Your team is down one game to zero in the Western Conference semi-finals. It’s Saturday night, and you have a game on Sunday that could possibly make or break the series for your club. All-season long the night before a game your coach has given you a curfew to be in your room in time to get enough sleep and be rested for game day. You and one of your teammates decide to go out and have a good time and you miss the curfew. You are also your team’s leading scorer in the first round of the playoffs and labeled as one of the best players in the playoffs. The next day, your team loses again and both you and your teammate are criticized for your terrible play. You have just one shot in the series and are a minus 3 through two games. Even during the game the announcers go out of their way to scrutinize your “unbelievable lack of effort.” Jeremy Roenick says:
He was terrible on both sides of the puck. “When you want to win in the playoffs you have to have your best players be your best players. Radulov right now might be the Nashville Predators’ worst player.
You are Alexander Radulov of the Nashville Predators, and your teammate is Andrei Kostitsyn. What should your consequences be?
The Nashville Predators answered that question by suspending both Radulov and Kostitsyn for Wednesday’s game 3 for a “violation of team rules.” Many people would say that this is the right move, as the players should have to be held accountable for their actions. However, by sitting their best player, the Predators put themselves at a huge disadvantage and could find themselves in a 3-0 hole if they lose game three. This begs the question, if they were caught by Head Coach Barry Trotz prior to game two, why were they not suspended for that game? To me it seems like they are being punished for their actions only because they played bad on Sunday. If the team had won, or Radulov/Kostitsyn put up big numbers in the game, would their still have been repercussions for breaking curfew?
I think that this was the right move by the Nashville organization. Sure, you lose one of your best players for one game, but with Radulov’s past abandoning of the franchise, an extreme action had to be done to get his attention. Hopefully he will take the punishment and use it as motivation to play better in game four, and get the Predators back in the series. I also think that other players can use this as fuel to light their fires in game three.
With Radulov and Kostitsyn out of the lineup, it will give Coach Trotz a chance to make lineup changes, and two necomers a chance to be inserted into the lineup and make an impact they have been waiting for all year. Jordan Tootoo known around the league for his tenacity and toughness could provide the spark the Predators need to overtake the Coyotes. Matt Halischuk and Craig Smith are two rookies who could make in impact as well, as Halischuk had 28 regular season points for the Predators.
It will be interesting to see how the Predators respond to this, and whether or not it will be a distraction not only for game three but the rest of the playoffs as well. Game three is Wednesday night at 9 P.M. on CNBC.
Dangle Sauce 