Slade interview on the radio on Sportstalk weekend

[N.W. Bruin]

Anyone else listen to it? It came on about 11:25 or so in about the last half hour. Here is the link to the achieve. Though one has to sign up for it.



http://www.cknw.com/station/club.cfm?pgs=Audio%20Vault%20Page&tg=http://www.cknw.com/station/audiovault_members.cfm&td=0

[Soundy]

I caught most of it, and after they played it they talked to the XM Radio host who had originally done the interview.

Veeeeeeeery iiiiiiinteresting - the gist of it, as I recall, was that Slade was made an offer by a pro team, discussed it with Giants management, and they were all very supportive of helping him move up in his career... but when the time came for them to sign the papers to release him, nobody would return his calls, and next thing he knew, the league had suspended him so he couldn't play for anyone else for the rest of the season. And he supposedly has still not got an answer from anyone as to why that all happened.

In other words, according to the interview, he didn't simply walk out with nowhere to go, he was initially encouraged by the team to pursue pro offers he'd received, and then ended up apparently getting stiffed by the team and/or the league.

Now of course, we know there's always three sides to any story - his side, their side, and the truth somewhere in between - but it's interesting to finally hear Slade's telling of events.

[Redwic]

Here's a better (more accessible) link:
http://www.cknw.com/dynamic/dynamic_audiovault_process.asp?dt=20070128_23

VERY interesting, indeed! You know, I never liked Slade on a personal level. As a goaltender he was always tough, albeit fidgity, and he laid out many cheapshots on opposing players.

With that said, this interview made me feel some sympathy for him for the first time ever.

But, unlike what the old phrase suggests, there are actually *three* sides to every story:

#1) One Side
#2) The Other Side
#3) The Entire Truth
------------

I also liked the comments and analysis made after the interview...

The interview with Slade occurs from approximately 20:40-33:14, and the post-interview analysis occurs from approximately 36:14-41:40.

[Soundy]

Gotta give him credit, he didn't go blabbing all over the media right away, and when he did finally sit down to do this interview, he didn't start pointing fingers, laying blame, and outright whining about things. He seems genuinely mystified as to where and how things went wrong... either that or he's one hulluva actor and should be on his way to Hollyweird.

[rinkrat]

You know, I never liked Slade on a personal level.

I didn't realize you knew Dustin so well. :spineyes:

This interview shows what I have been saying all along.Giants management has to take responsibility for some of this.They knew a 20 y/o goalie needs more than 36 games,and to deny this,then blackball him and demand huge $$ for his release is a joke.I'm not sure I would want my kid playing for these guys.

[Priceisright]

Yes going by the interview I must admit this is the first known un professionalism from the Giants management.

But then again, more sides to the story. Perhaps we may here more from the Giants side of things?? in the coming weeks or perhaps not.

They do seem pretty secretive about a lot of things as well their website is god awful and provides little if no information.

You would think with a professionally run organization they could hire a good web designer to make it respectable. :spineyes:

[old_time_hockey]

Yes going by the interview I must admit this is the first known un professionalism from the Giants management.

But then again, more sides to the story. Perhaps we may here more from the Giants side of things?? in the coming weeks or perhaps not.

They do seem pretty secretive about a lot of things as well their website is god awful and provides little if no information.

You would think with a professionally run organization they could hire a good web designer to make it respectable. :spineyes:

But this is the newly designed website. At least this one has a news archive :thumb:

[GF71]

Yes going by the interview I must admit this is the first known un professionalism from the Giants management.

But then again, more sides to the story. Perhaps we may here more from the Giants side of things?? in the coming weeks or perhaps not.

They do seem pretty secretive about a lot of things as well their website is god awful and provides little if no information.

You would think with a professionally run organization they could hire a good web designer to make it respectable. :spineyes:


All I can say is don't believe everything you hear.

[Dwight Schrute]

why would the league not investigate into this ? its a poor decision not to investigate.
you would think that a player coming into the league would wonder why this happens. we dont need more guys heading south for ncaa.

[GF71]

... either that or he's one hulluva actor and should be on his way to Hollyweird.

