So I should give up my season tickets or am I misinterpreting your statement?
The feeling I get from TNSE is that they're happy insomuch as they're making money. They're looking at the economic situation and deciding that A)the Canadian dollar continues to perform poorly cutting into their bottom line and B)we have a largely captive audience so we'll just raise prices to cover our margins (plus profit, of course). If that affects any of our season ticket holders then hey, they can walk and we'll pluck someone off the wait list to take their place. Loyalty is for those inside the organization. Eff the rest of them. I'm sure they're displeased with the on-ice product as well but I've seen no outward indications of it. To the contrary I see statements that seem to imply "we're just this close to the playoffs" and we're sure everything will be ok. There's no urgency despite being a rather pathetic team, in terms of performance, for the tenure here in Winnipeg.
I see the lack of a sense of urgency but otherwise disagree with this paragraph. I don't believe there is any satisfaction with merely making money. The team has to make at least a small profit in order to survive. It can never compete unless it is also supporting the costs of competing.
I'm at a loss here as to how to proceed. I'm not giving up my season tickets because I enjoy the privilege of going to NHL hockey games. Generally I enjoy them, be it to watch our guys or as of late, to watch other teams outperform our guys. My only real avenue of complaint is to fill out the end of season ticket holder survey. I'm not convinced that they take any of it to heart at all. Don't get me wrong here, I don't want management to take MY advice on how to manage the team.
There are technical aspects I am not able to judge. So exactly, precisely how to proceed I can't say. I can that, IMO there needs to be coaching changes for example, but I can't say who should replace current coaches.
We're in year six. There've been some moves made though really many not until the management has been forced to make them. The team did entirely check out on Noel. Buff threw Kane's tracksuit in the shower forcing the trade. Beyond that? No addressing of goaltending in a meaningful manner (yes, I was supportive of a Hutch/Helle combo for this year but really only in the sense of the Helle half of it) for years. We've squandered most of the Atlanta Core's better years trying to figure things out while icing GST, Mittens, Peluso and others. We are again, pragmatically speaking, out of the playoffs by American Thanksgiving. Within my season ticket group I have for the past several seasons front-loaded my games so I can delude myself that we still have a shot in October, November, December.
We can all see a lack of specific action. We were asked to be patient when the team arrived and generally have been. Very patient in fact. We have yet to be given an estimate of how patient we should expect to have to be. We have been able to see opportunity come and go with no apparent attempt by the club to take advantage.
So how do I voice those concerns as a season ticket holder? How do I convey the message that I'm not satisfied with the product on the ice? I disagree with paper bags, throwing jerseys on the ice and for the most part, booing the home team. But what avenues are available to suggest I'm largely dissatisfied with the product? If that dog's breakfast of a Tampa game was me in a restaurant eating a meal I'd have asked to speak to the manager about his/her employees' performances - the hostess was great and showed us to a nice seat, but it was downhill after that, the waiter was awful, the product largely undelivered and you want me to pay how much?
You list the available avenues and reject them. There are ways to contact the team. You have a ticket rep. You can ask that rep to pass on a message. You can rent a billboard, set up a protest twitter account or facebook page. I don't know of any way to speak directly to management.
I'm well and truly ok with the notion of a growth year with youth in place. But the Jets should be better than they are showing, youth or not in the lineup. I'm not upset because we're not winning, I'm upset because they don't even look like they're trying. It's not JUST goaltending that is hampering this team, far from it. The Helle/Hutch combo was a risk that didn't work (what is preventing us from acquiring another goaltender during the season btw if we are seriously trying to make the playoffs?) The play beyond there is what could best be described as embarrassing at times for young men making millions of dollars to do what they do.
If they were losing by being out-competed by a better team that would be a-ok in my books. But that's not the case in many games. The Leafs were behind us prior to this year in terms of development. I think Matthews is one heck of a hockey player but he's not the difference between the Jets and the Leafs at the moment. And I think the Leafs are considerably further ahead of us in a very, very short time since they tore it down to start over. Year six since the team came over and we're still evaluating and in a developmental year? Oy.
