Former forward Joffrey Lupul played his last National Hockey League (NHL) game in 2015-16 and feels his game has changed a lot since leaving, and not necessarily for the better.
Having played around 700 regular season games and scored 205 goals, the former Toronto Maple Leafs player, among others, spoke during the podcast Missin Curfew and he did not use platitudes to express the substance of his thoughts in a discussion on young people evolving in the sports sphere.
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“Today’s athlete is different now. Within each sports discipline, everyone says it: they have more power. Guys don’t take criticism and if their coaches start yelling at them, they start crying,” he said in somewhat crude terms.
“We would have kicked you out if you had complained like they do now,” added Scottie Upshall, whose NHL stint ended in 2017-18 with the St. Louis Blues.
Given that he has participated in 280 career meetings with Toronto, in a very demanding market, Lupul is accustomed to criticism and he is likely to receive others following his interview.