Bleacher Report - Articles by Daniel Bigras

NHL: The REAL Problem

Daniel Bigras — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:26:55 -0500

Did you notice that hockey is the only North American professional sport that is not a tremendous success in the USA?

Did you notice that a sport without enough Americans is not successful in the United States? Just look at Soccer, or at Formula 1, or at Hockey.

I believe fans are patriotic. I believe we show support to our own before supporting others. I believe the NHL problem is simple: There's not enough Americans playing on American teams.

And that analysis is coming from a french Canadian, in Montreal, Québec, Canada.

I believe there should be a minimum of national players in NHL teams. I believe there should be at least 50% of Americans on American teams, and 50% of Canadians on Canadian teams.

It shouldn't be too difficult to find enough players to play on 3rd and 4th lines, to play on the 3rd defensive pair, to act as spare players.

Before disagreeing with me, try to prove me wrong. Find me one sport that does not have many Americans that is a better success in the United States than hockey. You won't find one.

Even college football is a better success than hockey.

I believe that most sports have a big success in their country only and only if their own players play at the highest levels. There might be exception, but I'm sure that 80-90% of the time, this analysis holds true.

Can someone bring this to the attention of Gary Bettman?

Montreal Canadiens Centennial-Year Announcements!

Daniel Bigras — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:28:15 -0400

September 24, 2008: The Montreal Canadien Hockey Club unveiled a host of festivities and special announcements in order celebrate the upcoming Centennial season, year, birthday.

And it was in front of hundreds of employees and journalists at the Bell Centre that the president Pierre Boivin, the owner George Gillet and the vice-president marketing Ray Lalonde announced this exciting news.

Ray Lalonde was especially excited to show a 20-minute video on the brand-new center screen—which is five times bigger than the previous one, and now the biggest center screen in the NHL.

In the past, when sitting in the Red sections of the Bell Centre, you could feel right at home during commercial breaks and in between periods, as the center screen was still big enough and showed commercials like we are used to seeing on TV. Now, with the new center screen, spectators might feel like they are in an IMAX theatre!

Before I start listing all the announcements, I’d like to say one simple thing—for the next two years, it won’t be very difficult to buy a gift for a Montreal Canadiens fan!

SEPTEMBER 2008

Launch of NHL 2009 from EA Sports

This new version of the popular game will have a new team featuring the best players from the Montreal Canadiens history.

Publishing of Honoured Canadiens

A nice book what will display the 44 Montreal Canadiens players inducted in the Hockey Hall Of Fame in Toronto. We can already pre-order it.

OCTOBER 2008

Launch of the Montreal Canadiens version of the Monopoly game

Yes, Maurice Richard will be on the Boardwalk space. But one thing that is interesting is that Patrick Roy and Guy Carbonneau will be next to each other in the dark greens.

Distribution of six special coins from the Royal Canadian Money

Six collectible coins, with a version of each of the six previous jerseys.

October 15: First local game, unveiling of the Honour Board

In order to honour the 44 Montreal Canadiens players inducted in the Hockey Hall Of Fame, a picture and number of each player will be displayed in the wall behind the Blue Section of the Bell Center.

October 20: Special Centennial game—the 70s jersey

It will be very interesting to see and watch these games, as the Montreal Canadiens players will wear an original jersey during 8 games of the 2008-09 season and 4 games of the 2009-10 season. I believe it will be possible to purchase these jerseys.

October 28: Special game—Builders evening

To honour the coaches of the team’s history.

NOVEMBER 2008

Unveiling of a special DVD with the 10 most memorable games

Amongst the 10 games, it twill include the infamous Good Friday game against the Quebec Nordiques in 1984, one of the bloodiest hockey games in history. And it will also show the 1975 game against the Moscow Red Army.

November 15: Special Centennial game—original version of the current third jersey

November 22: Patrick Roy’s jersey retirement

DECEMBER 2008

Construction of an outside community rink in the Saint-Michel neighbourhood

The Montreal Canadiens Foundation will build outside rinks in different communities.

