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Bolts cut Dotchin for 'Material breach'


yave1964

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  I thought this kid was supposed to be good...… 

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/hockey/news/jake-dotchin-waived-unconditionally/

 

Jake Dotchin who was a more or less regular for the Lighting last season was unconditionally waived today for a material breach, no further comment from management on said breach as of this time. 

 

  I have looked all over the internet, trying to find exactly what said breach is and it looks the breach is his pants, supposedly he showed up for camp out of shape. The Bolts don't play this which is something I love about the organization. I remember last year he was suspended in the preseason for violating in house rules which although Yzerman and company didn't comment further was ran through the mill that he was drinking too heavily and they sent him a message. Apparently that was his one warning, showing up overweight means he will be playing with another organization this season. 

 

 He was good enough to play 18 minutes plus for a very quality organization last year, pairing with Hedman even for much of the second half but with McDonough aboard and the hope that Stralman and company will be healthy, a player with a million dollar talent and a ten cent head on one of the more cerebral teams in the league simple didn't cut it. Good move by the new GM sending a message. Just one of the many things I love and respect about the Lightning. 

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Wow.
I really liked Jake Dotchin.

Always wondered why he never got more play time....he was a healthy scratch on many an occasion.

Showed flashes of being that rugged, stay at home type that the Bolts, IMO, are still missing.
Dan Girardi comes closest to that role, but Girardi's days as a TB Lightning, possibly an NHL'er are numbered, though I love his play still.  He is just getting too slow.

Jake Dotchin was supposed to be a younger version of Girardi, and at times, played like it.
I never really knew he had drinking and/or commitment to physical health problems.
I think that will get him canned no matter which organization he plays for.....definitely the Lightning, who under Steve Yzerman, and now under Julien Brisboise, run a tight, professional ship.

I hope he gets his act together and has a decent NHL career.  Maybe some others knew more about his 'demons' than I did, but I always found myself being one of the few people defending the fact he should have gotten more play time, because when he did, outside of the usual "young defenseman" mistakes, I thought he did quite well.

Good luck, Jake.
I won't speak ill of him as I will choose to remember his better qualities.
But he can't do what he is doing, then not keep himself in quality shape to be a pro athlete, without facing consequences.

 

If this kick in the rear works for him, maybe he gets things together to where some NHL team will end up with a good 2nd pair defenseman sooner than later.
6'3 220 D-man and still only 24 yrs old, there's gotta be a spot for him somewhere if he really cares to make it so.

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Apparently, Dotchin showed up 30-35 lbs more than the desired playing weight by the Lightning  Most of the time when players show up to camp overweight the teams will wait for them to get in shape.  The NHL Players’ Association is now involved and the case is headed to an independent arbitrator. Bob McKenzie believes that no matter the outcome, the Lightning will emerge from the situation as winners.

 

He also made a really interesting statement where this case just may have some precedence.

 

Quote

"In any case, now the players’ association is involved and they think it's a precedent case - we gotta be really careful here, if every player who shows up to camp overweight gets his contract terminated, that's not an advantageous situation for the players or the players’ association."  

 

https://www.tsn.ca/mckenzie-dotchin-showed-up-30lbs-overweight-1.1175694

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My guess is that this isn't the first time that Dotchin reported to camp with extra weight or having shown a lack of dedication to fitness, because usually a team will suspend a player until he loses the pounds.

 

 

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51 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

My guess is that this isn't the first time that Dotchin reported to camp with extra weight or having shown a lack of dedication to fitness, because usually a team will suspend a player until he loses the pounds.

 

 

 

That makes sense.
I could be wrong, but I believe Keith Aulie showed up a bit overweight for the Bolts' taste one training camp.....he wasn't suspended, but was definitely sent to the minors and passed over many times on call ups...and when he was, his ice time was severely limited.

He ended up with your Oilers and now is in the KHL I believe.....not sure if the fitness thing was a recurring problem for him, or he just wasn't good enough to stick in the NHL.

I still wish Jake Dotchin the best...like I said, I streamed some AHL games before he was called up, liked what I saw there, he showed flashes of it at the NHL level...big, no nonsense type hitter who just needed some work on his coverage a bit more.

Hopefully, he WON'T become another Keith Aulie.

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@TropicalFruitGirl26 Keith Aulie came to Edmonton due to his Toronto Marlies connection with Dallas Eakins, and is perhaps the softest huge player that I've seen in my life. He was completely unwilling to lean on anybody or use his size effectively and has zero offensive ability. That pretty much always assures a career as a minor league player. Seems like a nice guy, so I hope he's able to translate his NHL games played into some money in Europe.

 

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26 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

@TropicalFruitGirl26 Keith Aulie came to Edmonton due to his Toronto Marlies connection with Dallas Eakins, and is perhaps the softest huge player that I've seen in my life. He was completely unwilling to lean on anybody or use his size effectively and has zero offensive ability. That pretty much always assures a career as a minor league player. Seems like a nice guy, so I hope he's able to translate his NHL games played into some money in Europe.

 

 

Did some checking on Aulie after I posted...
Turns out he isn't even in the KHL....he is playing in Germany's Deutsche Liga.

His last games in the NHL were 15 games for the Lightning in '13-'14 and another 31 games for the Oilers in '14-'15.
Everything else was him bouncing around the minors before Europe.

Hopefully, Dotchin gets his head on straight and doesn't end up that way.

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