The Canadian may have sold almost all his tickets this season, the patience of the fans will not be eternal. That’s why Geoff Molson has aligned his position with that of his general manager, Kent Hughes, who said in his end-of-season review that his expectations “will change”.
“I think he’s right,” Molson said in a scrum on the sidelines of a donation announcement to the Université de Montréal Carabins tennis program. The team that played the first half of the season, healthy, was much better than the team in the second half, because of injuries and maybe something else. It’s a long season. The youngsters played very well in the first half and next year will be another year of experience. Even for them, expectations will be higher. »
The indices for measuring the patience of supporters are imperfect. There have been these boos heard here and there, the few evenings when the team was destroyed, or when the numerical advantage was unable to organize itself.
Otherwise, we can pick up the empty benches at the Bell Centre. The team officially announced sold-out crowds of 21,105 for 37 of its 41 home games last season, but in practice some season ticket holders were either not showing up or unable to resell their tickets.
On the subject of tickets, Molson also unsubtly dodged a question asking him if he was going to review the principle of so-called “Premium” matches next year. This categorization served as a justification for the team to increase the price of tickets for certain matches.
“What I saw was an extraordinary crowd that supported the team in every game, launched the owner of the Canadian, in a burst of enthusiasm. I am very proud that our fans have [encouraged us] during the low periods with injuries and we will do everything to come back healthy next year. »
Molson’s balance sheet was positive overall, except for the thorny issue of injuries. It was not referred to once, but twice before the point was even explicitly mentioned in a question.
“Leaving injuries aside, the future is very bright,” he said in his first response. The other mention was in the first quotation reported at the beginning of the text.
Recall that for the second straight season, the Habs led the NHL in games missed by players due to injury. They missed some 600 games, leaving the team without an average of seven players per game.
“You’re never going to win with so many injuries,” Molson said. Jeff and Kent [Gorton and Hughes, not the former baseball player] said so. We have to look everywhere to see how we can be healthier as a team. This is something we will be doing this summer. »
For a moment, we thought that Marc Bergevin had disguised himself as Geoff Molson. “The first thing it tells me is that any team can win,” dropped the CH owner, an idea his former GM often mentioned.
Molson was talking about the first round of the NHL playoffs here. In his eyes, “in three series, the team not [expected] to win won.” In fact, strictly by season standings, the underdog team won two of eight first-round series: Seattle (vs Colorado) and Florida (vs Boston).
“It shows fairness in the National League. Every game, any team can win. We see teams that have been developing for six, seven or eight years, trying to win and finally, they have succeeded. I hope that we, as a team, will learn and follow the path of the winning teams. »
Very clever, the one who will find a single way to follow in the construction of the eight teams which triumphed in the first round. The Kraken and the Golden Knights are models that are difficult to apply elsewhere since they are from the expansion. The Devils had to “resume” their rebuild after an unexpected playoff appearance in 2018 was ultimately a mirage.
After very long stretches of the desert, the Maple Leafs, Hurricanes, Panthers and Oilers have been regular playoff runners for the past few years, while the Stars have alternated between playoff shutouts and interesting runs for the past 10 years. But their fabulous 2017 draft (Miro Heiskanen, Jake Oettinger, Jason Robertson) could very well launch them until the end of the decade.
So what model will the Canadian follow? Hughes and Gorton’s decisions around the draft period and the free agent market will speak volumes. But when, after two years of rebuilding, “higher expectations” are already predicted, it’s probably a sign of an owner who doesn’t intend to wait another five years.
The famous retro blue jerseys of the Canadian have been talked about all season. The team had gone 1-6-1 in games played in blue this season, suffering some of its worst thaws of the year. After the eighth and final game in blue, Martin St-Louis did not mince his words. “It’s a historic franchise… There’s probably guys who wore that jersey 50 years ago, red and white, and they’re looking down on us and thinking, ‘What the hell are you? do in blue?” Geoff Molson recalled that “it’s a league initiative that we support”, but also acknowledged that if she returns, changes will be made. “It’s impossible to believe it’s because of the jerseys, but we lost a lot of games!” he agreed. I don’t think we’re going to see [the blue jerseys] again next year. […] If it comes back, we’ll change colors, I think! »
