Hasek wants the NHL to Suspend the Russian Players!

[Marvin]

1 hour ago, jsb said:

Although I understand your sentiment in this post, the above happened when he was 3 years old. He doesn't remember much if anything about this time period. He's entitled to his opinion on things but don't make excuses for him.

I assumed that the invasion was so traumatic for him that he has a few strong memories of 1968.  For instance, I was 3 in 1968, but I still remember the Sikh guy in the "Hey Jude" video that was on "The Smothers Brothers" because he was the first Sikh I saw who was not in some way connected with my Dad.  (About the 4:00 mark in the video on YouTube.)  I definitely remember my first day at nursery school.  I remember my first day in Buffalo at 2.5.  Soviet tanks rolling down the street and an invading army with "shoot to kill" orders for curfew breakers would probably be really strong memories.

1 hour ago, DarthEbriate said:

It's not just the actual experience. That invasion in 1968 is a flashpoint and part of the national identity of then-Czechoslovakia. That informs his entire childhood and adolescence. Jagr wasn't even born yet but he wears 68. The Czech Republic gold medal in Nagano (over Russia) has a very special meaning to that nation and its people.

You are correct.  I recall a heroes' welcome for the team in Prague after the Olympics.

[Believer]

Penalize Putin, the ogliarchs, and the Russian government… Not their overseas professional athletes… 

[GASabresIUFAN]

32 minutes ago, JohnC said:

We are in America. If a Russian player or any player in the NHL voiced support for Putin and the incursion then that is his/their right to express their thoughts. That's what distinguishes our society compared to autocratic societies where if one voices opposing opinions the person suffers for them. We have a former president and Sec. of State (Pompeo) making some inexplicable Putin supporting statements. As much as I and most others disagree with their distasteful views they are entitled to express them. 

I do agree with you that no Russian team should be allowed to participate in tournaments in the world or hold events in their country. It's my opinion that Russia should not have been allowed to participate in the Olympics because of the systemic cheating by the Russian Olympic Committe. 

 

Actually John, as non-citizens who are here on work visas, they actually don't have the same constitutional rights as citizens.  The 2nd amendment doesn't apply.  They can be sent packing because they support Putin.

[SABRES 0311]

I didn’t read the article so I’ll go with bottom line Hasek wants players of Russian nationality to be suspended because of what their country is doing. Never go full Hasek.

[Pimlach]

5 hours ago, The Ghost of Doohickie said:

A message needs to be sent.  I agree with Hasek.  It should happen, but it won't.

It's easier in Europe where there are playoffs being played for WC2022 later this month. 

The Polish National Team and Football Federation announced that they will not play their playoff against Russia.  Russia should be disqualified immediatly, if not sooner, and Poland should qualify by default.

The European Football Federation is working on a plan for Sweden versus Ukraine in another playoff.

The Champions League final will be played in Paris and not Moscow.

Message?  You think an unhinged dictator cares if Russian hockey players play in the NHL?   He probably will stop them from this soon enough. 
 

I do agree with shunning  Russian teams from all international sports until they retreat and pay reparations to Ukraine.  That won’t happen either.  
 

I actually fear that he goes into the Baltic’s or Poland, or any NATO country, forcing a NATO response.  That could start WW III.  

[Taro T]

19 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Message?  You think an unhinged dictator cares if Russian hockey players play in the NHL?   He probably will stop them from this soon enough. 
 

I do agree with shunning  Russian teams from all international sports until they retreat and pay reparations to Ukraine.  That won’t happen either.  
 

I actually fear that he goes into the Baltic’s or Poland, or any NATO country, forcing a NATO response.  That could start WW III.  

 

Agree that a lot of adjectives w/ negative connotations describe the guy running the country that's currently invading its neighbor in Europe.  Really don't believe unhinged is one of those though.  (Thankfully.  Things get even scarier if the guy w/ the 2nd largest nuclear stockpile IS unhinged.)

[Marvin]

19 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Message?  You think an unhinged dictator cares if Russian hockey players play in the NHL?   He probably will stop them from this soon enough. 
 