Now you are heading in the right direction. ;)

[scrunt]

All I can say is don't believe everything you hear.

That remark goes both ways, GF71.

We have heard a lot about this over the last couple of months, mostly from the initial newspaper story and the rest being the discussion on the forums, plus this recent interview with Slade.

Most of the chatter has been by others like me who are in the dark about what really went on and are just guessing. However, there have been occasional comments from self-described "insiders" on both sides of the debate.

The problem I'm having is that I don't know (a) who these insiders really are (other than Slade himself, of course), (b) what their exact relationship with the parties is, and (c) whether they were witnesses to some of the events or are themselves relying on hearsay .

While knowing the identity of these people isn't directly important, without knowing the answers to (b) and (c) it makes it impossible to know who to trust. This is not a shot at you, GF71, but the reality is I still have no idea what your connection is with the team and whether you are truly neutral, or subject to some bias. Why should I trust you over anyone else here?

That said, I still fail to understand what motives the team's management would have to act the way they did according to Dustin's version. His version only holds together if the team management had some sort of personal vendetta against him, and they were willing to harm the team's position to make Slade pay for whtever they had against him. Not only would they have had to say to themselves, "Let's screw this kid and to hell with the consequences," they would have had to convince Slade's agent to go along with it. Even with the personal relationship there, it seems far fetched.

Nonetheless, I'm glad I got a chance to hear Slade's side of things. While what he says doesn't make complete sense to me, there must be something of the truth there, I just can't figure out what it is.

And lastly, I'd like to point out that even if Slade's story is complete b.s., I think the team should have cut him loose a little sooner than they did, not so he could have played elsewhere in the WHL, but overseas or in a Junior A league.

Only 118 days until the Memorial Cup is awarded and this will no longer be an issue.

[GF71]

That remark goes both ways, GF71.
This is not a shot at you, GF71, but the reality is I still have no idea what your connection is with the team and whether you are truly neutral, or subject to some bias. Why should I trust you over anyone else here?


Well...you don't have to trust me at all, really. Am I biased? About somethings sure. We all are. About this situation? Not really. The bottom line is Dustin quit. I talked to Dustin right after he quit. I talked to Dustin while he was with Surrey and all through his time in Vancouver. I feel that I know his make up quite well. I also talked with several players on the team, some of whom considered themselves close with Dustin. I also talked to several people involved with the team and in the know. Somebody posted somewhere that there are three sides to everything. His side, Their side and the whole truth. All I was saying was don't believe everything you hear. Dustins side is slanted towards him. The teams side is slanted towards them. The truth is in the middle somewhere. While the team has officially stated very little on the subject publicly, the other side has said quite alot. That alone should be enough to make one wonder.

As for my connection with the team. I got invovled with the team several years ago when I was going to run the official booster/fan club. Through that i got to know people in the front office. Some of whom I still have some what regular contact. Through this same process I got to know all of the players that were currently on that team. When the club thing fell through, I started the first Giants fan site, GoGiants. Through this i kept up all my contacts and got to know some of the billet families, new players, and some of thier families. GoGiants fell apart and I started posting here on a regualr basis until i could find somebody to get invovled with another Giants specific web site, which I am doing with Giantsbeat. Some of the players I am closer to than others...some are even friends. Most are aquaintances if one needs to specific. It took some time, especially in the beggining but I eventually gained the trust of the players as well as some of the front office people. Through these contacts is how I come by much of my information. Most things that I am told, I am told in confidence...I will not and do not breathe a word of it on any message board. Somethings that I am told I have to be careful about how I put it out there so as to not cause further issues.

If you were to go through all of my posts I do tend to lean closer to the players' side of things, than the teams. In fact I more often than not will cut into the team. Yes I do from time to time catch flak from team brass from something I have posted. Sometimes if i am too hard on a player, they ask me about it. So, yes I am privy to inside information. I share what I feel I can. It is up to you, or anybody for that matter if you choose to believe or trust what I have to say when I post. Ultimately, and I hope this is not taken the wrong way, I don't care. I know I appriciated behind the scenes info when i could get it, I am sure some others do as well. I can only put it out there. :D

[Redwic]

That said, I still fail to understand what motives the team's management would have to act the way they did according to Dustin's version. His version only holds together if the team management had some sort of personal vendetta against him, and they were willing to harm the team's position to make Slade pay for whtever they had against him. Not only would they have had to say to themselves, "Let's screw this kid and to hell with the consequences," they would have had to convince Slade's agent to go along with it. Even with the personal relationship there, it seems far fetched.