December 4: Unveiling of the Centennial Plaza, outside the Bell Center

December 4: Special Centennial game—blue, white, and red jersey with the white CAC logo inside

December 10th – Launch of the Centennial Web site

JANUARY 2009

January 8: Classic confrontation against the Toronto Maple Leafs

January 13: Upper Deck will launch a special collectible cards set for the Montreal Canadiens history

January 25: NHL All-Star weekend

Thursday at 19h will be a special evening to honour hockey legends.

Saturday at 10h will be the official All-Star practice at the Bell Center.

Saturday at 19h will be the famous All-Star Skills competition.

Sunday at 19h will be the All-Star game.

FEBRUARY 2009

February 1: Special Centennial game–striped jersey

It will be interesting to see what jerseys the referees will wear in that game.

February 21: Special Centennial game—70s jersey

MARCH 2009

Launch of 10,000,000 dollar coins with a special Centennial logo.

March 14: Special Centennial game–original version of the current 3^rd jersey

March 21: Special Centennial game–blue, white, and red jersey

March 31: Special Centennial game–striped jersey

APRIL 2009

Official opening of the Montreal Canadiens Hall Of Fame

April 2: Montreal Symphonic Orchestra special show before the Islanders game

JUNE 2009

JUNE 26-27: NHL Entry Draft

JULY 2009

Launch of a special DVD: A Season in the Life

A special behind-the-scenes documentary to show the life of Montreal Canadiens players during a season.

SEPTEMBER 2009

Official launch of four million postal stamps from Canada Post.

OCTOBER 2009

Launch of a special DVD set about the Montreal Canadiens history

October 20: Special Centennial game—red jersey with the white C inside the maple leaf

NOVEMBER 2009

November 3: Special Centennial game–first jersey, the blue one

November 21: Special Centennial game–red jersey with the white C inside the maple leaf

DECEMBER 2009

December 1: Special Centennial game—first jersey, the blue one

December 4: Official opening of the Montreal Canadiens movie, Pour Toujours, les Canadiens

December 4: Special game for the team’s 100th birthday

December 5: Closing Gala for the Centennial celebrations

In short, I’m very happy with all these announcements. It will be very easy to satisfy every type of fan, from every group, style, and age.

I believe this time it will be very difficult to have anything to disagree—we will have to wait and see what some talk-shows like "110 Percent" can come up with.

I can’t wait to see the new center screen, which might make me regret buying tickets in the White sections instead of the Reds. I’m very curious to renew my Monopoly game with the Montreal Canadiens version.

But most importantly, I simply cannot wait to see the old jerseys and get my hands on a few.

And you, what do you like about these announcements? What are your top three?

Montreal Canadiens' Training Camp Battles

Daniel Bigras — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:40:53 -0400

As with every other NHL team, the Montreal Canadiens have started their official training camp. And so far, after only a few days into it, we can already see that the Canadiens are working hard on getting ready to defend their Eastern Conference points title for the 2008-09 season.

Many Montreal observers already know that it will be difficult for a young gun to win a spot on the big team before the first game on October 10. But are there any that could realistically knock on Bob Gainey’s door, like Carey Price did last year?

Max Pacioretty seems to be one of them. His name is on everybody's lips. But it seems more like a marketing ploy than a real deserved praise.

In my humble opinion, in the first two training camp games, he's not making a real difference. I remember the ruckus Guillaume Latendresse caused in his first training camp —it was obvious that he was making an impact. Max is not making the same noise—so far.

Frankly, I’m a little disappointed in the intensity levels that the young prospects are showing, except for two players—Yannick Webber, the young Swiss following Mark Streit’s footsteps, and the diminutive David Desharnais, who reminds me of a certain Mats Naslund, in every sense.

Desharnais has a strong grittiness, good passing ability, his scoring desire is obvious and, well, obviously his height is very similar.

