In the love-fest surrounding Adam Foote's return to Colorado, it's easy to forget that there was another team that felt a tad differently about the defenseman at the deadline: The Columbus Blue Jackets. With the trade frenzy nearly a week old, news about the kind of hardball Foote played with his former team has come to light in The Columbus Dispatch, and it doesn't make the ex-captain look very good: It's believed that Foote and his agent, Rick Curran, set their contract demands at a height they knew the Blue Jackets wouldn't accept. Proof: The Blue Jackets moved up from their first offer of two years, $6 million to two years, $7 million, but Foote and Curran refused to budge from their initial demand of two years, $8 million.
When Howson suggested to Foote that the sides continue negotiating beyond the trade deadline -- that the Blue Jackets' playoff hopes, faint as they are, deserve a hearty attempt -- Foote responded in a way nobody could have predicted.
According to numerous NHL sources, Foote threatened to be "a bad teammate, a bad captain and a bad player" the rest of the season if he weren't re-signed or traded to his preferred destination -- the Colorado Avalanche, where his best NHL years were spent.The report went on to claim that when the Blue Jackets made one last offer, Foote responded by saying he "doesn't owe anybody anything." Foote has denied all of this alleged diva act, telling the paper that he told the team "it would be too stressful for my wife and I to stay without knowing for sure I was part of the future there."
Dispatch columnist Michael Arace landed a few more body blows, including discussion of the private plane that whisked Foote away to the Avs' game in Calgary last week. Arace wrote:
Foote regretted the day he signed a free-agent contract with the Blue Jackets in 2005. He always planned on retiring in Colorado, something he revealed this week during contract negotiations. No doubt, he will sign for less money than the Jackets were offering ($3.5 million a year) when he gets his final contract with the Avalanche this summer. Maybe a part of him wanted to finish the job here, but more of him wanted to get back to the high desert plain.Damn. Truth Serum of End of the Bench has mixed feelings about the accusations, noting that the Dispatch ran similar anonymous comments about Nikolai Zherdev threatening to be a "bad teammate" when he was in the firing line last season. Light the Lamp brings it a little harder against Foote:
Fine. But at least be a man about it. When you're the captain and you dump your teammates and slight a city and its fans, be honest about your actions -- especially after you've cashed $12 million worth of checks. Don't hide behind a contract demand that was never going to be met.
As for Foote, your secret is out buddy. Your a sham, a fake and its pretty obvious what matters most -- and that's Adam Foote. You can bet your ass Foote takes less than the 3.5 mil a year the Jackets offered - just watch. Quite frankly if I'm Howson I'm contacting the NHL and having them look into some tampering here. Any way you slice this turd it comes up smelly.Forget the contract demands -- that's business. But if Foote truly threatened to be "a bad teammate, a bad captain and a bad player," it's one of the single most childish and unprofessional things I've ever heard originate from the mouth of a National Hockey League player. It's so outlandishly selfish and boneheaded that you can't help but believe Foote when he denied saying it. But if he did ... boy, it doesn't get more pathetic than a 36-year-old player threatening to intentionally tank it in order to get his way.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. RE: Adam. Threats.
HE HAD HIS FOOT, YOU KNOW WHERE!
Posted at 7:02AM on Mar 4th 2008 by Geraldo Cullen
2. I dont recall the Dispatch ever saying that Zherdev threatened to be a bad teammate. They just said he WAS a bad teammate. And well... they were right. I don't recall any time when the Dispatch has been way off base in its hockey musings.
Posted at 9:41AM on Mar 4th 2008 by Jessica
3. re,adam foote,the bj's got a #1 pick for him,what are they sniveling about.i don't see any tampering.
Posted at 1:17PM on Mar 4th 2008 by westorbett
4. re: westorbett, A #1 pick does not help with CBJs run for the playoffs this year, a so-called Captain with integrity does. Foote failed in that responsibility and lied bold-faced to CBJ fans about it. Now you get to deal with him.
Posted at 1:37PM on Mar 4th 2008 by skajulb
5. Being from Columbus and big CBJ fan, I can honestly say that Adam was a very good captain and teamate. He played hard and passionate, He served our city and the team very well.
It apprears however that he severed the relationship very poorly. Anyone that lives here knows he could'nt stand it. H saw his opportunity to get out, and he probably had such high expectations that the trade would happen, that when it started to sound like the CBJ was seriuos about wanting to have him stick around, he just went into desperation mode.
i really don't blame him. I like Denver much more then Columbus. Its a GREAT place to live. I just think Adam should have been more honest with us. People would still have been ticked off, but that would have subsided and would have turned into a respect for him being honest.
As it stands now, i have no respect for him for how he handled this.
But it still does not change that facts that he was a good player and good captain while he played for us here in Columbus.
Good luck with the Av's Adam.
Jeff K.
Posted at 7:22AM on Mar 10th 2008 by jeffk
6. Yes, we poor Avalanche fans will have to "deal with" having Footer back on the team. Kinda like we did when he helped the team win two Stanley Cups. I think somehow we will manage to suffer through it.
Posted at 7:18PM on Mar 16th 2008 by D1bean
7. I certainly wouldn't agree with any of those actions if true, but c'mon, you're a little more shocked by his alleged behavior than you probably should be. We live in a largely disingenuous, selfish society where most care a lot more about themselves and their immediate circumstances than they do anything else, that's simply reality. Foote's an asswipe if even half of that is true, but so are most people in some way or another and such actions, though wrong, would hardly be unprecedented in the world of contract negotiations.
Posted at 2:32AM on Mar 18th 2008 by Don
8. After watching him play in the playoffs against Detroit I wonder if Colorado really wants a old & slow defenseman back? They need to upgrade and justice may be served. Old, used to be great players don't put fans in seats. Young competetive teams do. Ask anyone from Pittsburgh.
Posted at 1:03PM on May 23rd 2008 by Chris S