Holmgren critical of Downie punch

james mirtle: Holmgren critical of Downie punch – A hockey journalist’s blog:

He’s part of a team now and needs to think in those terms and not selfishly. I’m upset. It was Jason Blake. Jason is not a fighter. You get a player in that position and I don’t [think] Jason had his gloves off. I’m not happy about either. The fact that Steve put his team down is a different issue. That’s a selfish thing. He’ll get better.”

No suspension by the league was the right move here, Campbell talking to Downie and reading him a bit of riot act was sufficient — there’s too much willingness among the fans of the league to punish the player for systemic problems of their team, and if you move Downie and his issues this season away from being part of the hot button that is Flyer’s hockey, this is appropriate.

More encouraging, to me, is how Holmgren is responding, because ultimately, this is a team culture that is at the base of this, and it’s the leadership of the team that has to change that culture. And Holmgren seems honestly committed to it. Downie is proving himself a marginal player who has to do “whatever it takes” to earn a roster spot and ice time; under some circumstances that’s useful to a team, as long as that player knows where the lines are drawn. Downie doesn’t — and either he learns fast, or his career is short. And it’s his team, not the league, that needs to send that message and teach him what’s acceptable and what isn’t.

Fortunately, it seems to be. A bit late, perhaps, but the Flyers seem honestly trying.

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