Here are the answers, as it was implied by the post-interview analysis:
1) His agent has a long history & working relationship with the Bonners, including other more-highly-touted hockey prospects. His agent will never make much money with Slade, but his agent *does* have a good chance of making money with some other Giants players/prospects.
2) The Giants management, perhaps including Hay, might be using Slade as an example to other players & prospects. You know... "You do things our way, not your way, or else we will cripple your chances of making pro."
------------

One part of Slade's story which initially did not make sense to me was when he was talking about going to the German team, and then a few minutes later he talked about going to Grand Prairie. Which is it? Confused, I chatted about that with some other people to try to understand his statements. Here's what we determined: Slade probably meant that because his pro opportunities looked bleak, he started planning to go to Grand Prairie. After coming to that conclusion, he was notified by the German team. Just a theory. Of course, much of this is speculation, and we will never know the entire truth/story.

I'm certainly not defending Slade. But it *is* interesting to hear his side of the story, straight from his mouth, rather than guessing about all sides.

[Soundy]

Well...you don't have to trust me at all, really. Am I biased? About somethings sure. We all are. About this situation? Not really. The bottom line is Dustin quit. I talked to Dustin right after he quit. I talked to Dustin while he was with Surrey and all through his time in Vancouver. I feel that I know his make up quite well. I also talked with several players on the team, some of whom considered themselves close with Dustin. I also talked to several people involved with the team and in the know. Somebody posted somewhere that there are three sides to everything. His side, Their side and the whole truth. All I was saying was don't believe everything you hear. Dustins side is slanted towards him. The teams side is slanted towards them. The truth is in the middle somewhere. While the team has officially stated very little on the subject publicly, the other side has said quite alot. That alone should be enough to make one wonder.

See, the thing with just saying "yeah, he quit" is that right there it paints Slade in a very poor light: it sounds like he just walked out in a snit, and unless he was lying through his teeth in the interview, I really doubt it went down like that. The story he gave in the interview has him receiving a pro offer, and deciding to pursue it *after* discussing the matter with management and *getting their blessing* to do so. So sure, he "quit", but was it really as messy and one-sided as the news stories have made it out to be?

As for "the other side [saying] quite a lot" - if you mean Slade, I wouldn't say that's really accurate either, since he really hasn't said a thing outside this one interview, and apparently had the sense to put that off until the dust had settled a bit.

In a way, of course, that put him in a disadvantaged position as well, because all most of us had heard until then was rumor and speculation and it did, in fact, look like he had simply walked out on the team, so by the time he did decide to speak out about it, it just looks like spin and damage control...

[scrunt]

Here are the answers, as it was implied by the post-interview analysis:
1) His agent has a long history & working relationship with the Bonners, including other more-highly-touted hockey prospects. His agent will never make much money with Slade, but his agent *does* have a good chance of making money with some other Giants players/prospects.
2) The Giants management, perhaps including Hay, might be using Slade as an example to other players & prospects. You know... "You do things our way, not your way, or else we will cripple your chances of making pro."
------------


Maybe that is what he implied (I'm not sure what he was implying) but I still fail to see how point 1 actually creates a motive for any of them to say "Let's dupe this kid into thinking he's moving up and then double cross him and leave him blowing in the wind..." Normally conspiracies have a basis by having someone benefit from the action. Who benefitted here? No one as far as I can see.

As for #2, it makes sense after the fact, that maybe they tried to use the situation to their advantage once it was out there, but again I can't see the management orchestrating the whole event as a strategy to threaten the other players.