I do agree with shunning  Russian teams from all international sports until they retreat and pay reparations to Ukraine.  That won’t happen either.  
 

I actually fear that he goes into the Baltic’s or Poland, or any NATO country, forcing a NATO response.  That could start WW III.  

Putin has said that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest disaster of the 20th century.  (I personally would have put the Holocaust up there.)  His conditions for "peace" included a complete withdrawal of NATO arms, advisors, etc. from former Eastern Bloc countries, including NATO members like Poland.  That means you are correct.  Sadly.

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Actually John, as non-citizens who are here on work visas, they actually don't have the same constitutional rights as citizens.  The 2nd amendment doesn't apply.  They can be sent packing because they support Putin.

I'm aware that non-citizens on work visas don't have all the rights that citizens do. But what would be the basis for the revocation of their work visa? Expressing a thought that isn't popular? Expressing a thought that in certain respects corresponds to what the former president expressed? Just because theoretically you can do something that doesn't mean that it would be an action that our government would consider. The government of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, North Korea would expel people for expressing what they perceive to be unpopular/unacceptable thoughts, but it is not something that we or even Canada would do. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

6 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I'm aware that non-citizens on work visas don't have all the rights that citizens do. But what would be the basis for the revocation of their work visa? Expressing a thought that isn't popular? Expressing a thought that in certain respects corresponds to what the former president expressed? Just because theoretically you can do something that doesn't mean that it would be an action that our government would consider. The government of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, North Korea would expel people for expressing what they perceive to be unpopular/unacceptable thoughts, but it is not something that we or even Canada would do. 

Depends on what they say and do.  IF the government deems them a risk to public safety they will be sent home.

[JohnC]

1 minute ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Depends on what they say and do.  IF the government deems them a risk to public safety they will be sent home.

How would a Russian hockey player be a risk to public safety by supporting  his government by his words? 

[Taro T]

7 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Depends on what they say and do.  IF the government deems them a risk to public safety they will be sent home.

There'd better be a pretty high bar set to cross on that count or we are ALL diminished.

MHO.  YMMV.

[Eleven]

We all realize that discrimination based upon national origin has been illegal in the US for all of our lives (well, maybe not if you're over 70), right?  I don't know about Canada.

[Pimlach]

Will the war in Ukraine effect the drafting of Russian players?  
 

If the war escalates beyond Ukraine it could impact movement of players from Russian to the NHL. 

[SwampD]

21 hours ago, In The Buff said:

how would we feel if Americans were being suspended due to our invasion of Iraq? At least with Ukraine there's a joint history involving the 2 nations. I don't agree with what Russia is doing & feel bad for all the victims & hope Ukraine survives. But lets not kid ourselves, usually when we go to war, its halfway around the world, under false pretenses & usually for some geopolitical reason in support of our global hegemony. We've lost a bit of our ability to grandstand about some morale high ground & thats a shame.

But we see how hard it is to affect change here with our government in America. What power do you think the average Russian has over what Putin does & their own? How easy has it been here to steer our leaders to the will of the People & we supposedly live in the Land of the Free? What do we expect a Russian to do? And a Russian hockey player at that? lol

Suspending athletes or hockey players from Russia who have no power at all over what their govt does seems like something an autocrat would do, kinda ironic since it'd be that behavior we'd be against in the 1st place lol. Ban hockey events from Russia, hurt the State, not the individual largely powerless in all this is what i say.

I would have been for it. And who cares anyway? Its about action. Fireside chats changed presidential elections in the country at the begining of the last century. Twitter changed the last election. We live in a time where sports figures and social media make a difference.

I love Dom.

Edited February 27, 2022 by SwampD

[Brawndo]

 

[Marvin]

11 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

Good places to start.

[Marvin]

On 2/26/2022 at 12:52 PM, In The Buff said:

how would we feel if Americans were being suspended due to our invasion of Iraq? At least with Ukraine there's a joint history involving the 2 nations. I don't agree with what Russia is doing & feel bad for all the victims & hope Ukraine survives. But lets not kid ourselves, usually when we go to war, its halfway around the world, under false pretenses & usually for some geopolitical reason in support of our global hegemony. We've lost a bit of our ability to grandstand about some morale high ground & thats a shame.