Webber is a similar to Streit in so many ways—very offensive, very good shot from the point, and defensively, so far, he’s not showing to be much better than Mark. But he has something different to offer—Yannick is right-handed, something to look for in any hockey player these days, especially in a defenseman.

During the special Hockeyville game in Roberval, Québec, Webber’s name was heard many times. It seems that Coach Carbonneau is testing the Swiss—and he’s responding fairly well for a 20-year old.

David Desharnais also had a very good game against the Buffalo Sabres’ training team. His size didn’t show, actually. It’s almost useful to be as small as he is—he’s harder to hit and can find room around the net very easily.

His playmaking abilities are obvious. In his last three seasons he had more than 70 passes each time and scored 30-40 goals too. He raised many eyebrows when he published a 29-goals, 77-assist season in the East Coast League.

But the real battles are not amongst the youngsters. They are for the checking line—the Laraque Line, as I call it, since he’s the only player with a guaranteed spot on that line.

And it’s not a matter of who will stay, as Kostopoulos, Bégin, Lapierre, and Dandenault have NHL contracts and will start the season in Montreal. It’s a matter of knowing which of them will make a good line with Georges Laraque, and which will play a backup role most of the season.

So far we have seen Lapierre, Dandenault and Bégin, and they are all working hard to attract Carbonneau’s attention. They are all hitting hard, and they are all showing a lot of grit. It will be an interesting battle when Kostopoulos is able to show his skills, because he will not let his hometown-team spot go so easily.

From what I’ve seen, it will be a battle between Steve Bégin and Tom Kostopoulos. They can both play left wing, they are both lefties, and they are both very good defensively. No matter who wins this spot, it will make an interesting tough line!

Were the Montreal Canadiens Really Born on December 4, 1909?

Daniel Bigras — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:20:49 -0400

Was the Club de Hockey Canadien really born on December 4, 1909?

A simple question that should have been easily and quickly answered. But unfortunately it wasn’t—and it’s still pending a true answer.

Yes, Les Canadiens were founded on that day by John Ambrose O’Brien, who beat George Kendall Kennedy to the race of creating a team with French Canadians.

That fact was confirmed on Canada’s biographical site, where it is written that Kennedy purchased the franchise Les Canadiens for $7,500.

Unfortunately, this is where the confusion starts.

In his book Trail for the Stanley Cup, Charles Coleman mentions that the Montreal Canadiens come from another franchise—not Les Canadiens but from the Haileybury Comets, another team owned and operated by John Ambrose O’Brien. That franchise was transferred to George Kendall on November 12, 1910.

I know that Wikipedia is not always the best of sources, but it’s a good start and there are many similar texts that use the Charles Coleman book as a reference.

This is not the only source for that information. On page 28 of his book Toute l'histoire illustre et merveilleuse du Canadien (ISBN 2-89043-197-5), Claude Mouton writes the same thing—George Kendall Kennedy got the Haileybury Comets franchise, not Les Canadiens.

Mr. Mouton doesn’t mention his sources—but maybe he’s also using the book by Charles Coleman, since it was written in 1966.

One thing that is certain is that Mr. Mouton doesn’t write that the Comets were transferred in Montreal and renamed the Montreal Canadiens. When reading the paragraphs on page 28, there’s something missing, as if history was cut.

In another article, of which I don’t know the original source, it is written that George Kendall Kennedy allowed John Ambrose O’Brien to temporarily use the word "Canadiens," which he legally owned.

This permission was given until his organisation, the Club Athlétique Canadien would decide to expand its activities to hockey.

Which he did in 1910, when M. Kendall inquired to the National Hockey Association about getting an expansion franchise. At the time, it is written that the franchise Les Canadiens was suspended by the league, because of financial problems and legal threats by George Kendall if the name Canadiens was not given back.

The Haileybury Comets also had financial problems, because the small town couldn’t support a professional hockey team—but it wasn’t suspended by the league.

According to this text, the league did not give a new franchise to George Kendall, but instead transferred him the Haileybury Comets.

