84 replies to this topic

[Outsider]

That happens with pretty much anything in life. You need to figure out what you want to believe or not.

With all due respect, I'm not the type who even attempts to "figure out" whether or not I want to "believe" something I know for a fact is an outright falsehood.

[F.Michael]

How they treated CuJo was disgraceful (particularly in light of the fact that this is usually a class act organization). But he isn't the biggest scapegoat in recent history. If you're talking about FAN reaction to the player (not just front office), Cheveldae has to be one of the immediate favorites, but Keith Primeau probably gets placed ahead of him because of how popular and productive he was for years in the Winged Wheel, and then he has one horrible playoff run in 1996 (17 games, 1 goal), and suddenly he became the face of everything wrong with this team in the playoffs (along with Coffey, who was also scapegoated, but actually shot at his own net). Primeau went on to have a very nice career in Carolina and Philadelphia, and his triple overtime goal against the Pens (2000, I think) made me very happy for him, since the knock on him was that he could never score in the clutch.

Most Red Wing fans "beef" with Primeau was his attitude, and the fact that he felt he should be centering 1 of the top 2 lines; 3rd line center was beneath him as was playing wing on 1 the top 2 lines...He got his ice time when he was sent packing to Hartford for Shanahan.

In his career, Keith Primeau had a mindset that he wanted to be the star; not a star, but the star, no matter where he played or at what level. Part of this was being captain. When he realized that wasn't going to happen in Detroit for a long time, he set his sights elsewhere. Maybe he was a great leader; he just wasn't going to be great leader in Detroit.

Yup - this right here.

[Shoreline]

Primeau was not a scapegoat. Cujo was. Hell, Vernon was too at one point. Osgood at several. Since the late 90s when I can remember being involved in hockey discussions online (few to no hockey discussions in Cali as it is, when I was that age, and that long ago) that included other Wings fans, the biggest scapegoats I've seen are Fedorov, Cujo, Osgood, and Lilja. One of those I agree with.

[eva unit zero]

Most Red Wing fans "beef" with Primeau was his attitude, and the fact that he felt he should be centering 1 of the top 2 lines; 3rd line center was beneath him as was playing wing on 1 the top 2 lines...He got his ice time when he was sent packing to Hartford for Shanahan.



Yup - this right here.

3rd line center is beneath Filppula too according to most of this board. Filppula is a borderline top six forward, while Primeau was a legit power forward when he made comments to that effect. Think we could trade Filppula and Brad Stuart for Jarome Iginla?

No, that kind of attitude shouldn't fly. But at the same time, his comments were more about getting more playing time at center than about being a third line center. Primeau probably would have been fine as the third line center on this year's team because he'd get 2-3 more minutes at center. That was his issue.

[Travis]

3rd line center is beneath Filppula too according to most of this board. Filppula is a borderline top six forward, while Primeau was a legit power forward when he made comments to that effect. Think we could trade Filppula and Brad Stuart for Jarome Iginla?

No, that kind of attitude shouldn't fly. But at the same time, his comments were more about getting more playing time at center than about being a third line center. Primeau probably would have been fine as the third line center on this year's team because he'd get 2-3 more minutes at center. That was his issue.

Comparing apples to oranges, aren't we? I fail to see the correlation between what Primeau said in 1996 and this year's squad.