Assistant GM admits his 'team whines quite a bit.'

One Assistant General Manager didn't make many friends in his locker room today. The Penguins Bill Guerin conducted a radio interview today on Hockey Central at Noon and was asked point blank by former NHL GM Doug Maclean about his teams attitude.

“Your team whines quite a bit,” said MacLean. “It’s hurt you at times in key situations, and I think it’s hurt you at playoff time.”

Now normally you would expect a member of upper management to have a canned answer prepared for this kind of situation, but Guerin shocked everyone with his response.

“Definitely an area that we’ve identified as being an issue at times. …  The referees are out there, they do a fantastic job, the game’s faster than ever, and it’s really hard to pick things up sometimes with just the naked eye. … We just have to flat-out be better.”

While giving candid answers is somethign we rarely see, and something to be admired, one has to wonder if Guerin is doing more harm then good with this response. His team's star player Sidney Crosby has been the target of criticism and has been called a whiner since he joined the NHL and this will likely embolden his critics to be even more vocal. One thing is certain though, if Guerin is at the point that he's admitting it in radio interviews, it's because he believes it's a major issue on his team.