from Chris Stevenson of QMI AGENCY/Ottawa Sun,
One coach who spoke to QMI Agency Wednesday afternoon was in the process of contacting his colleagues to form a united front to question the league on the decision to fine Rolston. The rookie Sabres coach had tough guy John Scott on the ice in Sunday night’s pre-season game against the Toronto Maple Leafs and all hell broke loose after Scott had an altercation with Leafs forward Phil Kessel....
One coach contacted by QMI was fuming with the decision to fine Rolston.
“So what am I supposed to do now?” he mused. “Do I call the ref over and call timeout so I can call (league vice-president of hockey operations) Colie Campbell and ask him who I can put on the ice?”
He said he was upset enough over the fine that he was thinking about refusing to do in-game interviews as a protest.
“What (Rolston) did was pretty much what a lot of us would have done in those circumstances,” said another coach. “Now the league is going to tell who we can and who can’t put on the ice? I have no problem with discipline for our actions, but dictating ‘player selection’ crosses a line in my mind.”
Another coach said life is tough enough for coaches with the pressure to win in this salary cap era and the chill that will come in the wake of the fine to Rolston makes their job even thougher.
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