When a prominent Major Junior player, then all of 18 years of age, was returned to his junior club almost exactly one year ago just after mid-September, 2001, much was made about his reaction to the "demotion".
Granted, to be quoted as saying that this apparently unexpected turn of events was "the worst day of [his] life", as the player reportedly said, may have seemed rather shallow, lacking in perspective and a little revealing - particularly in light of the tragic deaths of innocent people just days earlier in New York.
On the one hand, such a reaction is entirely normal, especially for a young person thrown into a very grown-up world. It does beg the question, however (as we raised in an earlier commentary when it came to the John Rocker situation): where are those who are supposed to be guiding and shaping the development of these precocious - but sometimes life-inexperienced - athletes?
My focus here, though, is the entirely confusing public reaction made by the management of the NHL team in question.
Their response in explaining their decision at the time: "This is a men's league, and he [the player] is still a boy." Another comment attributed to a then team executive: "We're not in the business of managing people's feelings".
Well, agreed. No one can "manage" anyone else's "feelings".
But, when an 18 or 19-year-old youngster is:
invited to play in an unfamiliar environment, in unfamiliar surroundings
when demands well beyond the norm are placed upon that individual
when the media is watching his every move
placed in a club, filled with coaches and management people who are former players and who have themselves played at the highest levels and who all know what it "feels" like to be traded, or demoted, or released
when you know the player in question will feel hurt or embarrassed by the public reaction that he has somehow "failed"
Then it is absolutely the role of the club to help a young player through whatever circumstance comes his way, including, in this particular instance, being returned to his junior club, especially when his expectation was that he would make the big team.
We all know times are very unlike the 1960's, when the Punch Imlach-led Leafs, or the Vince Lombardi-led Green Bay Packers were franchises run very differently than the way sports franchises are run today. With some exceptions, there was generally little concern demonstrated publicly - or privately - about the "feelings" of a professional athlete.
But clubs nowadays have a clear responsibility - having invested millions and millions of dollars in scouting, drafting, signing and developing players - to do even more, especially when they are dealing with young people.
This particular story may well have a happy ending. The player in question will likely earn a spot on the club's roster this season, an awesome achievement for someone only 19 years of age. Perhaps the so-called "demotion" did indeed provide motivation that has helped to better prepare this young athlete for success at the higher level.
Maybe the apparently "cold" manner in which the "demotion" was handled a year ago "taught" the young player a valuable (if sad) lesson about the reality of the business of sport.
But it is fair to say that a lot of hurt feelings and potential negative outcomes could have been avoided, had a support system, and a communication approach, been in place a year ago to help establish reasonable expectations, and prepare the young player as best as possible for whatever decision the club was ultimately going to have to make at the time.
It's always wiser to be well prepared in advance for all possible eventualities, so when the sensitive circumstance or "crisis" does hit, an organization is well equipped to handle things as well as possible.
