Doesn't sound like a GM who is very supportive of his player. He's not even trying to hide it, which is pretty bad. Listen to how he's talked about all of the other players this week....even those who may not be here next season. There is a big difference in tone with how he speaks about everyone else vs. Fiala. It's like the kid stole his wife or ran over his dog or something.
Management Bill Guerin
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Would be better if he stole the dog and ran over the wife?
Is it at all possible there's something un the lockerroom we don't know? One thing for sure, fiala straight up quit in the playoffs..through his play, demeanor and lack of anything passion. Russo even tweeted at one point, fiala seems to have checked out
Fiala was no different than the rest of the team.
Russo saying anything about Fiala in his tweets needs to be taken with a grain of salt. He was Russo's whipping boy all season.
I don't know if it was the remnants of Russo's hatred of Fenton and Fiala bore the brunt of that. Or he knew Fiala was gone after this year and made him an easy target.
No worries, because after Fiala is gone, Russo will start posting every time he scores a goal. He likes to remind us of those things. Drove me effing mad how he had to praise Haula and Tuch every time they sneezed after being traded.
Nino after the Nino/Rask trade was worse imo. I stopped paying much attention to Russo's twitter during that timeframe. All he was good for pregame lineups for me.
I stopped reading his articles after he went to the athletic and became a shill not a reporter.
Dickie Dunn
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BuiumSaveUs
Danila Yurov Fan Club Executive Assistant
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You're right in a way. The rest of the team is under contract for next year.
Fiala was almost worse than a no show in the playoffs. Gave one of the best power play teams 7-8 power plays across the series. No other player came close.
Dee Oh Cee
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I guess it's a little refreshing to hear stuff that isn't typical GM speak but was chuckling at how all the local sports media was just gushing over the interview and that they love that, and what a great guy, and this guy just wants to win/etc.
I don't want to get into a huge in depth analysis, but what has Guerin done? Kaprizov, Zuccarello and Fiala were before him. Spurgeon, Dumba and Brodin all before. Hartman before. Ek before. Foligno before. Greenway before.
If we wants to use a great regular season as a talking point, what the hell did he have to do with any of that? Yes, the buyouts probably had a huge impact. But now they will deal with the ramifications. I think he's still mostly 'incomplete' in terms of a grade but this will be a big offseason.
The Fiala stuff (probably irrationally) infuriates me. Maybe there was stuff behind the scenes but this guy was treated poorly almost the entire year. First you make him play with Freddy Gaudreau and I don't even remember who else...funny, once Boldy joines the line he absolutely goes on a tear. I just don't get the treatment. Everyone on the team has turnovers but only his were highlighted over and over again.
The penalties in the series were rough, but 4 minutes of that was complete bad luck, and some were when the game was already over anyways. Highlighting him as the only bad part is completely ignoring so many other responsible parties.
There are definitely faults but I can't believe how poorly a star-type player was treated. I just don't get it especially if you are trying to trade him.
I don't want to get into a huge in depth analysis, but what has Guerin done? Kaprizov, Zuccarello and Fiala were before him. Spurgeon, Dumba and Brodin all before. Hartman before. Ek before. Foligno before. Greenway before.
If we wants to use a great regular season as a talking point, what the hell did he have to do with any of that? Yes, the buyouts probably had a huge impact. But now they will deal with the ramifications. I think he's still mostly 'incomplete' in terms of a grade but this will be a big offseason.
The Fiala stuff (probably irrationally) infuriates me. Maybe there was stuff behind the scenes but this guy was treated poorly almost the entire year. First you make him play with Freddy Gaudreau and I don't even remember who else...funny, once Boldy joines the line he absolutely goes on a tear. I just don't get the treatment. Everyone on the team has turnovers but only his were highlighted over and over again.
The penalties in the series were rough, but 4 minutes of that was complete bad luck, and some were when the game was already over anyways. Highlighting him as the only bad part is completely ignoring so many other responsible parties.
There are definitely faults but I can't believe how poorly a star-type player was treated. I just don't get it especially if you are trying to trade him.
I don't see anything wrong with what he said.. but then again I won't be sad to see Fiala go either.
DeagleJenkins
Registered User
i dont think he is bashing Fiala, i think he is defending Dumba to the fullest because he probably has talked with dumba about it and every single season dumba gets asked about it by Russo and other reporters. he sounds genuinely angry about all the media talk around dumba more so than being anti fiala.
Dr Jan Itor
Registered User
"It's about winning... the regular season".
No, we want to "run Dumba out of town" because Dumba's last good 3 months was 4-5 years ago.
Trying to defend his job... he knows he's here because Fletcher couldn't improve playoff success and Fenton just went off the rails.
Now he's seeing the same results as Fletcher, despite "the best regular season."
Well guess what Billy Big Balls... it's STILL about the playoffs. They can barely scratch into the playoffs as the bottom seed, but if they win a couple rounds, it's STILL a better season than we just had!
2002-2003 still remains the best season this franchise has had.
Sad People
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Man I dont see much of anything in that besides him defending Dumba and not defending Fiala
Its clear Dumba is one of his guys as he says at the very end "you know what im protecting my guys"
It sounds more like an annoyance at people speculating whats going on and what went on around the team/ whats going to happen with the team
The best regular season excuse is BS though its the playoffs that matter nobody now gives a crap we just had our best regular season in franchise history, No one remembers Golden Sates record setting season when they broke the Bulls 72 win season they just remember Lebron coming back from a 3-1 deficit to beat that Warrior team
Its clear Dumba is one of his guys as he says at the very end "you know what im protecting my guys"
It sounds more like an annoyance at people speculating whats going on and what went on around the team/ whats going to happen with the team
The best regular season excuse is BS though its the playoffs that matter nobody now gives a crap we just had our best regular season in franchise history, No one remembers Golden Sates record setting season when they broke the Bulls 72 win season they just remember Lebron coming back from a 3-1 deficit to beat that Warrior team
Agreed on the highlighted part
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Nothing specifically wrong with what he said. But it is quite obvious what is going to happen.
1- Defends Dumba. "Has done a lot for us. Played through injury." etc.
2- Referring to Fiala. "Because Kevin had 3 good months."
The one bad thing about that is other GMS s know what is going to happen as well. A shrewd operator would be entertaining offers for both, rather than tipping his hand.
1- Defends Dumba. "Has done a lot for us. Played through injury." etc.
2- Referring to Fiala. "Because Kevin had 3 good months."
The one bad thing about that is other GMS s know what is going to happen as well. A shrewd operator would be entertaining offers for both, rather than tipping his hand.
It was definitely strange how strongly he said "because Kevin had 3 good months". Maybe he knows someone really wants Dumba and he's trying to drive up the price. I doubt it, but it's possible.
Dr Jan Itor
Registered User
Would be interesting to see what he considers to be a great 3 months, if Kevin's were only good.
Spurgeon
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Let's just hope we get enough back to turn the team into something legit before Kaps contract is up.
