More Questions for Karmanos
by Bob Wage on Jan 16, 2009 11:02 AM EST
10 comments
There is still plenty of talk around town about Hurricanes owner, Peter Karmanos' visit to Raleigh yesterday. Many fans will be happy when he returns to Detroit.
While the candid CEO certainly has the right to his opinions, one has to wonder what purpose his controversial statements served on Thursday. Just how clever is it to publicly crucify your ex-coach, who is still under contract for two more years? Wouldn't it have made better financial sense to at least wait until he had acquired another job before attempting to ruin his reputation?
If Mr. Karmanos is still considering taking over the marketing of the team, perhaps he should reconsider his position. His brief public appearance yesterday did much more to harm future marketing efforts than he could have imagined.
A couple of the statements made yesterday were a bit inconsistent and should have been met with some followup questions.
- If the Hurricanes only managed to win in 2006 because they "caught lightning in a bottle" and Martin Gerber stood on his head all year, then how did they win in the playoffs when Gerber was "ill"?
- If Martin Gerber was truly the key to winning the Cup, then why did they let him walk to Ottawa after the Cup win? Shouldn't they have made re-signing him a priority?
- Karmanos said that there were "several" players like Eric Belanger whom the ex-coach failed to evaluate properly, yet he didn't mention who they were. Who are the other players? Trevor Letowski? Jeff Hamilton? Please name some names of the other superstars who were improperly evaluated.
There seems to be little doubt that Karmanos and Laviolette did not see eye to eye on things, but the whole public airing of this is mind-boggling as well as unprofessional. Yet even afterwards, Karmanos claims that he likes the ex-coach, as a person. Which leads to one more question.
With friends like that, who needs enemies?
Luke DeCock has a nice column today regarding the owner's statements. As usual, the writer makes some valid points.
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As I posted in Cory’s blog I think that possibly Lavi has done a recent interview that Karmonas has heard about (probably with TSN) and is throwing him under the bus first. Just a thought. If not, it just doesn’t make sense for him to suddenly come out now with these statements unless he is sending a message to the players or even JR.
Makes you want to go hmmm…
C
by Caron on Jan 16, 2009 11:18 AM EST reply actions
well…. PK and JR have always done a great job at passing the oll buck… It can’t be their fault if the team missed the playoffs the past two seasons… so it has to be someones fault… Why not blame the guy who is no longer there?
I have no doubt that PL needed to GO!!! However it is also obvious that he was never “in” the Pk-JR “good oll boys club.” He was an outsider in an organization that hires and promotes 99% of the time from…. THE INSIDE (cue Darth Vader music)… And from that point of view I say that they guy never really stood a chance.
But on the other hand (a point I made in the other blog on this topic) There was a reason why our team chemistry fell apart the season after the cup… There was a reason the team chemistry has NEVER recovered… and there was a reason why he was thrown off the island in New York before he came here…
Karmonos should go back in his cave and come back out to see the light of day when he decides to spend some money to give us a winning team to cheer for….
Sidebar: You can’t lose 4 in a row and come out talking crap about the former coach on the same day!!!!
by Mateo on Jan 16, 2009 12:36 PM EST reply actions
Sounds like PK should be behind the bench, maybe? Then we can get Belanger and the Adams family back, maybe even Nikos Tselios too while we’re at it! Plus all the Plymouth Whalers we can handle.
Four straight losses, 20 goals against in those games — did PK just torpedo the ship? How will the players respond? It also sounds like his views on “we’re a playoff team right now” means no major trades, either.
by Archivalist on Jan 16, 2009 12:38 PM EST reply actions
I don’t think Lavi has any interest in getting into the blame game — that doesn’t help him get a new job in any way. PK just did a boneheaded thing, IMO.
Bubba — great points on the “fourth line centers” stuff. Where are Letowski and Hamilton right now? The KHL and AHL, respectively.
Luke nails it, though I think he picked the wrong example when calling Cole-for-Pitkanen a deal that’s an example of a team unwilling to spend. Pitkanen still makes $4 million average, but is here for less than Ron Hainsey makes in Atlanta, and I’d take Joni over him any day of the week.
by Cory on Jan 16, 2009 12:41 PM EST reply actions
Karmamos is just spewing the same venom that today’s sports owners think helps the situation. Can’t PK take a look at Jerry Jones to see how comments like this hurts and distracts team chemistry? Moron in my opinion.
by Fred on Jan 16, 2009 1:13 PM EST reply actions
The “we’re a playoff team right now” line was a direct EXCUSE… it translates in English as: We aren’t going to trade for bigger, tougher, or (God Forbid) Better… And we aren’t going to spend money either… so forget it… we’re good enough already."
It’s just that he doesn’t always put things into English that us-folks-down-here can understand wink wink
by Mateo on Jan 16, 2009 1:28 PM EST reply actions
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that pretty much every Stanley Cup winning team has been about ‘lightning in a bottle’, in the sense that all the right ingredients were there and came through at the same time to achieve a common goal. This is why the Yankees can’t buy championships every year – you can’t buy lightning in a bottle. I don’t think it’s a disparaging remark at all.
In the NHL, I think there are 2 franchises which are exceptions to this rule: The Detroit Red Wings and the NJ Devils.
I think that Colorado, although they won multiple cups, was definitely a confluence of excellent timing helped by the Lindros trade.
by repenttokyo on Jan 16, 2009 1:38 PM EST reply actions
Yep Cory, I agree with you about that point. It seems like Luke can not get over the fact that the Canes traded Erik Cole. He seems to dwell on that. Otherwise I like the article.
I also agree with you Mateo, the “We are a playoff team now” statement most likely means, “what you see is what you get, we aren’t spending any more money this year”.
by Bubba on Jan 16, 2009 1:41 PM EST reply actions
Repent, I agree totally about buying “lightning in a bottle.”
by marc on Jan 16, 2009 3:38 PM EST reply actions
Lavy was replaced with Curly, Larry and Mo. Mo, a decent coach, is simply a yes man for Karmoron. Check out the stock performace of Compuware between 2001-2007, one of the longest bull markets in this country’s history. went simply sideways BEFORE the downturn started in October 2007. Simply put, most any other Chairmen would have been replaced and his son definitely wouldn’y be employed because of what his daddy owned. Sell the team to Goodnight, boot Rutherford, get Lavy back with some real talent and let’s win another Championship.
by Brent on Jan 18, 2009 2:21 PM EST reply actions
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