Coach Berube opens media availability with a statement regarding Nazem Kadri

The St. Louis Blues need a win tonight against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 to stay alive in the postseason. The team and its head coach Craig Berube also need to make a statement on what happened to rival forward Nazem Kadri.

Ahead of Game 4, Berube should have told fans of the St. Louis Blues that they were wrong for sending Kadri and his family racist attacks and death threats as the result of a collision with Blues goalie Jordan Binnington in Game 3 of this second-round series. He should have acknowledged the gravity of the situation. But he prefer to answer with a classic yet inappropriate no comment, making an ugly situation even worse.

During Game 4, it did get worse. After Kadri recorded a hat trick, his wife Ashley posted screenshots of threats that were sent to the Instagram account of the couple’s cat, revealing the names of the assailants.

The fact of the matter is, it does not matter if you’re not a fan of Kadri. Or if you root for the other team. Or even if you coach it! It absolutely none of that warrants the type of backlash he has received from fans and Berube knew he should have said something.

On Wednesday, hours prior to Game 5, Berube opened his media availability with a statement regarding Kadri.

But for some fans… it comes too late. Especially given Berube’s history, he who called former Florida Panthers enforcer Peter Worrell a monkey back in 1998… Maybe he first thought that by saying "no comment", fans would not bring it up. 

Let’s hope his opening statement today proves that Berube is learning and making a change for the better.