The bottom line is simple. According to these books and texts, George Kendall Kennedy did not get the franchise Les Canadiens, but instead got the Haileybury Comets. He then transferred the franchise to Montreal and renamed it the Montreal Canadiens.

But he did not hire anyone from the Comets—he wanted to have a French Canadian team. He instead hired all the players from the suspended team and its player-coach, Jack Laviolette.

This might be the source of the confusion regarding the beginning of the Montreal Canadiens.

The funniest part in all this—again, according to these texts— is that the franchise Les Canadiens was transferred to Toronto, either as the Tecumsehs, as written on Eyes On The Prize, or as Eddie Livingston’s Blueshirts, as written in Charles Coleman book.

Where is the truth?

The Haileybury Comets were founded in 1906, in the Timiskaming Professional Hockey League. A known player played for them, Art Ross. George Kendall supposedly got that franchise on November 12, 1910.

Again, where is the truth?

The only way to get the true answers would be to confirm which franchise George Kendall got. Was it Les Canadiens or the Comets? If it’s Les Canadiens, then the 1909 date still holds. But if it’s the Comets, then it’s somewhere in 1906.
Are they already 102 years old?

I have an appointment with the Quebec National Library to read The Trail of the Stanley Cup by Charles Coleman, and also The Story on the Montreal Canadiens by Andy O’Brien.

But even if I confirm that it is written in these books, while the opposite is written elsewhere, how can I confirm who writes the truth or not?

Anyone care to help?

This article is in no way, shape, or form my interpretation or my opinion on the matter. I’m simply reporting the information that I’ve found and asking questions, looking only for the truth.

2008-2009 Is NOT the Montreal Canadiens' 100th Season!

Daniel Bigras — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:12:22 -0400

(Updated 2008-08-12)

See below

(Updated 2008-08-09)

I’m baffled.

I just cannot believe that so many paid journalists are making this ridiculous mistake! A mistake done by most major media, even by the Montreal Canadiens themselves!

The 2008-2009 season will NOT be the Montreal Canadiens’ 100th season!

The Club de Hockey Canadien was founded on December 4, 1909. Therefore, on December 4, 2009, the Montreal Canadiens will celebrate their 100th anniversary. On that fact, everyone agrees, no mistakes are made.

December 4th 2009 will occur during the 2009-2010 season, not during the 2008-2009 season. Therefore 2009-2010 will be the 100th anniversary season, not 2008-2009.

Why are we rushing it? Why so many Facebooks group are created? Why so much focus on 2008-2009 when it should be next season?

Are we eager to say: “Hey, Montreal, Happy 100th—and let’s be done with it!”?

Yes, 2009 is the centennial year, the year where the 100th anniversary will occur, but it has NOTHING to do with the 2008-2009 season.

On October 10th 2008, Montreal will start their 99th season, not their 100th.

Did we forget that we lost a season in 2004-2005? Therefore, Montreal will start their 100th season next year, in October 2009.

"The 2004–05 NHL season would have been the 88th regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL)." - Wikipedia

Would have, therefore it wasn't. Therefore it cannot be counted.

Any mathematician, programmer, database owner will not count 2004-2005 as a season. Just look at hockeydb, count each season manually, you will reach 98 like me.

In a way, it’s better like this, because 2009-2010 will be the 100th season celebrating Montreal’s 100th anniversary.

So, let’s get the facts straight:

2008-2009 is the Montreal Canadiens’ 99th season.

2009 is the centennial year, because Montreal will celebrate their anniversary on December 4, 2009.

2009-2010 will be Montreal’s 100th season.

Sorry to burst so many bubbles.

The logo 25 for 100 will have to be changed to 25 for 99, or postponed until next year.

This also implies that there shouldn't any fuss made about the fact that Montreal is not getting an outdoor game this season—it should occur next season, and I hope it does!

