Quote:
Originally Posted by stemit14
I think Burke has a great hockey mind but I hate the way he hurts his teams when he gets in front of a camera. The stuff he said about baertschi only puts more pressure on a kid who is already feeling too much pressure as is. Plus, if I was Johnny gaudreau and I watched that comment about university hockey... I might think free agency sounds pretty good.
Before you say that I'm being too soft on the rookies... Let me be clear: I'm fine with the organization telling baertschi or any other player that he had a mediocre training camp and they want him to work on his game in all 3 zones... That's fine. I just don't like Burke using the media to put pressure on him. It only hurts the players relationship with the management and the fans.
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I think it's also a situation where you take the good with the bad. Burke has found someone to bully or put down in almost every one of his NHL stops yet he has the reputation of being fiercely loyal to his players. He will use the media to send a message to a certain player while at the same time use the media to defend and deflect criticism from his players. Regardless, it's a stretch to say that he hurts his team when he gets in front of the camera. If anything, Burke frequently does a good job of deflecting criticism away from his team onto him. I feel that he has already taken pressure off Feaster.
Ya Burke has said that he doesn't intend to speak about the team as much as he did in the past, but like Burke said, he didn't ask to be interviewed. So while many of us here don't want Burke to make the team so much about him, at the same time, we want to get his insights and we dig that he frequently is forthcoming in sharing his insights.
As for Burke potentially hurting a player's relationship with the team or hurting Sven specifically, well again you take the good with the bad. The same abrasiveness also helps Burke convince his players that Burke will go to bat for them.
As for Sven. There are different ways to motivate a player. Some players need a fire lit up their asses. Some players need to be coddled and encouraged. I suppose that either way none of this needs to get to the media's ears, but it is what it is. Quite frankly, if commitment is an issue, Sven deserves to be called out and he needs to get his act together. In terms of pressure, I don't think any of this will add any more pressure to the pressures Sven is feeling now. Sven has always faced pressure and he has dealt with it well. Say Sven did let pressure get to him but guess what? Sven shouldn't feel the pressure to be the savior any longer. He just needs to live up to his potential and that of a first round pick, pressures he successfully dealt with in the past. So no I don't buy into the idea that calling out Sven is somehow a huge mistake. If Sven can't work at improving his game then he will never reach his potential and there's no need to blame anyone else but Sven.