It’s difficult to find any players that will talk about what led to the firing of Paul Kelly. Edmonton Oilers forward Shawn Horcoff won’t talk about the decision but he still hap plenty to say.
Horcoff Defends Kelly Firing
“Brendan Shanahan wasn’t in there,” said Horcoff. “For him to make that statement publicly and be critical of us, he wasn’t in that office, he doesn’t know the information that was passed around.
“That’s the most frustrating thing; we want to come out and explain to the players first and foremost before anyone made comments to the media about what happened and why the decision was made.”
Several players have been critical of the decision to fire Kelly, but we haven’t heard any of the reasons the other players thought this was necessary. If the players continue to be quiet regarding their reasons for firing Kelly this will be a PR nightmare for them.
“We knew it was going to be a PR issue and it wouldn’t look very good, but we have 740 members and their well-being is the most important thing,” Horcoff said yesterday.
“We met for 16 hours over two days and there was a lot discussed. I can’t go too much into it, but it wasn’t a hasty decision. Being a person who put Paul in there and being a supporter of Paul, it was going to take a lot to get me swayed.”
This brings up an interesting question. Is 16 hours enough time to determine the future of so many people? Paul Kelly was fired and publicly criticized which undoubtedly will affect his reputation and 30 players reps made a decision that will affect 740 players that play in the NHL.
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