The Big Story
Oilers cancel CBA scheduled off day after bad loss to Sabres – Yahoo Puck Daddy
The #Oilers will practice today, and observe their CBA-mandated day off on Wednesday instead.
— Mark Spector (@SportsnetSpec) October 17, 2016
The word “mandated” sure doesn’t mean what it used to.
The Edmonton Oilers’ 6-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres was so difficult for the group that the players canceled a CBA scheduled off day Monday to practice instead.
This was reportedly done at the urging of coach Todd McLellan, who was fuming after the game.
I know that in my job, an individual can’t just change something that was collectively bargained. I mean, they can, but you’re creating a prior precedent that can hurt you in your next contract negotiation.
I get that it might not seem like a big deal, but there’s a reason the NHLPA negotiated for mandated days off. One reason, which seems pretty darn important considering the rash of injuries to this point in the season, is to, you know, prevent injuries by keeping players from being overworked.
In Detroit Land
Ken Holland: The Kids Aren’t Always The Answer – By Will Burchfield: CBS Detroit
I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today. I said I wasn’t going to curse today.
OK….
I’m just going to leave a couple quotes that make me want to break things.
“We’re going to hurt those kids. If they get here and they’re not ready for this, and they lose their confidence and the coach loses his confidence in the player, now what?” he told 97.1 The Ticket on Monday morning. “I’m a big believer that the American Hockey League is the best development league.”
and
“I don’t want to talk names around the league, but there are teams that have been doing that for ten years and that hasn’t been the answer,” he said. “You don’t know that these kids are the answer. We think they’re the answer, we draft them, we develop them, (but) do we really know that they’re going to be the absolute answer, that they’re going to take us to the promise land?”
and
“When you come up here, you gotta take peoples’ jobs, that’s what sports is about. I don’t believe in entitlement, you gotta take somebody’s job.”
Fuuuuuuuuuuu [end transmission]
