Enough with “optics.”
The idea that sports teams should make decisions based on how they look rather than the logical deduction that got them there — assuming there is a logical deduction — is asinine. The moment any decision is made in hopes of looking like it’s the right thing rather than being the right thing, that’s when there is serious trouble.
So good for the Bruins for firing coach Claude Julien on Tuesday, when they thought it was necessary, and not letting the fact the Patriots’ Super Bowl parade was going on in Boston that day get in the way. And shame on the Boston media for bombarding general manager Don Sweeney with questions about the timing.
“I apologize that it fell on a day where obviously New England is incredibly excited,” Sweeney said on a conference call, “but I didn’t make the schedule.”
So was the announcement timed so Sweeney could bury the story, as the optometrists might have you believe? Or did he do it because he was upset with his underachieving team and they had four days off, a perfect time for interim head coach Bruce (not Butch) Cassidy to run a practice and get his legs under him? Or because Sweeney thought his team needed a jolt and Julien’s message was wearing thin in his 10th season behind the Bruins bench? Or because the Atlantic Division is weak and getting weaker, and he thought this was a good time for his team to wake up and get out of the wild-card slot while giving chase to the Maple Leafs and Senators in front of them?
“We have a real opportunity to step back from the emotion of this and allow the players to get away and vacate mentally and physically,” Sweeney said.
This isn’t about if Sweeney was correct in firing Julien, who is a terrific coach and shouldn’t struggle to find work — as long as the Bruins allow him to speak to other teams (he still has two years left on his contract). It’s about him having to justify the timing because of what was going on in the city.
Venerable Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy opened his scathing piece with this: “The Bruins should never be forgiven for the stunt they pulled Tuesday morning.” Later he added: “This is the Bruins telling you that they do not care about anyone, or anything, other than the Bruins. They’re all about the business of the Bruins.”
Um, what? Why should the Bruins care about anything other than the Bruins?
There is murkiness whenever a coach is fired. No one wants to disrespect an employee who put so much time and effort into his job, especially not one like Julien, who won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011 and made the playoffs in his first seven years (just not the last two).
Trying to lessen the blow, some double-speak inevitably arises, just as the Islanders displayed when they axed Jack Capuano on Jan. 17 and said they could then start their coaching search in earnest. Yeah, January is a good time to start searching for a coach.
But that was a failed spin on “optics,” not wanting it to look as if they fired Capuano because they didn’t think he was doing a good job. But why is there this need to say something so obviously misleading? Why did Sweeney have to apologize for the timing of his decision?
“I’m always thinking about optics,” Sweeney said, “but I’m not going to make a decision based on that.”
Thank goodness. Now if everyone can get off their “optics” high horse, we can get back to ripping Sweeney for trading Dougie Hamilton.
For those who have said the NHL has turned into the No Hits League, I bring three exhibits from the past week, all legal.
Exhibit A: Mark Scheifele getting crushed by Nikita Zadorov:
pic.twitter.com/VX6aeLw9hD
- Robert Söderlind (@HockeyWebCast) February 5, 2017
Exhibit B: Jason Spezza getting hammered (and hurt) by Adam Lowry:
spezza gets rocked by lowry pic.twitter.com/lkbVbyoX6C
- Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) February 3, 2017
And then this epic Adam McQuaid-Matt Martin fight, which ended thusly:
Ouch. pic.twitter.com/g4OC1eMmSp
- Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) February 5, 2017
Oh, and John Tortorella thinks the league’s concussion protocol “makes zero sense.” Go figure.
Hard to remember a front-office person denying a story as vehemently as Coyotes president and CEO Anthony LeBlanc did this week. After the Glendale Star reported team personnel toured KeyArena in Seattle and the Moda Center in Portland in hopes of finding a new home — the Coyotes just struck out on a new deal in Tempe, Ariz. — LeBlanc went on a local radio show and ripped the story to pieces.
“It couldn’t be farther from the truth,” he said. “It is 100 percent false, and to go back to my political references, [President Donald Trump] referred to a judge as a ‘so-called judge.’ I actually refer to this newspaper as a ‘so-called newspaper’ about a year ago. There is absolutely no facts whatsoever in that story.”
Well, OK then.
… to the Sharks. Turns out Joe Thornton just scored his first goal against a goalie all season, and they’re still in first place in Pacific Division. A lot of that has to do with All-Star goalie Martin Jones, who is at the top of the list for saves of the year with this beauty in overtime against the Coyotes.
Just in case things weren’t going poorly enough for the Stars, there was Jiri Hudler on Thursday night scoring on his own empty net. Turns out the opponent, the Senators, couldn’t get enough of it either. Yikes!