... That's what happens sometimes. It's not really anybody's fault. Radulov's attitude never was a top secret issue.
what i don't get is if this happened saturday night, before game 2...why are they suspended NOW?
When did the team find out they were out until whenever? When was that confirmed? Did the NHLPA get a say in the team suspension? There are a lot of factors at play here.
when you sweat out the booze in the locker room, the smell is a little hard to miss
It mustn't be booze. Maybe they wern't drinking much. But staying up till 4am before a playoff game is anything but appropriate for an athlete and you may be able to play on a beer league after that but in an NHL game we saw what we saw from the guys in game 2.
Purely speculating, would this suspension also be a characterization of their long-term prospects of Radulov and AK46 in Nashville as well? If they were going to be here long-term, would something have been done less obvious than suspension for a pivotal playoff game? Let AK 46 walk and then make a qualifier on Rads and hope someone tenders an offer sheet to get back some of the picks dealt at the deadline?
What if we win Game 3 and Wilson or Smith or Toots plays a big role. Do they re-enter and risk the winning mojo? And if they were really out until all hours, then their misbehavior affected Game 2's outcome. You can't put that genie back in the bottle. How do their teammates and fans trust them again? This isn't just doing something stupid and missing a regular season game. They could have cost this franchise the Cup!! Little did Keith Jones know he was dressing down a hung over player.
What does this mean for next year. Before this, we were talking about paying Rads whatever it took to sign him. We also wanted AK46. Can we still sign them both after what they did?
Only way this fixes itself is if they get back in there for Game 4, we win the series, and continue to win with both being alter boys and great players. We lose this series, and I'm afraid its the end for both of them.
How quickly fortunes can turn. This is very un-Pred-like to have to deal with this.
First of all AK and Rads are dumbasses. There is no excuse for being out drinking the night before any pro game. This is your job and they should be acting like professionals.There will be plenty of time to party after the season is over. I stand behind management here 100 percent.
Now call me an eternal optimist but this actually excites me. We get some hungry players in the line up and hopefully can get back to "Predator" hockey. This will go one of two ways. Either the Preds will sulk and go out with a whimper or they will band together and make this a turning point.
