Quote:
Originally Posted by Drury18
This is what I believe to be the biggest question.
Again, Sven came into prospect camp with an entitlement attitude and insulted he had to be there. He showed that in his play (cross checking an opposing Flames prospect in the throat after they checked him) and showed it in his interviews stating that this camp was nothing, main camp was everything. I believe even saying he didn't prepare for Prospect Camp at all.
Same thing happened when he showed up for the Rookie/Young Stars games and camp. You could see in the game against the UofC that he was not happy to be there. He felt he was above this and that playing with the other prospects was insulting to his abilities.
Last year when Hartley demoted him, he took it hard and brought that entitlement attitude to Abbotsford with him. The team had to pull him out of his funk in order to get production out of him. If he truly was a professional, he would have pulled up his big boy pants, gone to Abbotsford and tore up the AHL so he could figuratively give the middle finger to the Flames and show he doesn't belong in the AHL.
I don't think Sven is a victim of anything other then his own notions of how he should be treated. I do think we have a borderline prima donna on our hands and Hartley is trying to correct the problem before it gets out of control. I don't see this whole Hartley monster the majority seem to try to make him out to be. I'm seeing more of a stern father where he will put his foot up your ass if you need it. I think that's what this is so that Sven can start getting himself back in the right direction.
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Great sum up of his problems the past year. He needs to remember what got him to the spot he is today. When we drafted him, during the first prospect camp and from his Portland coach all we would hear is the awesome attitude this kid had, how he was the hardest working player out there, would stay out on the ice until he got kicked off. He had the attitude needed to be an NHL star. He was a kid who had a permanent smile on his face, even when they were working the rest of the prospects to the bone, he was still smiling and looking like nothing was fazing him.
We don't hear anything about this type of attitude from him anymore. For one reason or another, his experience so far in the NHL has changed his passion a little, and he needs to find that love for the game again.
Here's what I'm hoping. Well first, he finds this spark again with the Flames. But saying that doesn't happen, I'm hoping he finds it with Team Switzerland in the Olympics. I have a little hunch that a trip over to Sochi will be just what he needs to find his confidence again, and he will come back a totally new player, the one we saw with the Winterhawks.