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Senators owner bashes Crosby for slash, calls for lengthy suspension
After Senators defenseman Marc Methot nearly had his finger severed by a Sidney Crosby slash on Thursday night, the blood in Ottawa continues to boil. Somehow, Sens owner Eugene Melnyk may actually be more hurt by the slash than Methot himself.
Melnyk made an appearance on TSN 1200 radio on Friday, and he was still clearly pissed. In addition to calling Crosby a "whiner," Melnyk said the league needed to "wipe the guy off the map" with a lengthy suspension, one that possibly ends his season.
https://twitter.com/HockeyWebCast/status/845336412752875521
“We all know who he is, the guy is just a whiner beyond belief and you do this kind of stuff...I don’t care who you are in the league," said Melnyk. "I don’t care if you’re the number one player in the league, you should sit out a long time for this kind of crap.”
“I think the only way to do it is you wipe the guy off the map. Not one or two games, (but) 10. How about a season for a few of these guys,” he said. “You take my guy, I take your guy. That’s my attitude.”
You can't blame the owner for being upset about losing a good player for a significant period of time this close to the postseason. You can't blame him for being pissed that a penalty wasn't called on the play. You can't blame him for wanting Crosby to face some consequences.
But you certainly can fault him for going about it the way that he has. He's coming off as a petulant child that is letting his emotions overrule the reality of the situation. That reality is that one of his better players suffered an injury on a pretty common, run-of-the-mill play that—although certainly worthy of a penalty—was not malicious, dirty or inexcusable.
The result was extremely unfortunate, and maybe it was bad enough to earn Crosby some discipline from the league. But let's be real here: the action itself wasn't anywhere near bad enough to warrant this kind of outrage towards Crosby or any other player in the NHL.
That being said, good luck trying to convince the league it should make a dramatic example out of its best player just prior to the playoffs.
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