But we see how hard it is to affect change here with our government in America. What power do you think the average Russian has over what Putin does & their own? How easy has it been here to steer our leaders to the will of the People & we supposedly live in the Land of the Free? What do we expect a Russian to do? And a Russian hockey player at that? lol

Suspending athletes or hockey players from Russia who have no power at all over what their govt does seems like something an autocrat would do, kinda ironic since it'd be that behavior we'd be against in the 1st place lol. Ban hockey events from Russia, hurt the State, not the individual largely powerless in all this is what i say.

Honestly, I thought that there might have been retaliation against the US for the invasion of Iraq.  The one difference that may mean something is that Saddam Hussein had demonstrably committed war crimes against Iran and the Kurds.  Zelensky and Ukraine have done nothing to no one.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

19 hours ago, Eleven said:

We all realize that discrimination based upon national origin has been illegal in the US for all of our lives (well, maybe not if you're over 70), right?  I don't know about Canada.

1944 in Ontario.  Anti-discrimination law was passed.

1947 in Saskatchewan.  First Bill of Rights passed in Canada.

Several other provinces followed soon after.

1950's there was a plan in place to make a federal law.  

Finalized in 1958.  Passed in 1960.

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, The Ghost of Doohickie said:

1944 in Ontario.  Anti-discrimination law was passed.

1947 in Saskatchewan.  First Bill of Rights passed in Canada.

Several other provinces followed soon after.

1950's there was a plan in place to make a federal law.  

Finalized in 1958.  Passed in 1960.

 

TIL.

[Eleven]

8 hours ago, The Ghost of Doohickie said:

1944 in Ontario.  Anti-discrimination law was passed.

1947 in Saskatchewan.  First Bill of Rights passed in Canada.

Several other provinces followed soon after.

1950's there was a plan in place to make a federal law.  

Finalized in 1958.  Passed in 1960.

Umm, great...

So Hasek's "request" can't be pulled off up there either.

[SabresVet]

File this one next to stopping the import of Russian vodka.  A bunch of symbolism over substance.  

Punishing people who, only by virtue of their nationality, are apparently guilty in the mob court?  It's like there's a race to see who can out outrageous the next person. 

[LGR4GM]

9 hours ago, SabresVet said:

File this one next to stopping the import of Russian vodka.  A bunch of symbolism over substance.  

Punishing people who, only by virtue of their nationality, are apparently guilty in the mob court?  It's like there's a race to see who can out outrageous the next person. 

People are doing what they can to show support. 

This line was interesting. Placing pressure on Russia from the government to the ppl seems like a good strategy to help stop the war. Russia is literally "punishing people who, only by virtue of their nationality," are Ukrainian. The rest of the world not drinking vodka and saying the Russian national team can't come to your sporting event seems like a trifling thing compared to that. 

[Brawndo]

It appears the IHFF is not messing around 

 

[Weave]

39 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

It appears the IHFF is not messing around 

 

I love the way international communities are rallying.

[MattPie]

Hasek is wrong on this one. Sure, it feels good to try to hit back at Russia any way possible but as others have pointed out the players are stuck in a hard place. They can't denounce Putin without likely consequences. I guess they're lucky that it's not at the point where they're forced to praise Putin or be deemed not sufficiently Patriotic. As it stands, if a player, let's call him Alex O, were to start making statements in support of Russia and Putin in the war, the club may be able to suspend them due to the bad publicity, just like (I'd hope) the Habs would suspend someone if they said poutine was terrible, or the Sabres would if a player liked ranch on wings. Your employer doesn't have to employ you if you make a negative spectacle of yourself. (The CBA in the NHL might get into this, don't know)

As for boycotts, I'm all for it. Money talks and I don't get the impression that Putin has the iron fist dictator thing going in Russia. The oligarchs and powerful people over there will start to put pressure on if this starts hitting the bottom line (at this point I can't imagine it not).