Examples of these mistakes:

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20...8/CPSPORTS0101
http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/255799.html
http://lcn.canoe.ca/lcn/sports/nouve...05-122505.html
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/...iens_schedule/
http://canadiens.nhl.com/team/app/?s...ticleid=345366

(Updated 2008-08-12)

I contaced the Canadiens and they called me back. The Canadiens Archivist called me back and he was in disbelief! They are under the complete impression that it's the 92nd season. While even the NHL's communication is saying that the upcoming season is the 91st.

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?articleid=368615&page=NewsPage&service=page

I contacted the NHL's Public Relations in New York and they were a bit surprised. They will contact me back.

In short, the problem is major.

The Canadiens thinks it's their 92nd season, while the NHL and everywhere on the Internet, it's the 91st.

Yvon Pedneault Fired by RDS

Daniel Bigras — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:06:53 -0400

It’s always sad to see someone lose his job, especially when that person was working for that company for the past 10 years.

But most importantly, it’s sad to see the departure of someone that helped that company in its debut by sharing his reputation, his experience, and respect with this new television station—RDS, the French counterpart of TSN in Canada.

Yvon Pedneault, the famous French Canadian journalist, was inducted by his peers into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998. It’s a great gift to someone so well known in the sports industry, in the hockey business. Yvon Pedneault is a monument in his line of work.

On Friday, July 18, RDS announced that Benoit Brunet, an ex-player of the Montreal Canadiens, will replace Yvon Pedneault as the broadcast analyst. Yvon Pedneault was not offered another position in the organisation.

Yvon’s contract ended on June 30, 2008—the same as the entire hockey broadcasting team. The entire team was renewed, except for Pedneault. He learned only recently that his contract was not going to be renewed, and that the television station had no future plans for him.

For those who don’t know, Pierre Houde and Yvon Pedneault have been analysing the hockey games for RDS for the past 19 and 10 years respectively. Another fact that many might not know is that they don’t always share the best of reputation amongst Canadiens fans—a very tough bunch.

My guess is that RDS felt a change was needed for this team and Yvon was easier to let go than Pierre. But it doesn’t matter if we like or not Yvon Pedneault.

The fact remains that he didn’t learn before his contract ended that it wouldn’t be renewed, and he didn’t know he would return to the television station that he helped at the beginning. RDS did not behave professionally in regard to its iconic broadcaster.

Why do I think that? Because I also work with contracts.

As a computer consultant I know the life of going from one contract to another. It’s unstable, it’s unsecure, and it’s difficult—but it’s manageable. And I don’t care if some people will say that it’s a cruel world, because there’s a work ethic that needs to be followed and respected.

RDS did not respect this ethic. I really think they behaved like amateurs in this situation.

And don’t tell me that’s it’s the business world, because I work in it and I know how it works. As a contractor, you never want to be without a job for a long time, therefore you require that your employer warn you if your contract will not be renewed. If your employer is not telling you, you need to find out—it’s a matter of survival.

But when you look at the history of RDS, when you compare it to other television stations, when you compare its shows and broadcasts to other professional sports, it’s easy to see that RDS is still young in this business and they are making amateur mistakes—like the way they handled Yvon Pedneault.

Yvon made his own mistakes. Did he assume that his contract would be renewed? Of course he did. Was it a mistake? Obviously. Both RDS and Yvon Pedneault mishandled this situation.

While I really don’t agree with the disrespectful way they handled it, I do think that RDS needed to make some changes.

Yvon Pedneault needed to be replaced as analyst during the hockey games.

Why did he need to be replaced? Because the pair of Pierre and Yvon did not fare well amongst THOUSANDS of Montreal Canadiens fans. Many will mention that they often used very weird expressions, and went on lengthy digressions while the puck was in play.

I guess RDS didn’t like the fact that many Web sites ridiculed the pair, that Facebook groups would have thousands of supporters against Pierre and Yvon, and dozens of videos on YouTube made fun of them—and made fun of RDS.

During games, in order to avoid listening to Pierre and Yvon, how many people found a way to listen to the CKAC radio broadcast while watching RDS on TV? Quite a few.

If you look at other professional broadcasts, who are the analysts during games? Many times they are ex-players or ex-coaches.

