Ottawa Senators players apologize for criticizing Uber ride recording assistant coach

Seven Ottawa Senators' Posts issued an apology on Monday night after their conversation in an uber ride – criticizing the team's poor play and an assistant coach – was recorded and published online.

The five-minute recording, a grainy black-and-white video taken from the car's dashboard, features ripping assistant coach Martin Raymond, who is in charge of the penalty kill.

"Do you notice that when [Raymond] If you actually do pay attention, he does not ever teach you anything? "defenseman Chris Wideman said." He just commentates what's happening. "

Center Matt Duchene said: "We do not change anything, so why do we have a meeting?"

The apology, released by the team, was awarded to the players: Thomas Chabot, Dylan DeMelo, Duchene, Alex Formenton, Chris Tierney, Wideman and Colin White.

"We want to apologize publicly to Marty Raymond, our teammates and coaches for our comments in Phoenix Arizona on October 29," the statement read. "We are passionate about our team, and focusing on growing together." We are grateful for the support of our fans and organization This is an important learning experience, and we will do better . "

The team also issued a statement from Coach Guy Boucher.

"But nothing is more important to us during this rebuilding of our players, and our coaches are fully committed to our plan, our values ​​and our system of play," Boucher's statement read. "We have every confidence in Marty Raymond's coaching in the effort of our team, and in the sincerity of our players' apology. "

The driver seemed unaware who the players were in the beginning of the drive, but asked which team they played for. Ottawa Senators players.

The video was recorded while the team was on a road trip playing Arizona Coyotes. Recording law in Arizona requires only one-party consent.

This is the latest issue of embarrassing incidents for the Senators, who finished with the second-worst record in the league last season.

The biggest area of ​​criticism for the team is the team's penalty kill. The Senators had the third-worst penalty in the league Monday night, killing off only 68.7 percent of penalties.