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Originally Posted by nieuwy-89
On the surface it sucks that the team I have loved and cheered for since childhood is at the centre of another scandal. Like many of you I'm feeling hurt by this and was saddened to have to explain this whole situation to my kids.
Unlike the Wideman incident, the Flames have the chance here to do something really positive for hockey and for sport in general. They have already proven to be a forward-looking organization with McGratton's role and how they have handled player's personal health issues of late (think of Stajan a few years ago, Brodie this year).
I'm hoping the Flames will see this as the opportunity to initiate a real culture change in the hockey and not try to bury this or "put it behind us and move forward" as they say in modern sports talk.
Go Flames Go - Go and do the right thing.
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One reason I've been proud to be a Flames fan is because I genuinely feel it's an organization that makes an effort to do the right things. Whether it's helping players with substance abuse like you mentioned, or prioritizing player health, being respectful towards departing players, charity work or just showing up at a Pride-parade, I've never felt they're just going through the motions for publicity. Sure it's ALSO publicity, but I've grown to trust that they do care, and they do try. In general they even handle things with class.
It would not surprise me if they're behind the pack in this stuff right now. The Flames identity has long been kind of hard-nosed, a place where you practice hard and work hard, and that sort of stuff can easily attract certain types of a-holes who think players just need to just be pushed harder and harder if they're not performing.
However, I don't see them as the kind of organization that buries problems, and I fully trust that they're not going to do that here.
One reason I trust they'll handle this right is the way players speak about Treliving. They sound to me like they have a lot of respect for him, and that kind of respect usually goes both ways.