Roenick's book "J.R.: My Life as the Most Outspoken, Fearless and Hard-Hitting Man in Hockey" took some shots at Marleau once again, after the two have shared some words in the past.
First of all, if that title does not scream "look at me," I do not know what does. Second of all, here is what Roenick's book had to say about Marleau.
“One night I even went to his home to discuss the struggles he was going through. It was around Thanksgiving. I was with my family at home. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the team and how dominant the Sharks could be if Marleau would realize his potential. After thinking about it all day, I couldn’t take it anymore. I left my family, climbed into my car and drove to Marleau’s home. My intention wasn’t to yell at him. I wanted to inspire him, to let him know that his teammates were behind him. I went there to tell him that I believed he could be one of the league’s very best players if he just altered his game slightly. He needed to play with more of an edge. He needed to show some bigger balls when the game was on the line.
“What no one seems to understand is that I believe Marleau is a special talent ... Marleau frustrated me when I played with him because I wanted more from him. He was earning $6.9 million per season and I just didn’t believe he brought the superstar effort that you would expect from that caliber of player.
“I tried to tell him that that night, but I could tell 10 minutes into our conversation that I was wasting my time. He considered my arrival at his house an intrusion. He listened to me, but he never did anything to change the way he was.”Strong words, as you would expect from a memoir of that title, but straight to the point nonetheless.
Here is what Patrick Marleau told the San Jose Mercury News' David Pollak on Tuesday.
“He’s got his own agenda,” the 33-year-old former Sharks captain said. “He’s saying stuff so people watch. I understand that. I don’t have to like it or agree with it, but he’s trying to get viewers like you’re trying to get people to read the paper. I don’t take it personally or anything like that.”
“I don’t know what people are expecting, but I think I show emotion – I score goals, I show emotion,” Marleau said. “If a team’s trying to get after the top players and you show that they’re getting to you, that’s one aspect of it too. There’s different ways to skin a cat.
“There’s other players that are regarded as great players for the way they handle themselves – they don’t get up too high or down too low,” he continued. “There’s going to be critics – they have to pick at something and they’ll pick at that.”
Rest assured, the exchange of words will not stop, but are either of them wrong?
It is pretty obvious Roenick is trying to sell his book through a little controversy, but he is right about Marleau showing no emotion -- something many have mentioned in the past. Roenick is not the first one to say that.
Marleau has always had the potential to be one of the best in the NHL, but if we have not seen him fully break out now we will probably never see it.
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