The Ottawa Senators are going to have a hell of a team meeting Tuesday after an Uber dash video surfaced of players talking all sorts of shit about the coaching staff on a road trip in Arizona. What makes matters worse for the Senators, is the players identified aren’t fringe NHL players or guys they can bury in the minor leagues. Identified in the video include Matt Duchene, Chris Wideman, Thomas Chabot and Chris Tierney who were recorded tearing apart the teams defensive and special teams struggles while particularly singling out assistant coach Martin Raymond.
https://twitter.com/themajorstv/status/1059662714782564354?s=20
Via CBS Sports:
“Marty Raymond, the only coach in NHL history to have the worst power-play and the worst PK within a calendar year,” said Duchene, a forward who has spent the last year in Ottawa after arriving in a trade from Colorado last season.
Raymond runs Ottawa’s penalty kill this season, which currently stands as the league’s third-worst unit. He also led Ottawa’s power-play unit last season, which finished fifth-worst in the league.
“Do you notice that when [Raymond] runs the video, if you actually do pay attention, he doesn’t ever teach you anything?” Wideman asked. “He just commentates what’s happening.”
Duchene further wondered why the team even has meetings while adding that he doesn’t pay attention anymore.
“We don’t change anything, ever,” he said. “So why do we even have a meeting? I haven’t paid attention in three weeks.”
It didn’t appear the players knew they were being recorded and it’s doubtful this is breaking any law considering what legislation Arizona already has on the books. And aside from guys like Duchene saying they aren’t paying attention anymore the circumstances surrounding the video are pretty shitty. I mean this isn’t strictly just some players spouting off, obviously there’s some real issues with the coaching staff if this is some of the candid reaction they’re getting.
Anyways, Monday the players involved Thomas Chabot, Dylan DeMelo, Matt Duchene, Alex Formenton, Chris Tierney, Chris Wideman, and Colin White, issued the following statement:
“We want to apologize publicly to Marty Raymond, our teammates and coaches for our comments in Phoenix Arizona on October 29. Our private conversation was recorded without our knowledge or consent. We’re passionate about our team, and focusing on growing together. We are grateful for the support of our fans and organization. This is an important learning experience, and we will do better.”
Meanwhile, Senators head coach Guy Boucher released the following statement:
“Nothing is more important to us during this rebuild than making sure our players and coaches are fully committed to our plan, our values and our system of play. We have every confidence in Marty Raymond’s coaching; in the effort and determination of our team; and in the sincerity of our players’ apology. We are now treating this as a team matter, and will be making no further comment to the media.”
As far as Uber goes, they didn’t originally release any kind of response to one of their drivers recording unknowing passengers, however Rob Khazzam, general manager of Uber Canada, tweeted the following:
“A video was released by the media today of several Uber passengers being filmed without their consent while having a private discussion during a trip in Phoenix. This is a clear violation of our terms of service and we worked vigorously to investigate this issue.
“Filming or recording passengers without their consent is totally unacceptable and if reported / detected we will investigate + take action to preserve our communities privacy and integrity. In this specific case, we made efforts to have the video taken down.”
