Nashville Predators UFA forward Steve Sullivan, winner of this season's Masterton Trophy for his inspiring journey from injuries back to the NHL, is @sully26 on Twitter; it's an account verified by the Preds.
According to Dirk Hoag at On The Forecheck, Nashville GM David Poile was on WNSR 560-AM in Nashville to discuss the free-agent frenzy. When asked about Sullivan's contract, he said the forward is seeking a deal in excess of two years. Which, evidently, was news to Sullivan; from On The Forecheck:
The messages begin with "WOW! WOW! WOW!", followed by @Manny1974 (who appears to be a friend) asking whether Sully is really asking for more than 2 years, and his reply is that he's just hoping he heard Poile wrong.
Obviously Sullivan was listening to the interview, and was surprised by what he heard. Did a bomb just get dropped that pretty much wraps up Sully's days in Nashville? Let's hope not, but between this and some other tweets that I've seen out there ("Looks like @sully26 will finish where it all started"), it doesn't look like Steve Sullivan will be a Nashville Predator this fall. Granted, those are unverified, unofficial statements, but it looks like the people around Sully are preparing to help him move, and hope that it's closer to his hometown of Timmins, Ontario.
Either way, it was interesting to see an athlete respond to an interview like this in real-time, as fans were listening and discussing. It just goes to show how Twitter is rewriting the rules these days.
Indeed. But as usual, the devil's in the details: Did Sullivan just discover a miscommunication with Predators management? Is he aghast that Poile let slip contract details the day before free agency starts?
Twitter's an interesting and useful way to deliver news at a rapid rate; but other than a quick voyeuristic glimpse into Steve Sullivan's off-season radio listening, there are more questions than answers in his 44 (or so) characters.
