Not surprisingly, Craig Berube drops the ball on Nazem Kadri situation
May 23, 2022, 12:38 PM | Updated: 12:42 pm
The blowback from Nazem Kadri’s collision with Calle Rosen and Jordan Binnington continued on Monday.
Ahead of Game 4 of Round 2 between the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues, the focus in the Gateway City was still on Kadri. A play in Saturday’s game in front of the net ended with Binnington injured and out for the series. On Sunday, reports trickled out that the Avs forward was subject to racist attacks and threats. Kadri, an NHL All-Star, is Muslim and works on the board of the Hockey Diversity Alliance.
“The Avalanche organization is aware of threats made toward Nazem Kadri and is working with local law enforcement to investigate,” a team spokesperson said on Sunday.
The NHL also ruled the play as clean on Sunday.
The Fan asked Blues coach Craig Berube about the abhorrent threats that have caused police to stake out the Avs hotel.
“I have no comment on that stuff,” he said.
Berube no comment re Kadri pic.twitter.com/Aiq6Zi5qin
— Darren McKee (@DMacRadio) May 23, 2022
Berube is of First Nations descent and a native of Alberta, Canada. Towards the end of his nearly two-decade NHL playing career, Berube was suspended for using calling former Avs player Peter Worrell a racial slur.
Kadri has been subjected to hateful words and actions in the past.
“It’s sad, we’re in the public eye, and anything we do is seen and judged from the outside,” Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog said. Unfortunately, people believe they can say and do whatever they want but we have security, and we’re focused on Game 4.”
For a league that champions the motto “hockey is for everyone,” Berube’s lack of comment shows a lot of cowardice. What the Blues coach did was just as, if not more hurtful, than the hard play that caused Binnington’s injury. While Berube is locked in on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, apparently, he can’t offer a simple “unacceptable” when it comes to death threats. That’s all Avs coach Jared Bednar had to say.
After his team framed the conversation to make Kadri’s play out to be dirty based on past situations the Blues have gotten out of control. If the NHL wants to start talking discipline in this series, they need to start with Berube.
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