Rob who?
The Leafs had a tough 3-2 OT loss to the Blues the other day, a game that I think we probably should have won.
The Blues have now won 11 in a row. So we were running into the hottest team in hockey on their home ice. And in the first period, things looked rather bleak for us. The Blues came out guns blazing, looking every bit like the team that had won the previous 10 straight, including the past three by shutouts. Man, we got pushed around pretty hard, and Nazem Kadri, who's supposed to be one of our tough dudes, had to leave the game with a concussion. Johnsson just came back from his leg injury, and we had a couple of other scares, too, with Dermott and Rielly getting banged up.
Though they're the bad guys, I like the Blues' defense. They have pretty good size and offensive firepower back there, with Pietrangelo, Parayko, Dunn and Edmundson. Tarasenko has been brilliant over the past couple of weeks, which has been a boon to one of my four fantasy hockey teams. Rookie goalie Binnington has been playing out of his mind, too. Not sure if his play is sustainable, but this will be a fun team to watch come playoffs.
Anyway, if you're wondering about my headline here, it's in reference to this story.
For those who don't want to bother clicking, Rob Schremp, a former teammate of John Tavares' with the Islanders, took to Twitter to throw JT under the bus and called him "the ultimate 'I did my job' kind of superstar... he just collects HIS points and HIS awards." (Caps his)
Now, this article, mostly about the current NYI players' reaction, was posted around 1 a.m. Thursday my time. It was filed from Calgary, where the Isles were to play the Flames and where it would have been 9 a.m. Wednesday.
My day usually ends the same way it starts: with reading. I usually finish up my sports reading by night and go to whatever novel or non-fiction book I am reading at the time to round up my day. But sometimes, I check back on sports news just to see if there's anything interesting in the morning hours from that end.
So when I saw the article, without any prior knowledge of Schremp's tweet, my reaction went something like this.
"That's strange. I've never heard anyone say anything bad about Tavares."
And then...
"Who the hell is Rob Schremp??"
I take pride in knowing my hockey. The Leafs are obviously my favorite team, but I also pay attention to the rest of the league. Playing fantasy hockey helps, too.
But on the other hand, playing fantasy hockey means I get to learn more about top-six forwards or top-four defensemen types who actually put up decent numbers (enough to merit a spot on fantasy teams) than about checking line centers or No. 6 defensemen.
Little wonder, then, that I wasn't familiar with Schremp. The name didn't come close to ringing a bell.
So I looked him up. He had one full season with the Isles in 2010-11 with 63 games. He was a first-round pick by the Oilers in 2004 but only appeared in seven games for them across three seasons before getting waived and picked up by the Isles. His last NHL game came with the Atlanta Thrashers (!) in 2011.
In other words, the guy was a scrub.
Now, I am not trying to knock him for having been a terrible NHL player, nor is this to say bad players aren't allowed to publicly criticize former teammates. We're all entitled to our opinions.
Schremp played 89 games with the Islanders. Not sure if Tavares was there for all 89 of those. Either way, I am not sure that's enough time spent with a teammate to make such damning comments about him in public.
Schremp later tried to clarify his comments on Toronto radio, though he sounded pretty nervous doing it and mostly went the "I am entitled to my views and I stand by them" route.
Schremp also said he saw a little difference between someone of John's caliber and Sidney Crosby. Now, that's just an unfair comparison. You're talking about an all-time great player there. As much as I love watching Tavares and respect his well-known work ethic and professionalism, he'll never be Crosby. But in terms of skills, leadership and intangibles, etc, you can say that about pretty much every other active player. No one comes close to Crosby. Even Connor McDavid isn't quite the complete two-way center than Sid is. If Schremp wanted to defend his views on Tavares, that was not a very smart way to go about it.
Schremp said he didn't expect his tweet to cause such a stir. He's either lying or being rather naive. Welcome to the year 2019. When you're a former NHL player criticizing a prominent player on a prominent team playing in a hockey-crazed market, it's bound to get picked up. Canadian hockey media die for stories like these.
With the Leafs on their way back from a long road trip, Tavares hasn't had a chance to respond to this in the media. As far as I can tell, he doesn't really have social media presence. Not that he'd be the kind of guy who'd get into a spat with a former teammate on Twitter. He's too nice and gentle to stoop to the level of Schremp.
If Tavares had a couple of Stanley Cup titles to his name, he could have channeled his inner Patrick Roy and follow in the footsteps of this great goalie.
That's one of my all-time favorite sports quotes. "I couldn't really hear what Jeremy said because I got my two Stanley Cup rings plugging my ears." Cracks me every time.
Nah, again, Tavares is too nice. He isn't in Roy's mold. They're just two different personalities. JT would never say things like that, at least not in public.
Well, maybe he'll win a couple of Cups with the Leafs and have his couple of rings plug his ears someday.