Before the Habs games were transferred to RDS, the analyst during hockey broadcasts at Radio-Canada was Gilles Tremblay, an ex-Montreal Canadiens player.

That’s why I agree with RDS's decision to hire an ex-NHL player as analyst. Benoit Brunet was doing a good job as an analyst during game breaks, so I’m sure he will do a good job during the broadcast.

It just makes sense. The analyst for the Montreal Alouettes is an ex Alouettes player. It’s just the way it should work during sports broadcasts—if the ex-player/coach can handle himself behind the microphone, of course.

But the ends don’t always justify the means. And RDS’s means were a joke, even thought their reason was justified. I hope Yvon Pedneault finds himself a good situation in which to continue his career, and I hope that one day another French Canadian sports channel opens to compete with RDS, and force them to increase their quality.

Because when you compare RDS’s quality with English Canadian or American broadcasts, RDS looks like amateurs—in my book.

Max Pacioretty could very well steal another French Canadian job!

Daniel Bigras — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:17:59 -0400

When Montreal picked Max Pacioretty in 2007, it created a big ruckus amongst the Canadiens French Canadian community. Mainly because Montreal had the opportunity to pick David Perron, who’s already playing well with the St. Louis Blues.

David is a very good hockey player, but most importantly, he’s also a French Canadian.

Anyone trying to understand the pride and passion that encompass Montreal Canadiens fans, mainly French Canadians, has to understand the root where the Tricolore comes from.

The Montreal Canadiens franchise was created to bring a francophone team to the National Hockey Association in order to compete with the Canadian Hockey Association. The team was founded also to bring more fans to the arena where the NHA was playing.

When I refer to the Tricolore, you will notice that I don’t like to use the term Habs, short for Habitants, french for peasants. I find this expression quite pejorative and it brings many French Canadians back to our colonized roots. We are no longer peasants, we are no longer the "small" people; we are simply French Canadians.

This short bit is simply to help understand that not picking David Perron was a major decision that flustered the French Canadiens fan base. But that didn’t last long, as we got to know last year who Max Pacioretty was, and many of us started to believe in the young kid.

In short, we can say that Max stole David’s job with the Montreal Canadiens.

Max became intriguing when I heard a lot of news about the kid; he’s tall, strong, likes to play in circulation, he can score and he’s trying to become a two-way forward. His University coach said a lot of good things about him, and to top it all, Max showed that he was one notch over everyone at the recent rookie evaluation camp.

My guess is that this evaluation camp forced Bob Gainey into signing him, since the NCAA doesn’t allow college student to participate in a professional hockey camp. This forced Max into accepting the offer and turn pro this year, without completing his degree.

That’s great news because it shows that the Canadiens had a good reason to pick him, if he’s already forcing the team into speeding up his progress.

But as I was listening on the radio today, and the idea that sparked this article, is that some people think, provided the stars are properly aligned, that Max could very well play some games in the 2008-2009 season.

Max will have the opportunity to show his "stuff" at the rookie and pro camps. Who knows, he may even do like Guillaume Latendresse’s in his first NHL stint, and force Bob Gainey to keep the kid for a maximum of 10 games.

But could we see Max Pacioretty this season?

Max is a tall and fast left wing. With Alex Tanguay, Andrei Kostitsyn, Chris Higgins, and the young Guillaume Latendresse on the left wing, Montreal is pretty much set.

Alex, Andrei, and Chris have a safe spot in the roster, but what about Guillaume? What if during the training camp Max plays better than Guillaume? Could he lose his spot to Max? That’s a possibility and as far as I know, Guillaume has a two-way contract as well.

At the very least, it will surely force Guillaume to work hard in order to keep his job.

So in short, this signing has a double meaning: it shows that Gainey believes a lot in Max, but it could also threaten another French Canadian’s job with the team.

And I will end this article with this:

Thanks Bob, once again! It will be another interesting season, but this time, Montreal will not have to fight unjustified bad predictions. They will be amongst the best teams in the Eastern Conference!