And GF71, thanks for the clarification, I have always appreciated your behind the scenes info, I just always wondered what the connection was, and you have always been a bit vague about it in the past ... :wave:

[Hunt24]

Sorry Soundy...I think you've misinterpreted the interview slightly. Slade, to paraphrase the interview, went to management and said he wanted to play more and, according to Slade was told by Hay specifically that if that was the case he should go play pro. There was no offer at that point, but he was under the impression he could land a pro gig easily.

As for the suspension thing, I'm not 100% on this, but I think it's semantics. The Giants didn't want him leaving and say joining Kamloops for the rest of the season - it would be a huge boost to a WHL rival and in the process make them look like a team that guys can walk out on if they think they can get a better deal. As far as I can ascertain, there isn't a way to suspend him just from the WHL or the CHL for the matter - the suspension has to have far-reaching application and the Giants were well within their rights to do what they did. The end result wasn't great for Slade, but the Giants made personnel decisions based on Slade staying through the year, so you have to figure they thought they were on solid ground with Slade.

[Soundy]

I don't see any *reason* there should have been some behind-the-scenes anti-Slade conspiracy either, nor have I seen anything *even remotely reliable* that suggests that may be the case - only wild speculation to that effect.

Note that Slade did not point any fingers in the interview, or claim that the team or the league tried to screw him over. He said that he discussed his pro offer with team management in good faith, that they appeared to be on his side with it all, and that he never found out why he had been subsequently suspended and thus unable to make the pro move. Come to think of it, from what I gathered from the interview, even Slade probably doesn't know for sure what his status is, only what he's been told about it third-hand.

The fact that the team would have NO GOOD REASON to block his move is what shoots down the conspiracy theories. "Make an example" of Slade? "Send a message" to the other players? What message would that be? Don't hold out any hopes of going pro, because we're going to keep you here on a ball and chain until the last possible moment? This is the end of the line for your career? If you have any kind of interest from a pro team, you should keep it under your hat lest you be "made an example" of and raped up the professional arse as well? Please...

There's obviously a very large piece to this puzzle that we're missing, possibly even that Slade is missing, and the only ones who can fill that in are the Giants front office and/or the league... and none of them appear to be in any hurry to share that information. I see no reason to disbelieve anything Slade has said about the matter, because again, he really hasn't pointed any fingers at anyone or tried to make anyone else out to be the bad guy.

[Soundy]

Sorry Soundy...I think you've misinterpreted the interview slightly. Slade, to paraphrase the interview, went to management and said he wanted to play more and, according to Slade was told by Hay specifically that if that was the case he should go play pro. There was no offer at that point, but he was under the impression he could land a pro gig easily.

Ah, I might have missed part of it... I did tune in a little late and haven't had a chance to re-listen to the online copy.

Nevertheless, nothing in what I heard made him out to be particularly bitter or blaming anyone, but merely confused as he thought he'd been above-board about his career aspirations, was working with the support of team management (if not so much the coach), and was blind-sided by the suspension that effectively blocked his pro aspirations for the rest of the year. Really, when you think about it... telling him he should go try out for a pro team and then locking him in so he couldn't do that either seems a little petty...

[dondo]

As Slade told his tale I found it odd that he didn't interpret Don Hay's response (when Dustin went in to talk to him after talking to the Bonners) as Hay not actually encouraging him to go the pro route but rather as a slap to the head to smarten up and be a team player. Hay did not say (in Dustin's version of the tale) "hey yeah go pursue a pro-career", he put it out there as an ultimatum even in Dustin's version and Dustin took the dumb route by clearly missing the diss and not even recognizing that he was being given an ultimatum.

In the end, I still think Slade was selfish though and I noticed he didn't mention the Regina Pats game at all -- which I find odd as that seemed to have been one of the sticking points early on as this all happened after that particular game. I also think that Dustin is a bit dense in all of this as he really really hurt any pro career he might have had, and stepped out of potentially a very bright spot-light to crawl around in the shadows. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer I'm thinking and emotionally volatile to boot.

I highly doubt that Dustin had German team contract in his hand and the team refused to release him -- I really find that hard to swallow. Also as stated he did not receive these offers until after he left the team to "pursue pro opportunities", not before.