The Blues have now won 11 in a row. So we were running into the hottest team in hockey on their home ice. And in the first period, things looked rather bleak for us. The Blues came out guns blazing, looking every bit like the team that had won the previous 10 straight, including the past three by shutouts. Man, we got pushed around pretty hard, and Nazem Kadri, who's supposed to be one of our tough dudes, had to leave the game with a concussion. Johnsson just came back from his leg injury, and we had a couple of other scares, too, with Dermott and Rielly getting banged up.
Though they're the bad guys, I like the Blues' defense. They have pretty good size and offensive firepower back there, with Pietrangelo, Parayko, Dunn and Edmundson. Tarasenko has been brilliant over the past couple of weeks, which has been a boon to one of my four fantasy hockey teams. Rookie goalie Binnington has been playing out of his mind, too. Not sure if his play is sustainable, but this will be a fun team to watch come playoffs.
Anyway, if you're wondering about my headline here, it's in reference to this story.
(That's my man in the middle!)
For those who don't want to bother clicking, Rob Schremp, a former teammate of John Tavares' with the Islanders, took to Twitter to throw JT under the bus and called him "the ultimate 'I did my job' kind of superstar... he just collects HIS points and HIS awards." (Caps his)
Now, this article, mostly about the current NYI players' reaction, was posted around 1 a.m. Thursday my time. It was filed from Calgary, where the Isles were to play the Flames and where it would have been 9 a.m. Wednesday.
My day usually ends the same way it starts: with reading. I usually finish up my sports reading by night and go to whatever novel or non-fiction book I am reading at the time to round up my day. But sometimes, I check back on sports news just to see if there's anything interesting in the morning hours from that end.
So when I saw the article, without any prior knowledge of Schremp's tweet, my reaction went something like this.
"That's strange. I've never heard anyone say anything bad about Tavares."
And then...
"Who the hell is Rob Schremp??"
I take pride in knowing my hockey. The Leafs are obviously my favorite team, but I also pay attention to the rest of the league. Playing fantasy hockey helps, too.
But on the other hand, playing fantasy hockey means I get to learn more about top-six forwards or top-four defensemen types who actually put up decent numbers (enough to merit a spot on fantasy teams) than about checking line centers or No. 6 defensemen.
Little wonder, then, that I wasn't familiar with Schremp. The name didn't come close to ringing a bell.
So I looked him up. He had one full season with the Isles in 2010-11 with 63 games. He was a first-round pick by the Oilers in 2004 but only appeared in seven games for them across three seasons before getting waived and picked up by the Isles. His last NHL game came with the Atlanta Thrashers (!) in 2011.
In other words, the guy was a scrub.
Now, I am not trying to knock him for having been a terrible NHL player, nor is this to say bad players aren't allowed to publicly criticize former teammates. We're all entitled to our opinions.
Schremp played 89 games with the Islanders. Not sure if Tavares was there for all 89 of those. Either way, I am not sure that's enough time spent with a teammate to make such damning comments about him in public.
Schremp later tried to clarify his comments on Toronto radio, though he sounded pretty nervous doing it and mostly went the "I am entitled to my views and I stand by them" route.
Schremp also said he saw a little difference between someone of John's caliber and Sidney Crosby. Now, that's just an unfair comparison. You're talking about an all-time great player there. As much as I love watching Tavares and respect his well-known work ethic and professionalism, he'll never be Crosby. But in terms of skills, leadership and intangibles, etc, you can say that about pretty much every other active player. No one comes close to Crosby. Even Connor McDavid isn't quite the complete two-way center than Sid is. If Schremp wanted to defend his views on Tavares, that was not a very smart way to go about it.
Schremp said he didn't expect his tweet to cause such a stir. He's either lying or being rather naive. Welcome to the year 2019. When you're a former NHL player criticizing a prominent player on a prominent team playing in a hockey-crazed market, it's bound to get picked up. Canadian hockey media die for stories like these.
With the Leafs on their way back from a long road trip, Tavares hasn't had a chance to respond to this in the media. As far as I can tell, he doesn't really have social media presence. Not that he'd be the kind of guy who'd get into a spat with a former teammate on Twitter. He's too nice and gentle to stoop to the level of Schremp.
If Tavares had a couple of Stanley Cup titles to his name, he could have channeled his inner Patrick Roy and follow in the footsteps of this great goalie.
That's one of my all-time favorite sports quotes. "I couldn't really hear what Jeremy said because I got my two Stanley Cup rings plugging my ears." Cracks me every time.
Nah, again, Tavares is too nice. He isn't in Roy's mold. They're just two different personalities. JT would never say things like that, at least not in public.
Well, maybe he'll win a couple of Cups with the Leafs and have his couple of rings plug his ears someday.
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