TSN: 2 teammates independently corroborate Akim Aliu's allegations against Peters

[Oling_Roachinen]

How long does it really take an innocent person in this situation to make a statement? I know, I know, lawyers going to lawyer but I think this is a case of silence being deafening despite a certain Peters supporter wanting to "wait for the facts."

I suspect that 99.999999% of people on this board were accused of using a severely racially-derogatory word aimed at a minority coworker it would take us all of three seconds to release a statement/tweet to the effect of:

"I did not use that word during my employment, and certainly never aimed it at anyone under my authority. I'm happy to cooperate with any investigation of this troubling accusations. I will comment more fully at a later time."

[Flash Walken]

Peters doesn't gain anything from talking right now.

Neither do the flames.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

This gif meme is all wrong. If you're giffing squirrelly Dan, then the proper usage is "allegedlys".

Ugh, now it bugs me even more.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

I think the disconnect is the assumption being made is if the Flames / Treliving knew about the type of coach Peter's is, the racism aside, that they wouldn't have hired him.

I'm going to guess, that the bullying that is being talked about now, or at least a fairly large % of it was known to the Flames when they hired him. I'm going to guess, it's also not unique to Peter's and is fairly common still in the NHL and hockey. We already know Babcock is in this boat, there was no shortage of Bob Hartley bully stories floating around (I smell chocolate) and we even have an image somewhere in here showing a current successful NHL coach punching a player in the helmet. I'm going to wager that his reputation was not anything the hockey world would find alarming (again only referring to the bullying) and was actually at least in part what BT was looking for when he hired a "hard nose coach" to replace the "players coach" this team totally shat the bed for.

I think it's also worth flagging, that Babcock was not fired because he was a bully, he was fired because he was losing, same with Bob Hartley when we let him go. If Peter's is let go later today or tomorrow it also won't be because he was a bully, it will be because they verified accounts of him being a racist.

Anyway, all this talk of did the BT or the Flames know is silly. If they knew about the racism...........then I'm very disappointed and others need to be held accountable also. As for the other stuff, I'd say it's safe to say the Flames new about at least some of his tactics.....tactics that have likely been quite acceptable for a long time in hockey.

Doesn't mean that we have to accept that moving forward, time for change, but I also don't think the Flames need to be drug to the mat for the decision to hire a hard nose coach, other than the fact that hiring one may not drive the on ice performance you'd like it to anymore in today's NHL.

You make some good points but this isn’t about hiring a “hard nosed” coach as I think we will learn that Peters reputation was worse than that.

The Hartley hire was a joke, hired only because he was close friends with the GM. That guy was done with the league and Feaster should be appropriately lit up over that hiring.

If Treliving thought Peters tactics would work in today’s NHL then I have no problem with him being held accountable for that decision. That doesn’t mean I’m firing him for it, but nor does it team he shouldn’t have to explain himself pretty thoroughly to the guys he works for. And if it was me, I’d have some tough questions for him.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by fleury

I want to bring up Neal's departure again because I've been theorizing his departure was because of miscommunication with management. Surely he played badly last year, but the fact that he wasn't able to start fresh with management to start the season, and they got Lucic instead, says to me that there was a breakdown in communication all around. Now you see this year how many on the team haven't been playing up to par and you do wonder if it's him being old school and maybe Treliving not listening to the voice of the players. Has nothing to do with racism in this case, but just a bad people person.

I could see it as Treliving turning his cheek knowing what he shelled out for Neal, and how vastly he underperformed, siding with "his guy" Peters as far as the decision to not give Neal another season here. Definitely not unheard of in a lot of workplaces. As a manager that is overseeing things i do think its important to remain impartial and listen to all sides even if someone has an issue with your hand picked staff/coach.

I don't know though. I don't know how much of Bill's past coaching tactics that were over the line are spilling over into his current tenure with the Flames and whether or not Neal was treated unfairly or whether it was standard tough love due to his performance.

The next few games should spell out to us how the players really felt.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by fleury

I want to bring up Neal's departure again because I've been theorizing his departure was because of miscommunication with management. Surely he played badly last year, but the fact that he wasn't able to start fresh with management to start the season, and they got Lucic instead, says to me that there was a breakdown in communication all around. Now you see this year how many on the team haven't been playing up to par and you do wonder if it's him being old school and maybe Treliving not listening to the voice of the players. Has nothing to do with racism in this case, but just a bad people person.

...he made a racist comment about Neal's music?

