Page 84 of Two for Roughing

Phil Easton: [long pause] A morality clause is a weird thing to mention in this context, don’t you think? I mean, it’s wild that professional sports put those in contracts anyway. Teams have the power to tell an adult how to speak and act in public because they work for a trademark. In a very real way, they’re using a contract to impinge on another human being’s rights. Howie got drafted by the Sea Lions at eighteen. That’s young to sign a contract anyway, but the Sea Lions also get to decide when he’s behaving “immorally?” Yikes. And what’s especially concerning is how the clause gets brought up in a situation like this, when a player has been outed against his will, but not when players refuse to participate in team events such as Pride Nights for political reasons.

Cole Williams: So, the trade…

Phil Easton: As far as I’m aware, the morality clause has nothing to do with why Howie was traded, as Lindy has told you multiple times. Trades are tough on everyone involved, especially midseason. There’s very little warning before we uproot a player’s life. Part of my goal as a coach is to give players more say in their own futures with the team, be that in contract negotiations or trade deals. In Howie’s case, I couldn’t make it easier on him, and I’m sorry for it. But nothing about it was a question of morality.

Top comments:

sealions4lyfe: jfc are we ever going to get hockey content from the sea lions or is it all just going to be debunking the trade rumors about howie forever?

hockeyfanofcolor88: Easton has some really interesting things to say about how teams essentially own their players. Powerful for a Black player to be mentioning it.

clions2010: @hockeyfanofcolor88—lol get outta here with your critical race theory this is america. no one wants a gay dude in the locker room, of course he got traded.

hockeyfanofcolor88: @clions2010—please go outside and touch grass.

(From Sea Lions postpractice media, 12/26/2025)

When the call connected, all Kilian could see was Breezy’s chin.

“Howie! Oh my God, Howie!”

“Dude, I can’t see your face,” Kilian complained. He’d gone to the effort of propping up his phone against the vase of dried flowers Damir kept on the coffee table because he was a secret homemaker disguised as a giant hockey player.

“Wait a second.” Rustling on Breezy’s end followed, then darkness, and finally, Kilian could see Breezy’s strong jaw, his cleft chin, his bright eyes, and his happy smile. “Oh my God, I’ve missed you so much!”

“Yeah,” Kilian choked out. “Yeah, I’ve missed you, too, man.”

The Chicago guys were great. Kilian had the sneaking suspicion he would end up feeling more at home here than he ever had in San Francisco. But Breezy was his first real grown-up friend, and looking at it now, Kilian had treated him like shit.

“I’m so sorry, dude.”

Breezy quickly shook his head. “No, Howie, don’t start. You’re gonna make me cry, and I already cried about your Insta post today. Luca will never stop making fun of me.”

Kilian laughed, brittle with how well he could imagine the precise scene he would no longer be seeing. “Sorry, but you gotta let me say it. I shouldn’t have been such a baby about…y’know, everything that happened on Halloween. You were doing your best to be there for everyone, and I wanted you to be there only for me, you know? But that was dumb and selfish.”

Sniffling, Breezy made a heart out of his thumbs and pointer fingers. “I did want to be there for you. And I wish I had done more. After you came out to me, I should have checked in and, like, gone out with you so no skeevy dudes could take pictures of you.”

Kilian rolled his eyes. “I’m not your responsibility. My shitty decisions are not your fault.”

“You’re my friend. Of course you’re my responsibility. I want you to be my responsibility.”

“Oh my God, has Tom started grooming you to be captain when he retires?”

Breezy physically recoiled. “Ew. No. What. I’m a part-time alternate, remember? I just do the home games. I’m not captain material.”

Shaking his head, Kilian ignored Breezy. No way he wouldn’t end up the Sea Lions’ captain in due time. It was him or Jax, and Jax had never looked at a responsibility and thought, “I want that in my life.”

“Anyway, we’re not talking about me.” Breezy leveled Kilian with his most earnest look. “We’re talking about how proud I am of you and how amazing you are.”

“Breezy—”

“What you wrote is awesome, bro. And inspiring and shit.”

“I mean, I had to say something, right?”

Breezy’s mouth tugged downward. “I guess. Starling has been permanently banned from Sea Lions games, by the way. They had to find a new beat reporter because no one will talk to her.”

“Good.” Kilian thought of the missed calls from her. Three of them. And she hadn’t texted again to explain why she wanted to get in touch either. Might be old-fashioned of him, but if he hadn’t heard back from someone after three missed calls, he would consider shooting them a text before outing them in the news.