As Elvis Gratton would say, “They killed the Americans.” Or as Denis Lemieux would say slap shot, “Me, I’m going to Florida est*&?, that’s the motto”.
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That’s kind of what last year’s Alex DeBrincat or Matthew Tkachuk saga reminds me of.
I’m exaggerating or exaggerating a bit, but seriously, it’s not chic for Canadian teams what’s going on. It’s been 30 years since we won the Stanley Cup.
On top of that, if a lot of players decide they don’t want to play in Canada anymore, we’re going to be in trouble.
Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are spared. These are still quite prestigious markets. Edmonton is still going because of Connor McDavid. But for others it is not easy.
And in these last examples we are not talking about lazy clubs. We’re talking about good teams that have had some of their best players leave.
Patrick Laine did that with the Jets. Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau nailed it with the Flames.
And this is DeBrincat with the senators. He preferred signing a long-term contract in Detroit to Ottawa.
Frustrating for the senators
Imagine how the DeBrincat case only slowed down the senators’ beautiful recovery plan.
To get DeBrincat, the Senators traded last year’s seventh pick to the Blackhawks.
It’s Kevin Korchinski, a defenseman who had 73 points in 54 games with Seattle in the West Junior League last year. He ended the year at +50. I’m no fortune teller, but I don’t think he’s going to get any worse. Really not worse.
Many already know this, but by the way, DeBrincat was drafted by the Blackhawks in 2016, choosing the Canadian they sent to Chicago in exchange for Andrew Shaw.
No big deal, Marc Bergevin wanted sturdiness…
Ottawa doesn’t get much for DeBrincat because he, originally from that industry, wanted to play in Detroit. The hands of the senators were tied.
You’ll get Dominik Kubalik, a 40-50 point forward who’s good on the power play, as well as a defender who’ll likely never play in the National League, and a first-round pick who’ll be outside the top 10.
Dominik Kubalik File Photo, Getty Images via AFP
Choose your destination
Still, it’s still exciting for a hockey player to play for the Senators next year.
Stutzle, Giroux, Chabot, Sanderson, Chychrun, Norris, Batherson, Pinto and Korpisalo are coming… As a club it makes a lot of sense.
But no, DeBrincat didn’t like it anymore. He wanted to go play at home.
I will never buy his sweater. I find it boring for hockey in Canada. We do not need that.
Players have the right to refuse to join a team. But we have the right to be offended.
We can put ourselves in his shoes and understand. Ottawa can be boring. Or Calgary, it can be boring for Tkachuk.
Young players can live in Los Angeles, Florida, Vegas! You can choose.
They can also choose to play in places where they don’t have to speak to the media every day. Where the media don’t give a fuck about them.
Where they experience neither pressure nor criticism from the audience when they end the evening at -3 o’clock.
Where it’s warm all year round and you don’t need winter boots.
Where they don’t care about it in the supermarket.
You have every right to want anything in life.
Me, they are not my favorite players.
It’s like someone who starts their business and sells it for 40 to do nothing in Florida but play golf. It’s his choice, but he’s not my favorite entrepreneur.
It’s like all artists who don’t produce anything new after 35 years because they’ve made enough money to live on royalties in a perfect house in California.
Caufield and Hyman
I prefer Cole Caufield, fueled by the admiration of devoted Montreal fans.
I like Zach Hyman better who moved to Edmonton from Toronto and just scored 83 because he drives that energy of passionate markets too.
Cole Caufield file photo, Martin Chevalier
Granted, sometimes it’s difficult. In Montreal and Toronto, the public can be harsh. But I think Caufield and Hyman are putting a lot more pressure on themselves than the public is putting on them. In my opinion, this is a great athlete.
And when we talk about social networks, which is intense, that’s true, but at some point it takes a shell or ignorance.
It has become everything Tatas can write from their semi-basement. Most athletes have realized that you just have to stop looking at it.
It’s maybe more demanding in Toronto than anywhere else because of the media. But I hope! Introduce! It’s been 56 years since they won. The media wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t share the public’s discouragement.
And when you talk to me about taxes, that excuse becomes less and less valid. The difference isn’t that big, as our May report shows, which you can read here. And Canadian teams have devised strategies to make up the difference, particularly through endorsement deals.
In short, there are players who don’t care about the market they play in. You want to win. Others love the attention. Others are better because they care about their followers.
But for others, they do their job and prefer a certain anonymity in the depths of Columbus or in Florida.
All the better if they are happy. And all the better in the end. Because we don’t want them on our team.
Venue of Peru in Group B of the Pre-Olympic Games in Japan. Photo: FPV
