Can you tell Peter Chiarelli used to be an agent?
On trading Aaron Ward to Carolina: "Frankly, I wouldn’t have traded him anywhere else but Carolina because that’s where his home is."
Aaron Ward's take: "I’m a little shocked. Obviously it’s my home, so it’s not a bad place to get traded to. But it wasn’t expected. I thought I was actually going to finish out my career in Boston."
On trading Phil Kessel to Toronto: "This trade was really about two things. One is a player who did not want to play in Boston."
Phil Kessel's take: "I never one time asked to be traded."
Chiarelli is almost political in his ability to send messages through the media. Play nice with Chia, and he'll go on record talking about how much the organization owes you. Play hardball, and you're going to be dragged through the evening news as a mean-spirited prick who deserved a trade to Siberia.
Of course, it the message is directed not at the media and not at the fans. The intended recipient is the players: those who are in the organization already, and those whom he plans to court in the future.
3 comments:
As others have said, the problem with the Kessel situation is that he essentially DID ask for a trade! He knew the Bruins cap situation and yet he still demanded 5M+ in salary and refused to negotiate. If that is not asking for a trade without saying as much, I don't know what is.
I wish Kessel was more direct about what he had asked from the Bruins. He says he never asked for a trade, he says he never asked for $5m. Then gets traded and signed for $5m.
Specifically I wish I knew what he was expecting Chiarelli to do in order to clear space for him. Was it his expectation that the Bruins would trade a core player in order to keep him?
This is from 'Two-Line Pass' via PuckDaddy from Monday morning.
""I never asked to be traded," said Kessel. Sure, I get that. Instead, all he did was demand a salary not befitting his stats that he knew the Bruins wouldn't be able to afford without clearing significant cap space that could be better used on players that aren't lazy, resistant to criticism, have an acute allergy to the defensive zone and milk injuries.
But no, he never asked to be traded because saying, "I know you can't afford this exorbitant number so do with that what you will," is not technically demanding a trade."
Sounds to me like he just did NOT want to play in Boston, just didn't have the ball(!) to actually demand a trade. Instead he pussyfooted around it with his refusal to negotiate.
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