Melnyk: I won't let Karlsson go to the 2018 Olympics because he's Swedish

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

He is not being intentionally xenophobic, I agree. But his inadvertent prejudice is still unacceptable.

Xenophobia is the hating or fearing "others".

Paying a guy 7million bucks a year and saying you are afraid of him getting hurt doesn't fit the definition of that, or prejudice.

Obviously a really stupid thing to say on Melnyk's part, but it's neither of those things.

[Geeoff]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

If you replace sweden with kenya, his statement would be straight up racial discrimination.

I don't wanna seem racist but I don't think Kenya has much of chance of beating Canada at hockey.

[Northendzone]

While I get where mean gene is coming from, it is still kind of dumb.

And why say something to annoy your employee, maybe Karl son dreams about an Olympic medal more than winning the cup.

[Enoch Root]

It wasn't racist and it wasn't xenophobic, it was just stupid (and you guys are seriously guilty of crying wolf here).

All he had to do was say nothing, or stick to the cliches. "I don't want to see my players injured - that wouldn't be good for our fans"

Or: "injuries are obviously a big part of it, we'll see how it goes"

So he's an idiot.

But please, can we keep the race card in our pockets until its needed?

[Steveyoto]

I think it is kind of endearing as a fan for him to be so patriotic. I do not agree with him, I do however think he makes a good point.

I think he qualifies his statement well enough to clearly establish he is being patriotic not xenophobic. It is not illegal or immoral to support your country in winning olympic gold....

[PepsiFree]

Racism and xenophobia? Come on people. Cite your sources here because neither of those things are relevant to the conversation.

The only point he had outside the injury angle was not wanting to strengthen a team that would be playing against the team he (and most Ottawa fans) would be cheering for. That's not xenophobic and it's not even arguably related to racism in any way. At worst, it's a good way to make the relationship with Karlsson a rocky one come next contract signing. That's it.

Things like this are why people make "triggered" memes.

[FlamingHomer]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

I don't wanna seem racist but I don't think Kenya has much of chance of beating Canada at hockey.

You obviously aren't aware of the new IIHF rule then. "If the game is still tied after a 5 minute overtime each team will have 3 players run a marathon."

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by MattyC

So if Karlsson leaves to play what's Melnyk going to do? Fire him?

Lol.

Its a good question as Ovechkin and others have said they are going regardless.

If they do go, its obviously a breach of contract...thats a no-brainer.

The league will not allow that to happen without penalty. I would guess that at some point we hear a declaration form the league offices that any player who leaves him team mid season to play elsewhere, will face a pretty heavy suspension upon their return. 8 games or something along those lines IMO.

If they do go and get signifgantly injured, I would suspect, depending on the player and the team, they would have their contracts terminated completely for breach.

Will be interesting to follow.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Its a good question as Ovechkin and others have said they are going regardless.

If they do go, its obviously a breach of contract...thats a no-brainer.

The league will not allow that to happen without penalty. I would guess that at some point we hear a declaration form the league offices that any player who leaves him team mid season to play elsewhere, will face a pretty heavy suspension upon their return. 8 games or something along those lines IMO.

If they do go and get signifgantly injured, I would suspect, depending on the player and the team, they would have their contracts terminated completely for breach.

Will be interesting to follow.

I'm a fan of anarchy so I would really enjoy a mass of star players packing up and leaving the biggest hockey league in the world mid season for a tournament. It would be great.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Its a good question as Ovechkin and others have said they are going regardless.

If they do go, its obviously a breach of contract...thats a no-brainer.

The league will not allow that to happen without penalty. I would guess that at some point we hear a declaration form the league offices that any player who leaves him team mid season to play elsewhere, will face a pretty heavy suspension upon their return. 8 games or something along those lines IMO.

If they do go and get signifgantly injured, I would suspect, depending on the player and the team, they would have their contracts terminated completely for breach.

Will be interesting to follow.

A suspension would still hurt the team more than the player for the vast majority of players going to the Olympics.

A fine? The max is $2500 IIRC. Chump change for these guys.

If I was Karlsson/Ovechkin/any player of that level I would be flipping them the bird and going to play, personally.

[iggy_oi]

Nothing to see here, just a stupid comment by an owner. Every other owner and gm likely feels somewhat the same way but you won't see someone like Yzerman or Murray Edwards say it; they'll stick to the script bettman has given them.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

If you replace sweden with kenya, his statement would be straight up racial discrimination.

Just when I Thought Melnyk's comment would be the stupidest thing I read today....