I think Dustin just missed all the signs and got "legend in his own mind disease". The problem was that neither goalie was either shining or sucking and when they were 19-1 and the one loss was on Dustin's side. He should have recognized that if it ain't broke you don't fix it and even not being the number one guy he could have got some notoriety and if he did elevate his game he would be the guy in the second season and get another shot at the Mem Cup which is far more important than the regular season anyway.

Dustin made a mistake and is now toiling away in Halifax getting shredded out of the gate due to his rust, and playing deep deep in the shadows. I also doubt that a minor contract from New Jersey was ever in the offering.

Slade was guilty of inflating his own worth and instead of being a team player he decided to go the other route. I think Slade interpreted an ultimatum as an invitation and ruined his chances. I also don't think that the team expected him to take the ultimatum either. All that followed was damage control which is why its so much of a SNAFU.

It's a real shame because without the egos the 50/50 split could have worked brilliantly. Sexsmith isn't/wasn't ready for full time duties and although Dustin was ready splitting the duties down the middle didn't hurt him in terms of fatigue for the rest of the season.. it was just his ego that was sore -- and for me that's real tragedy of the whole situation.

His departure has affected the whole dynamic of the team and by their play as of late its clear the room does not feel that they are a team of destiny any more and that can be traced back to when Slade left. Its not Sexsmith or varying components but rather the belief in the room that they are invincible, and the swagger and confidence which comes from that. This is what Memorial Cup teams have and right now they are looking like a very ordinary team that owes its slide not to individuals but an entire team work ethic and belief that they will win every night no longer being there.

[rinkrat]

I highly doubt that Dustin had German team contract in his hand and the team refused to release him -- .

Dondo,I think we can all agree it is FACT.
The Giants refused to release him.Whether or not there was a fee attached is another question.

The Giants should have realized a 20 y/o goalie would not be willing to split duty 50/50.They should've traded him or Sexsmith.Mgt screwed up.
Yes Dustin was stupid to walk away,but Mgt was equally stupid and I think they were negligent in handling the goalie situation.They were reactive and should have been proactive.Now they're going to the MC with a 17 year old goalie.Good freakin' luck! :spineyes:

[Pucker9]

I wonder if they ever thought of trading Sexsmith for a younger goalie and another prospect and jsut rode Slade to the Mem Cup? When you think about it, it kinda makes sense. Slade has the skill to win a mem cup over Sexsmith and they cant garuntee a mem cup next year so why is having Sexsmith so important? The time for the giants was this year, i personally would have never chose to follow Sexsmith to the mem cup. If they do go to the mem cup next year then i guess i'll eat my words.

[Redwic]

I wonder if they ever thought of trading Sexsmith for a younger goalie and another prospect and jsut rode Slade to the Mem Cup? When you think about it, it kinda makes sense. Slade has the skill to win a mem cup over Sexsmith and they cant garuntee a mem cup next year so why is having Sexsmith so important? The time for the giants was this year, i personally would have never chose to follow Sexsmith to the mem cup. If they do go to the mem cup next year then i guess i'll eat my words.


The team started the season (pre-season) with THREE goaltenders: Slade, Sexsmith, and Tartaglione. Sexsmith won the backup position over Tartaglione, who the team then traded. The team was not going to give up two potential top-caliber 17-year old goaltending prospects, just to keep Slade. And you don't want a 16-year old as your only goaltending option, in case your 20-year old gets injured during the playoffs/ Memorial Cup Tournament.

[Dwight Schrute]

i find it interesting nobody has said anything about the only comment slade made about sexsmith. about the deal was they would split the first ten then slade would be the main guy and would get all the playoffs and memorial cup.
then sexsmiths and his agent requested a trade if they didnt at least get a split. i think that if tyson sexsmith and his agent did request a trade the giants could have changed their mind about slade.

also what i got from the interview was that slade had the german offer, when he coudnt get his release, gave up and enrolled in school in grand prairie.

thats my take
Danno

[Priceisright]

The answer to whether it was the right or wrong move will be decided come in the Memorial Cup.

It really is too bad we couldn't or didn't acquire an experienced goaltender.

[Dwight Schrute]

any idea if what was said about sexsmiths and his agent was true ? demanding a trade or splitting starts ?