Ottawa Senators players caught on camera ripping coach, team
This isn’t a good look for the Ottawa Senators.
While many players of NHL organizations likely have strong opinions about the coaching staff and the team, they know best to keep those opinions to themselves.
Unfortunately, that sometimes isn’t possible.
The Ottawa Citizen released a video today showing members of the Ottawa Senators ripping into the coach and the state of the team. The players were riding in an Uber and didn’t appear to know they were being recorded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=16&v=08s76gtxjZc
The Citizen notes that while the timestamp of the video says January 2017, it actually appears to have been recorded in Phoenix on Oct. 29 or 30 2018 during the team’s western road trip.
Matt Duchene, who previously stated he wanted to play for a playoff team when he was a member of the Avalanche, was front-and-center in the conversation.
“Marty Raymond, the only coach in NHL history to have the worst power-play and the worst PK within a calendar year,” says Duchene, in reference to assistant coach Martin Raymond.
Defenceman Chris Wideman, sitting in the front passenger seat, replies “Do you notice that when (Raymond) runs the video, if you actually do pay attention, he doesn’t ever teach you anything? He just commentates what’s happening.”
Duchene can be heard replying: “Here’s the other thing, too. We don’t change anything, ever. So why do we even have a meeting? I haven’t paid attention in three weeks.”
The Ottawa Citizen reports that Duchene, Wideman, Thomas Chabot (middle), Chris Tierney (middle), Alex Formenton (back), Colin White (back) and Dylan DeMelo( back) were among the players present in the vehicle.
Given the Senators struggles of late, it’s interesting to hear players give their unfiltered thoughts on the club. This is a clear invasion of privacy, however, and we likely haven’t heard the end of this story.
The Senators had this to say in their official response:
According to the Citizen, Uber isn’t allowed to post information without consent of the passenger.
“Uber did not immediately respond for comment, but includes a lengthy section on privacy on its website. Although it does not specifically mention audio or video recordings, it does say “Uber may share your information other than as described in this policy if we notify you and you consent to the sharing.”
The General Manager of Uber responded to the incident with a Twitter statement:
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.
— Rob Khazzam (@rkhazzam) November 6, 2018
Former NHL player Ryan Whitney chimes in:
Every team in NHL history has had a cab full of guys ripping the coach or GM. That’s a fact. What a compete scumbag move releasing that video
— Ryan Whitney (@ryanwhitney6) November 6, 2018
A tough break for everyone involved.