Sending a Canadiens veteran back to Laval? A goalie once refused to accompany his teammates on the bus and this is an example that speaks volumes
Wednesday morning, during his appearance on Jean-Charles Lajoie's Premier Compteur on BPM Sports, the colorful Bob Hartley had another quote of his own.
The former coach responded to Lajoie who expressed his idea of sending a veteran, such as Hoffman, Dadonov or Drouin, with the Laval Rocket after passing waivers.
Later in the day, Anthony Marcotte, who follows the activities of the Laval Rocket, reacted to Hartley's reply. This was followed by a rather revealing anecdote from a former CH goaltender who did a stint with the club-school. Here is what he had to say:
"Regarding what Bob Hartley just said, I won't name the player, because it wouldn't do much good, but I think it pretty much depicts what Bob Hartley in his response to Jean-Charles."
"The player, a multi-millionaire, with a contract for a few more valid seasons in the NHL, a goalie, ends up in the AHL and plays a game in Laval. The team would leave after the game to go home, a good distance to travel by bus. Bin the player in question, rather than reboarding the bus, he didn't tell anyone and chartered himself a plane..." - Anthony Marcotte
As Marcotte points out later in his commentary, this is great for team chemistry! With the reputation that Mike Hoffman has, do you really want him to do what this player is doing with the Rocket's youth?
On the other hand, the describer speaks with admiration of Karl Alzner's time with the Rocket, who has always been like a big brother to the players. The veteran defenseman would even hand out his per diem envelopes when the team was on the road to members of the organization who needed it more than he did.
According to Marcotte, this event seems to have happened in an opposing team and not at the Rocket. Otherwise, it would have been easy to name Keith Kinkaid as the mystery goalie, but he did not have a long-term contract with the CH in 2019-2020.
You can listen to the clip around the 44th minute here.
| POLL | ||
After reading the story, do you think a veteran forward should be put on waivers? | ||
| Yes | 119 | 78.3 % |
| No | 33 | 21.7 % |
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