Trow Brouwer thinks some of his Capitals teammates are selling out the players with their recent comments. (Getty Images) |
The ongoing NHL lockout has a lot of people unhappy.
The players are unhappy with the owners, the owners are unhappy with the players, the fans are unhappy with everybody because the owners and players can't figure out how to divide their $3.3 billion pie or settle contract rights.
Washington Capitals defenseman Roman Hamrlik, a 38-year-old veteran of three lockouts, just wants a deal so he can play hockey, while Capitals goalie Michal Neuvirth said the whole thing is just about several superstars with big contracts.
Their recent comments ruffled a few feathers among their fellow players. And that includes their Capitals teammate, Troy Brouwer. He told Katie Carrera of the Washington Post that he felt those two were selling the players out.
From the Post:
“Those are two guys that have never been on a conference call, never been to a meeting, never paid attention,” Brouwer told The Post in a telephone interview Thursday. “People are going to have their own opinions but when you’re fighting for something with 700 other guys, all you’re doing is just making it harder to make a deal and making it harder to accomplish the things we’re fighting for."
Brouwer also added: “Me being on their team, how am I going to trust them as a teammate from now on? Because you know they’re not going to support players in the big scheme of things when you go and you play on the team with them; it’s going to be tough to want to back those guys from now on.”
That seems a little over the top, of course, and once all of this lockout nonsense ends all of this will be forgotten.
Hamrlik told iSport out of the Czech Republic this week that if the NHL loses an entire season Donald Fehr should be replaced as head of the NHLPA.
"I am disgusted," Hamrlik told iSport, via a translation by Roman Jedlicka. "We have to push Fehr to the wall to get the deal. Time is against us. We lost 1/4 [of the] season, it is $425 million. Who will give it back to us? Mr. Fehr? There should be voting between players. Four questions -- yes or no -- then count it. If half of players say lets play, then they should sign new CBA. If there is no season he should leave and we will find someone new. Time is our enemy."
The positions -- and frustrations -- of both Hamrlik and Brouwer shouldn't be hard to understand.
For Brouwer, he's one of the Capitals' player reps and is doing what he feels is best for the greater good of the players. He has committed a lot of his time and energy to the negotiations. Of course, he's going to be frustrated when a player who hasn't committed what he has to negotiations sounds off and, in his mind, undermines the entire process.
For Hamrlik, well, he's simply a 38-year-old player who probably only has another year or two (at most) to play in the NHL. Losing another full season could potentially end his career. He's also a guy who has been through this multiple times and has lost nearly two full seasons of his NHL career (half a season in 1994-95, perhaps another half-season this year and a full season in 2004-05) to labor strife.
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