Other Thoughts: tomato tomato tomato i’m throwing tomatoes
The 2022-23 season is officially here y’all!
Soup season and prime-time TV are back, so we are thriving for the moment. After a few quiet weeks, the NHL is back in action as players completed their media duties and started giving us #Content.
Everyone in the NHL Deciding To Retire All At Once
We will talk more about P.K. Subban sometime soon.
On Tuesday, August 20, 2022, Zdeno Chara, Keith Yandle and P.K. Subban officially announced their retirement. Chara signed a one-day contract with the Boston Bruins to retire as a Bruin with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2011. After 25 seasons in the NHL, it was time to let that man rest. Chara’s reputation as a good guy and great captain does hold a special place for us. Wishing him a long and happy retirement!
We had a long discussion on Subban’s retirement. Given that he was such a fundamental part of our hockey experience, we feel he deserves a longer post. For now, we hope that he’s enjoying his free time and lining up his next gigs.
Also, best of luck to Keith Yandle.
The Curious Conundrum of Connor McDavid
Whenever Connor McDavid gets asked about a serious issue, the possibility of hearing some absolute nonsense is high. His most recent foray into angering a significant portion of the hockey world came during the NHL media day, where he was asked what he thought about the current Hockey Canada situation. His reply was absurd? Out of touch? A myriad of things other than appropriate.
We all know that the sport is 20 years behind the times but what we can’t get over is the fact that Connor McDavid continues to suffer from chronic foot-in-mouth syndrome. How is it possible that his management, his team, AND the league haven’t done something to ensure that the man - widely considered one of the best of all time - stops ruining his reputation. How is anyone - particularly young and newer fans - meant to take this? A league that is so callous that even their top star can’t demonstrate a smidge of empathy? The mind boggles.
The (faux) need to speak French
Last week, the Habs announced Nick Suzuki as their new captain, but the announcement was quickly clouded by politicians trying to move attention away from their weak election campaign. Some of them were concerned about Suzuki’s lack of ability to communicate with the franchise’s fans in French.
As a Montrealer, I’m going to take the “bait” & give my thoughts, even though I genuinely think these politicians have bigger fish to fry, given that Quebec’s hospitals and schools are falling apart.
Nick Suzuki mentioned that he learned some French when he was younger, and when he expected to be handling that big responsibility, he decided to hop back behind a desk and freshen his old skills. However, other than that, there isn’t much he can do. My main thing is that people never want to admit that learning French is hard. Even as a francophone, I sometimes have difficulty with my grammatical conjugation, so it’s a little ridiculous to expect a guy who’s only here because of his job to be bilingual by next week.
The MLB has no problem providing interpreters for players who don’t speak English. The team could do the same until his French improves, but that’s pretty much it. Stop being cheap @ NHL!
The Jets are removing the C of Blake Wheeler
On Monday, the Winnipeg Jets announced a “leadership group restructure,” AKA Blake Wheeler lost his C, and apparently so did the other As. Wheeler had been captain since 2016, and there are still two more years left on his contract, so we can only imagine how awkward that conversation was.
There have been rumors for quite a few years that the Jets locker room was not a great place, and they intensified when Laine was traded. Allegedly, Wheeler had felt some type of way about the rookie racking up minutes on the ice and threatening his position, so he made life difficult for him. Can you imagine being bullied by your captain and having to live in Winnipeg over the winter? I’d want to GTFO as soon as possible too. We’ll see how Rick Bowness handles this, uh, ~interesting~ dynamic in this new season.
(We can’t believe he showed up to the press conference, we would have demanded a trade immediately. At the same time, we would never be in this situation because we have people skills, so good luck!)
Black Ice at TIFF
I - Perrye - had the chance to attend the documentary “Black Ice” premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which won the People’s Choice Award for Documentaries. The film, which examines the history of anti-Black racism in Canadian hockey, was interesting. I highly recommend that you find a way to see it when it gets released. I will do a further review down the line. I just need to do a rewatch when it gets available on Crave. However, if someone at UNINTERRUPTED Canada reads this and wants to send us a screener, we’re definitely takers *wink wink*.
Until then, you can read my thoughts about being a Black fan of hockey.
Also, congratulations to Saroya Tinker, one of hockey’s leading change makers, who became Sherwood’s first sponsorship with a non-National Team-affiliated hockey player.
Talk soon,
Gaby and Perrye