James Neal is barely relevant in this conversation

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Wish I could go one day without hearing about or reading about religion. It's even gumming up a hockey forum.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

The Hartley hire was a joke, hired only because he was close friends with the GM. That guy was done with the league and Feaster should be appropriately lit up over that hiring.

A Jack Adams trophy and winning a playoff series is a joke?

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

A Jack Adams trophy and winning a playoff series is a joke?

Only the 5th coach in franchise history to win a playoff series.

Had to edit, forgot about Big Al in the Flames first year.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Peters doesn't gain anything from talking right now.

I'm not sure I agree. Certainly a guilty Peters would gain nothing. That I agree with. He would be looked at as just not a racist but a lying scumbag as well once/if more and more people vouched for Aliu and the story could get larger and former teammates rush to Aliu's defense. He would lose his ability to claim that he's changed and apologize "sincerely" for his actions if he's denying they happened. And then he would be doing something during the course of his employment with the Flames, in this case lying, that could give fuel to the likely ethical violation termination in his contract.

But an innocent Peters would have nothing to lose because it would be true. The longer he remains silent the more and more it appears he did it and is hiding, waiting to see who else will come forward, or trying to come up with something that will paint him in a better light. Maybe not to everyone, but certainly people like me and this really comes down to public perception and the perception of him isn't good and the narrative isn't stopping. Talks, at least in my circle, have appeared to shift from whether he did it to what to do now that he did it (because of the two corroborating witnesses) So I do think he had something to gain.

I hate to say lack of evidence is evidence in itself, but if someone can't just say that they never called a black player the N word, something is fishy. Of course it would really suck for Peters if he was completely innocent.

And goes without saying but this is about public perception, not a court of law, I would never suggest talking to the police without getting a lawyer.

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Only the 4th coach in franchise history to win a playoff series.

Times are depressing enough for Flames fans without you dragging this factoid out on us.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by fleury

I want to bring up Neal's departure again because I've been theorizing his departure was because of miscommunication with management. Surely he played badly last year, but the fact that he wasn't able to start fresh with management to start the season, and they got Lucic instead, says to me that there was a breakdown in communication all around. Now you see this year how many on the team haven't been playing up to par and you do wonder if it's him being old school and maybe Treliving not listening to the voice of the players. Has nothing to do with racism in this case, but just a bad people person.

I dunno about "breakdown in communication", but the Neal story is pretty simple for me: He signed here, expecting to spend the season being fed easy goals by Monahan and Gaudreau. Instead, Lindholm came in and showed himself to be a much better player for that line. Neal responded by, frankly, quitting on the team. I'm not sad Neal is gone, though it still irritates me that Treliving went out to get an even worse player in his place.

Communication doesn't really mean much when you're dealing with someone who spent an entire season pouting because he didn't get the top line spot he expected.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Split98

...he made a racist comment about Neal's music?

James Neal is barely relevant in this conversation

I think it's very relevant. Management not willing to listen to players needs, and things not working out because of it is very much what happened potentially. In this case burying Neal much like Aliu, except Neal has clout. Combined with what we're hearing now happened in Carolina, how can you not say it's potentially relevant?

[bluejays]

Of course the main insider who has many contacts to dig up stories and actually report things that are relevant, Bobby McKenzie is silent about this all, with only offering questions about how people will approach this. No ####. I wish these insiders put their neck out on the line like Frank Seravelli just did. Do your job Bob instead of asking redundant questions that everyone already figured! Lackey.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by fleury

I think it's very relevant. Management not willing to listen to players needs, and things not working out because of it is very much what happened potentially. In this case burying Neal much like Aliu, except Neal has clout. Combined with what we're hearing now happened in Carolina, how can you not say it's potentially relevant?

Based on everything I have heard this is nothing remotely close to what happened between the Flames and James Neal.

[Dr. Doom]

I mean if the guy is racist abusive kicking and punching people what are we talking about here... fire his ass

The stories must be many

Makes me wonder why he was hired in the first place

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Based on everything I have heard this is nothing remotely close to what happened between the Flames and James Neal.

what have you heard went on between the flames and james neal?

[stang]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

what have you heard went on between the flames and james neal?

I’m also interested .

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Dr. Doom

I mean if the guy is racist abusive kicking and punching people what are we talking about here... fire his ass

The stories must be many

Makes me wonder why he was hired in the first place

The anti-Gulutzan

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

what have you heard went on between the flames and james neal?

I won't talk about it. But I also feel it is important to point out that Neal was totally responsible for his failure to perform in Calgary. Period. It had nothing to do with management and coaches failing to accommodate him.