The most interesting aspects of today's Philadelphia Daily News article by gossip columnist Dan Gross are not the allegations that the alleged off-ice habits of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter hastened their departures from the club.

What I find fascinating is that two teammates anonymously went into great detail to a non-sports writer about Peter Laviolette's "Dry Island" policy and the players' refusal to cooperate. Of greater note is the fact that Paul Holmgren confirmed the Dry Island story while also expressing outrage that players took something like this beyond the bounds of the locker room and noting that Richards and Carter were not the only non-participants.

My take on this is that whatever players told Gross did so knowing that his particular line of work -- sordid as it may be -- requires complete protection of sources. It is also insulated and removed from beat writers and others who are around the team and players on a regular basis. The sources could truly be anonymous around everyone they see in their workplace.

Unfortunately, by hiding their names from being attached to the story -- which goes beyond talking off the record about hockey-related issues within the locker room -- the two players involved didn't just throw their former teammates under the bus. They opened everyone else up to a "Was it him? Was it HIM?" guessing game about the sources of the gossip. That's pretty unfair, in my opinion.

As far as the actual trades go, I think there were a variety of issues at play, but there were mostly long-term hockey-related and salary-cap related motives at work.

The fact that there were divisions within the Flyers' locker room was a poorly kept secret as was the notion that the team's off-season moves would indirectly reveal where some of the problems lay. However, how many people honestly suspected that both Carter AND Richards would be traded? I certainly did not.

My view of players' off-ice activities remains the same: Unless their behaviors are illegal or otherwise get in the way of their ability to come to the rink and perform their jobs, it's a non-story as far as I'm concerned. However, no players should put themselves above the team-- the exception is for serious family-related or major health/injury issues.

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