Exactly, it's not genuine. It's a cop out for an organizational deficiency that apparently they think fans are stupid enough to not notice.
A potentially really good team is about to be blown up because our owner is so bad at owning the team, he can't earn enough revenue to justify signing it's prized players.
I hate this life.
Being "poor" means being bad at owning a team or is it for other reasons?
Have you guys ever thought of the size difference between Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa markets?
The Habs have a huge market because all the Quebec province is behind them. First, not everyone cares about hockey, only a small % of the population will go to games, buy merchandise and/or actually watch games on TV. You also have to realize that even out of all these people, not everyone has the budget to spend consistently on entertainment. Out of all the hockey fans in QC, most are behind the Habs. Same thing with the Leafs in Ontario. Now you have the Ottawa area, which is a lot smaller in terms of population and has a big problem : many of those hockey fans are actually Habs and Leafs fans, which considerably reduce the Sens market...
And the thing is that it will get harder and harder for this franchise to financially survive in Ottawa as the cap continues to rise (contracts get bigger and bigger as a result) and the customer base is probably already close to his maximum potential. Plus, it seems that there is a large portion of the fanbase that is actually starting to stop supporting the team...
Unfortunately, money decides of a lot of things in life and it seems that there is a large portion of the Sens fanbase who has trouble living with this REALITY (I agree, it sucks being "poor"), and as a result the organization ($$$ operation costs) is really not as big as their rivals. What is the solution? If all of this drags down a few years, maybe a relocation will eventually be inevitable. Even if there is new ownership, they will need a larger fanbase/market down the road. Nobody likes to throw money away
In a bubble ... you can defend each one.. Its a series of decisions that put us where we are and it doesn't end with those .. re: extensions. Part of it from my perspective is hindsight.. but I expect the gm to be able to evaluate where the team is , before pulling the plug that gives away so many futures in a win now move, when the team was not ready to win.. ie Karlsson injury, Methot loss, no Mac, no other team improvements. Overpayment on Duchene, and Brassard no question in my mind there.
When you go all in with high end futures like Dorion did on Duchene ... and in less than a year you are blowing the whole thing up.. Who is that on? Who is supposed to have some foresight there? Fans? Owners?
The Zibanejad trade actually ended quite well. For Zibanejad and a 2nd in 2018, we got :
- 1.7 years of Brassard (and a long playoffs run) (cheap, as he had a 3.33 M$ cost per year)
- Filip Gustavsson (potential #1 goalie)
- Jacob Bernard-Docker (26th OA in 2018)
- Jonny Tychonick (48th OA in 2018)
- 7th round pick in 2018 :
Luke Loheit (194th OA in 2018)
- 3rd rounder in 2020 : ???
-
Nick Moutrey (probably won't amount to much)
- Saved money for several years (Zibanejad salary vs Brassard, then vs Brown?)
The thing with Dorion is that he seems to overpay when he buys but seem to do quite well when he sells (as well as that astute move at the draft)
Connor @connormockett 16h16 hours ago
