Talking Smack About Olli

No, not Olie, Olli. Olli Jokinen that is. It appears a season ticket sales guy sent out an email that undercut what Olli had done in Florida. I guess to keep morale up with the season ticket holders, an account executive sent an email telling season ticket holders the reason Panthers captain Olli Jokinen was traded was because he was playing "with little heart or passion" and showing "no leadership or improvement."

This is the paragraph verbatim:

Olli is a great player, but he has shown no leadership or improvement, and he never came through for us when we needed him the most. As a stat, Jokinen scored 5 goals in the last 24 games, this is not acceptable for a Captain of an NHL organization. He played with little heart or passion and never had the determination to reach the playoffs. This move was done for one reason only, to make the postseason and return the passion and energy into this arena.

Nice. Of course the front office doesn't feel this way and the trade at the Draft where Jokinen was traded to Pheonix was more to shake up the line up and allow some cap space for younger players.