In the most un-surprising story of the day, Ray Emery and Dan Cloutier were waived from their respective teams. Both moves were expected, at least by most people. Cloutier is following Marc Crawford out the door of LA. And I have to think it was partially the coaches downfall. He clearly brought in Cloutier as his 'boy'. And Cloutier never seemed to get over his knee injury of 2 years ago.
Emery is a cautionary tale. He first caught a break, when the Dominator got injured and Ray Ray carried the load and showed solid skills. The Sens acquired Gerber that summer, and Emery was probably put off by that. In season #2 he proceeded to get attention to himself: by getting more tattoos, eating a cockroach to win a bet, and paint Mike Tyson on his mask. I thought it was amusing and a clever distraction. But it was really a warning sign. Gerber faltered, and Razor lead the team to the Cup Finals. Doesn't get much better than that. Season #3 included wrist surgery over the summer and some late rehab. Gerber took back his starting job. Emery couldn't regain his form. So, the fact that he mostly pouted, was late for practice, dogged it at practice, and road raged on old guys, instead of working hard did not impress the rest of the locker room or management.
I am not blaming Emery for the Senators implosion last year, but it didn't help things. I wish Emery luck. Maybe he will wind up in LA for the time being. They could use a Hollywood styled goalie, until one of their prospects matures; and he would come pretty cheap after the Senators buyout his contract. Besides, the Kings haven't been much to watch the last few years and I would go to watch him fight.
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