Outspoken NHL player agent Alan Walsh sounded off again in a statement released Thursday, this time criticizing Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel.
Walsh slammed Arniel for the way he is treating his client and Blue Jackets centre Derrick Brassard, who has been a healthy scratch in eight of the last 11 games.
“While I have tremendous respect for Scott Howson and the rest of Columbus’ management team, the situation regarding Derick Brassard has become untenable,” Walsh said. “This coach has a history of burying players and using them as scapegoats to mask his own lack of success on the ice.
“Derick has been singled out, almost from the very beginning of the season to be the fall guy in case things don’t go well. The Columbus organization cares about Derick and has been good to him, but at some point enough is enough.”
Brassard, the Jackets sixth overall pick in 2006, has two goals and four points in 17 games with a minus-11 rating while averaging 13:52 of ice time.
Walsh has a history of brazenly defending his clients, most notably in 2010 when he chastised then-Minnesota Wild head coach Todd Richards for underutilizing winger Martin Havlat.
