It is rare to say of a newspaper's comments section, but I thought they were very good comments. A couple of "he sucks" comments, but even the negative ones were mostly honest and thoughtful.
The blog post by Mike Halford over at the Province's Orland Kurtenblog was also very good. Not giving answers, but pointing out some of the many sides of this whole bizarre turn of events:
"According to Botch, Canucks GM Mike Gillis is shopping the 40-year-old rearguard. Schneider left the team just prior to the Christmas break, apparently frustrated with a lack of ice time and a reduced role on the team. So we ask: Who wears the goat horns for this one? Does Gillis for carrying too many defencemen? Does coach Alain Vigneault for not letting Schneider prove himself? Does Schneider for walking out on his team? Or, is this just one of those things where nobody is to blame, it just didn't work out, hopefully we can still be friends, let's not use the kids as pawns.
And yes, feel free to use the following in your arguments:
- Schneider is 40 and came back from shoulder surgery because he wanted to play, not sit. Otherwise, he would've signed somewhere else or just retired. Did he kinda get screwed over?
- Hockey is business and this is a business decision. Other vets (most recently, Brendan Shanahan in New Jersey) have suffered similar fates. There are no golden tickets.
- Everybody loves Shane O'Brien again and forgot why they even started ragging on him in the first place. With SOB back, Vancouver doesn't need any more defencemen!"
It's kind of how I feel. One minute, I'm angry at Mathieu for being a prima donna; the next, I'm pissed at the Vancouver couch for misusing the talent he was given; then I'm mad at Mathieu for maybe overstaying his career and going out with a whimper; then I'm frustrated that Vancouver brought him in just to sit him.
I'm a mixed up ball of confusion....
EDIT: Here is another blog post that reiterates the "what the hell happened?" kind of questions.
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