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Dustin Brown Update (and why I feel he deserves better) +Bernier, Jets |
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It's the Friday before the deadline and historically one of the craziest days of the year....and away we go!
*On Dustin Brown... I can confirm the Flyers are in on Brown as are the Rangers, but I truly think the Sabres are the favorite with the Leafs a close 1A. I will definitely follow this all day. I do believe this deal HAS to get done before Saturday night. I do believe Dustin Brown will not wear a Kings jersey again. At least I hope the Kings have the decency to do so.
But above all I believe this...
I believe Dustin Brown deserves better than this. This guy has been your captain and leader for years. I covered him in the Olympics and the guy is a pure, solid hockey player and a straight up guy.
The Kings can say what they want, but the perception of a locker room power struggle between Mike Richard's Camp and Chris Pronger's camp, oops I mean Dustin Brown's camp is out there. How real it is was up for debate and should have remained up for debate. To make him suddenly available when you acquire Mike Richards close friend Jeff Carter could have been handled very differently...
I don't have any doubt that Mike Richards should be the captain of the LA Kings. For as difficult as Richards is to deal with from a media perspective, he is a phenomenal on-ice captain. He is absolutely loved and adored by his teammates. I have seen it. The captain position in hockey holds a heavier weight than any other sport for all sorts of reasons. I have heard people say "You need to put a C on a guy's chest in hockey so the normal polite hockey guy will feel like he has the right to step up and be more vocal than anyone else." Richards is a "leave-it-on-the-ice captain."
There is an interesting conversation I had with a player over lunch last season. We were talking off-the-record at the time about the Richards/Pronger situation and he said something that never occurred to me. "Mike Richards is a hell of a captain, but to no fault of his own he was coach Stevens captain. Not Laviolette's choice... Why is it when a GM gets fired, the new GM gets to name his own coach, but when a coach gets fired, the new coach doesn't get to name his own captain?"
In a similar way Dustin Brown is a captain from a previous coach and Mike Richards has a contract that should keep him in Los Angeles for a long time.
* On Bernier...
The Kings said last night he isn't going to be moved, but today I am hearing extremely strong rumors that the Tampa Bay Lightning are doing their best to change the Kings mind.
*On Winnipeg...
The Jets are starting to get aggressive today. they have interest in Brassard out of Columbus, and Armstrong out of Toronto
more to come....
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