Thanks to The Meatriarchy for pointing this out to me, Glen Healy was on the fan morning show yesterday am and had lots to say…
when asked how he would feel if he had to practice at 8am as the leafs had to yesterday am..
“What are these children? At some point the act is going to wear thin. I have never had that in my entire career. I had some great coaches, Al Arbor probably the best coach I had in my entire life, a wonderful man and not once did he pull something like that. Mike Keenan, as evil as he was…. never had the kindergarten approach where you had to be in school before 8am…. The boys will go through the practice and they will bad mouth him the rest of the day and nothing will get accomplished. The teams problems are the teams problems…it’s not a lack of work ethic, it’s just the team.”
He was asked about Kaberle, what was he learning while watching the entire first period from the bench?
“The same thing as your fans are from this interview. He’s their best defenceman and an all star..he is brilliant, he thinks the game better then anybody, he has deficiencies, he isn’t Chris Pronger, he isn’t going to stomp anybody. He’s a player you have to win. I can’t see how doing that to a player like Kaberle I don’t see how it is going to help him. He is like Brian Leetch, if you benched Leetch you would not see positive effects the next shift. Some guys you bench and they really improve, others they don’t. Kaberle is one of those guys where it won’t have the effect you want. I am not behind the bench making the decisions, and he has to live with the results of his actions and hey look, it worked really well, they only lost by a field goal. ”
Landry pointed out by reading a quote from Burke that Wilson has the support of his new GM.
“Well it’s still early and pretty soon this ship is going to get righted, this might be your mulligan year, lots of chances to play you little games, but you are playing your gm 3 million bucks and you are going to expect results at some point. He has the respect and support now, at some point he won’t have it, and the players are going to say we’ve had enough of this clown and Brian’s going to have some difficult choices to make. At the end of the day, we are going to have to see some results.
He was asked about Avery:
“As the PA we are there to make sure things are fair, and Sean has rights as a player. He knows that he made a mistake and he used those 2 words in the wrong forum and in the wrong way, he knows it, he appologized, he is very humble, he’s made that mistake and he is going to move on. We are there to make sure that Gary isn’t going to be the judge and jury and jailer and eventually executioner and that is what can happen here. So, it’s more fairness here then anything. Try to defend Sean as best as possible, he is one of the 700 guys in our league, and off the ice he is a good kid and I mean he’s not a bad kid and so I look at it as he’s one of the marines, there is the few and the proud and he’s one of us and we have to make sure he knows he is wrong…”
Kudos to Don Landry for calling Healy out, “you just used the phrase clown and Sean Avery couldn’t be a bigger clown and you call him a good kid, it seems you are being rather partisan and a little too protective of a guy who, speaking of a hockey fan who has peeved me off time and time again and I am tired of it and sick of him.”
Healy: “And that is wonderful, I really appreciate your opinion Don, I think it is great to have that opinion about that player if that is what you truly believe. I mean my opinion about 8am skates and benching your best defenceman and when players get shots blocked on the foot and players ridicule them in practice in front of their teammates I have a different opinion of what happens when coaches do that and I have another opinion of what happens to players when they cross the line. I know Sean has crossed the line, I am not saying what he did was not right, or sorry, was not wrong, I have a different opinion of the 2 acts and we can’t mix them together. I appreciate your opinion though, you have the opinion that is the solid majority, and by solid I mean north of 90% so you are not in the wrong.”
Landry then said that he wasn’t sure about that, Landry has been surprised by how many people have said to him Avery said 2 words, big deal.
“Well, usually the 2 words players regret the most are I do. But 2 words used in the wrong forum and he knows it and he said them. He is going to pay the price. He knows it is not appropriate. Unfortunately for Sean, verbally he is quite quick, for other players they use violence in other ways. Today won’t be a great do for him. He is not getting a lot of support from fans, the league, his teammates nor his team.”
What if it is a 7 game suspension what is the reaction? Does everyone expect the PA will appeal it?
“That would be a legal question, I may be the only person in my office who isn’t a lawyer. I believe the appeal process goes to the board of governance so good luck with that. We want fairness, and that is the bottom line.”
I recommend you listen to this, and can do so here…
I will say this. The fact that he uses military terms to define his role and that of the PA is all you need to know about this guy and his union…. They act like combatants and as if everything is a war…
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