It’s the scandal that won’t totally go away for Nashville and while we’ll likely see Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn play for the Predators in Game 5 tomorrow night, the stories swirling around about how they were busted for staying out partying are getting interesting.
New York Post hockey guru Larry Brooks reports Radulov and Kostitsyn were busted not thanks to Barry Trotz checking when hotel cards were swiped but a more traditional method: They were tipped off. Brooks explains who did the snitching.
We’re told by a trusted, uh, party that it was a couple of members of the media who ran off to Nashville management to tattle on Radulov and Kostitsyn. This is odd enough behavior in itself.
Brooks says the tattletale effort is part of a more jingoistic culture in hockey meant to put down Russians while North American players get a pass. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter might disagree with this thanks to their exile to “Dry Island.”
The more curious question here is: Should the media be doing the team’s job for them? Given how poorly Radulov played in Game 2 the team would’ve likely found out something was up, but there’s something a little uncomfortable about this if it did play out this way.
As a fan, are you OK with your team’s players being ratted out like this or should teams do their own investigating?