Ottawa Senators players apologize after video of them ridiculing assistant coach goes public

A group of Ottawa Senators players learned the hard way that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

Or, at least, don’t say it unless you’re 100% sure you’re not being recorded.

Thomas Chabot, Dylan DeMelo, Matt Duchene, Alex Formenton, Chris Tierney, Wideman and Colin White issued an apology Monday night after a recording of the group ridiculing assistant coach Martin Raymond went public.

The recording was made from what appears to be a dashboard camera in an Uber car the players were riding in during a team trip in Arizona. Raymond was not in the car at the time.

“We want to apologize publicly to Marty Raymond, our teammates and coaches for our comments in Phoenix, Arizona on Oct. 29,” the players said in a statement Monday released by the team. “Our private conversation was recorded without our knowledge or consent. We’re 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 Senators rank 29th in the NHL in penalty kill percentage. In the video (Warning: It includes explicit language), at least some of the players in the car mock and criticize Raymond, who is in charge of the team’s penalty-kill unit.

Coach Guy Boucher said in a statement: “We have every confidence in Marty Raymond’s coaching; in the effort and determination of our team; and in the sincerity of our players’ apology. We are now treating this as a team matter, and will be making no further comment to the media.”

It is unclear how the recording became public. Post Media shared the video Monday night on YouTube but said it was originally posted elsewhere over the weekend.

Uber Canada’s general manager Rob Khazzam tweeted Monday: “A video was released by the media today of several Uber passengers being filmed without their consent while having a private discussion during a trip in Phoenix. This is a clear violation of our terms of service and we worked vigorously to investigate this issue.”

He added: “Filming or recording passengers without their consent is totally unacceptable and if reported / detected we will investigate + take action to preserve our communities privacy and integrity. In this specific case, we made efforts to have the video taken down.”

charles.schilken@latimes.com

Twitter: @chewkiii