Travis Moen Trade
The Habs made a deal this week trading Forward Travis Moen for 40-year-old defenseman Sergei Gonchar. In completing this trade, the Habs gained some valuable veteran leadership. More importantly, the Habs got rid of Moen, who has been subpar and pointless in ten games. The trade allows rookie Jiri Sekac to get into the lineup and the other forwards get to play an extra minute or two. Gonchar won't be playing big minutes, but expect him to get some second unit power play time and also time on the penalty kill. At the end of the season, Gonchar becomes an unrestricted free agent, assuming the Habs don't re-sign him.
Rene Bourque Demotion
The other big news was the demotion of forward Rene Bourque. Bourque is another player who was having a terrible start to the season. Some of the plays he was making made Habs fans cringe. It is relevant to consider the history of Rene Bourque. Initially signed by the Chicago Blackhwaks as an undrafted unrestricted free agent after a solid junior/college career, Bourque was a promising prospect in the NHL. During his first five seasons in the NHL, he produced respectable numbers, including his career high of 58 points. The Habs took a big risk and traded for Bourque midway through the 2011-12 season. At the time Bourque was facing heavy criticism for his play and was suspended twice for illegal hits. What made the risk so great was that Bourque signed a front-loaded six-year deal with the Flames prior to the 2010-11 season and that contract doesn't expire until the end of next season. Bourque is due to make $2.5 million this season and next. That's a lot of money to give to a player playing minimal minutes or in the AHL. As a rule, it is risky to sign a player to a big contract after one or two good seasons. More often than not, the players don't live up to their potential as they have little motivation to perform since the money is guaranteed. This is another move that will allow Sekac to play and other forwards more ice time. It is unlikely we'll see Bourque in the NHL until the playoffs as he will have to clear waivers.
Connor McDavid Injury
Top prospect Connor McDavid was injured in a pointless fight while playing in an OHL game for his junior team the Erie Otters. First of all, I'm against fighting in hockey in general. Just look at the consequences of this fight. Here you have a hockey player with all this raw talent absolutely dominating the OHL with a chance to shatter single-season scoring records set by Ernie Godden (goals) and Bobby Smith (assists and points) and now he's gone for five or six weeks with a fractured right hand. Not only is he risking his career, he's also letting his team and Team Canada down because he can't play. Personally I think too much of a big deal is being made of the potential of McDavid. He has yet to play a game in the NHL and yet people are already comparing him to the likes of Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby. The level of play in the junior circuit vs. the NHL is dramatically different. There have been countless players who dominated in Junior hockey but struggled in the NHL or never even played a game in the NHL. Here is just a sample of the big names who were first round busts. Hopefully McDavid recovers from the injury and comes back the same player. He needs to fully heal before attempting to return or the injury might affect him long-term.
Empty Arenas
I wish to respond to this tweet I posted a few weeks ago. It was in response to the number of empty seats. I suggested, sarcastically, that the Anaheim Ducks should move to Seattle. First, the goal of a successful business or team is to sell the product through ticket sales primarily. Second, I personally measure how successful that is by the number of butts in seats as opposed to ticket sales. For the purposes of this rebuttal, I will be referring to the 2013-14 attendance records located here. It should be noted that these numbers may be deceptively high because of HOW the measurement was taken (ticket sales). A couple of general considerations first. There are several factors that determines a teams game-to-game attendance. First and foremost, individual fans might have last minute emergencies that prevent them from attending the game such as illness or a car accident en route to the game. In more extreme circumstances, increment weather might prevent a substantial number from coming to the game but generally the number should be fairly low and thus the arena should look pretty full. Another factor is the popularity of hockey. Take for example the Florida Panthers. They are not a traditional hockey town and have big league teams in football (Miami Dolphins), baseball (Miami Marlins) and basketball (Miami Heat). Hockey in Florida is the 4th or 5th most popular choice. Also, team success does factor in. When Florida went to the Stanley Cup final (they lost to Colorado that year) and the years preceding and following they did okay though still bottom third of the league. What makes this an even bigger issue is every single NHL game is televised and can be watched through various online streams. This means people can see the empty seats worldwide. I encourage those of you on twitter to follow @emptyseatspics you'll see a trend happening with the Sunbelt teams (especially Florida and Carolina). The NHL needs to take a serious look at the future of hockey in Miami and Carolina.
League expansion
On a related note, the NHL is considering expanding the league by a team or two in the near future. Why is the league looking to expand when several teams are struggling to fill their buildings? Also, is there enough viable NHL talent to ensure the new teams will be competitive? To build an early fan base, teams should be somewhat successful in the first year or two. As it stands currently, parity exists in the NHL within conferences but the West is clearly superior to many teams in the East with the exception of Montreal, Tampa Bay and maybe Boston. Frankly, the league should look at relocating a team or two to a more viable location. Also, is Las Vegas the best choice? My concern is they are not a traditional hockey market and many of the people who travel to Las Vegas are supporters of other teams who will likely not switch allegiances. Seattle would be a better option as they have a natural rivalry in Vancouver. Quebec City should also get consideration as they are building an NHL capacity arena and being in Canada they will likely be very successful. In short, I support relocation over expansion
Habs fan blogging from British-Columbia.
2 comments:
Waivers are no longer required on the way back up from the AHL, so I don't understand your comment about Bourque. Here is a link to Wikipedia article explaining how waivers work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waivers_(NHL)
In any event, it seems highly unlikely that Bourque will return to the Habs, unless there is a rash of injuries. Habs will have a goaltending problem if either Price or Tokarski gets injured. Brodeur to fill in, perhaps?
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