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Tuesday, September 14, 1999
Few kind words
Those familiar, ominous signs were very much in evidence:
Brian Sutter was on simmer, soon to be on boil.
"I don't care," said the coach evenly, flatly, "if he's God or he played in the Colonial league last year. A contract's a contract.
"If you don't like it, don't sign it in the first place.
"There are some players and agents who have a very different set of morals and values than the ones I was brought up with. There are some people who don't want to talk about this. That's because they don't have the balls to talk about it.
"Let's not forget that Alexei Yashin has done a lot for hockey in Ottawa. He's a talent, no question. But whether you make $100,000 or $300,000 or $3 million, you put your John Henry on that piece of paper and it should count for something.
"There are rules in place for a reason. I guess some of these guys think they make up their own rules as they go along. I remember Mr. (Emile) Francis telling me when I'd go in at contract time: 'Son, if you don't like it, don't sign it.'
"If you start trying to pull this kind of stuff with a contract, you do it in other parts of your life, too."
It was Day 2 of Yashin Bashin' down at the 'Dome. Less than 24 hours after his players, NHLPA brethren all, tore a strip off the petulant AWOL Ottawa star, Sutter addressed the subject of Yashin's hold-up ... uh, holdout.
The issue, far broader than whether or not an individual hockey player is being fairly compensated, was again front and centre, what with the captain-less Senators preparing for a morning skate right down the hall.
Yashin used to be known as king of the powerplay. Well, change that to the power play.
In a city built on dirty politics, he, a novice, is showing the pros how it's done. Yashin is, of course, either A) obscenely greedy; B) supremely arrogant; C) a bit thick; D) tragically ill-advised. Or all of the above.
For their stance not to pay him or trade him, and make him honour the final year of his contract, no matter when that may be, for not caving in to Yashin's outrageous demands, the Senators have been lauded from coast-to-coast.
Meanwhile, Yashin is being tied to the spit and roasted.
In Ottawa, Play It Again Sports, a local second-hand sporting goods company, runs a radio spot during which a voice, obviously meant to be Yashin's, cuts in with something along the lines of: 'Hi, I have some hockey equipment I won't be using for a while. But I'm in the market for some golf clubs ...' An auto dealership runs a newspaper ad that informs you they'll lease you a car for four years, but you can tell them to stuff it on the final one; it also has adopted the slogan `Take a Gandler gander at our prices!', referring to Mark Gandler, Yashin's agent.
The Gandler/Yashin stance has only exaggerated the money-mad pro hockey player stereotype. It doesn't do the image of agents much good, either.
This isn't business, it's blackmail. He's ditching his teammates during a season that held dazzling possibilities; turning his back on the organization while they're fighting for survival and doing the Oliver Twist 'Please sir, can I have some more' bit with the feds.
Worse, in an obviously orchestrated manoeuvre, Yashin made his announcement during August, while the Sens were trying to mount a season-ticket campaign.
The most appalling part of it all: the belief that he has every right to.
And while the controversy has been a hot topic of conversation in almost every corner of the hockey world, one voice is conspicuous for not having addressed it. By his silence, NHLPA boss Bob Goodenow has condoned the action.
Talk about leadership through integrity.
And integrity is very much the issue here. The idea of someone withholding services while under contract (and scheduled to make a lamentable $3.5 million US this year) had Sutter close to a froth yesterday.
"This is the third time this has happened with this particular player," he said, shaking his head in exasperation. "I mean, it has got to stop someplace."
Now is the time. This is the place.
Typically, when Gandler called Yashin to inform him that the Sens weren't about to cave in to their demands, the underpaid, unappreciated martyr was dining in Paris and too busy to discuss the matter.
Be sure, Alexei, that all Canadian hearts continue to bleed buckets for you.
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