When will we stop using the dream of the return of the Nordiques to try to manipulate the people of Quebec?
Haven’t we been deceived enough? As if we were the village idiots. Let’s get up in the morning and wait for our bread ration and an announcement that could help the Nordic countries return.
As if we were fat enough to believe that any gust of wind could potentially contribute to its return.
The NHL used Quebec to up the ante and create franchises in Vegas and Seattle at a high price.
It used Quebec to put pressure on all troubled markets.
The NHL opened the door for a new team in Canada when it came time to negotiate TV rights in Canada at an insane price.
Plan C
If you never believed in the return of the Nordiques, go back ten years ago, to 2013. Even the most cynical began to believe it.
The Thrashers had just moved to Winnipeg. The Videotron Center was under construction. The Coyotes’ misery had begun. Vegas wasn’t even in the plans. It looked good.
Yes, it’s been 10 years. You know the rest. Since then we’ve just been a plan C.
It’s a shame that the NHL used Quebec, but we’re starting to develop a shell.
But now it is astonishing that the government of François Legault is using this Nordic dream to justify a subsidy of $5 to $7 million.
We’re not idiots.
Especially since the Finance Minister stated that it had no connection to the Nordic countries, before claiming the complete opposite the following week.
It’s surreal. Does Drew Doughty’s parmesan fondue have to be funded with public money to show that Quebec is a good market for the NHL?
On which planet?
We fill the arena for the pee tournament. We have the best crowd in the country for junior hockey. We put on big shows in the amphitheater. TVA has launched a sports TV channel specifically for this purpose. We had many meetings with Gary Bettman.
And Quebec is doing much better than it was back then. Economic growth for gross domestic product per capita of working age was the highest in Canada from 2001 to 2018, explained economist Pierre Fortin. It’s twice as good as Montreal and almost three times better than Toronto.
What else should we do to show that we are a good hockey market? Are we all writing to Santa Claus? Send cookies to Gary Bettman? Should we put on a musical to pay tribute to him?
Absolutely nothing changes when the Nordiques return if the Kings spend a week in Quebec. That does not help. It doesn’t do any harm.
In his opinion, Gary Bettman knows very well what we are worth and what we are not.
Pirouettes that serve no purpose
The reality is that there are people, including Bettman, who have no interest in seeing the NHL here again. And these people seem to have more influence than any pirouette we can do in Quebec with a ball stuck to our noses.
As long as this lobby exists, others will come before us and the Coyotes will continue to play in a junior hockey arena.
But can you please stop thinking that we jerk our cocks every time we hear the word Nordiques?
Come back to us if something serious happens. In the meantime, we will enjoy the other gems of our beautiful city.