Bruce Dowbiggin
Stanley Cup In Canada? All That Glitters Is Not Silver
For Canada’s glittering NHL prizes, the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs, time is short. Having reaped a harvest of top draft picks through persistent losing they now sit atop the NHL, ready for a championship. The Oilers are still in the Western Conference championship series, battling Dallas in what seems like an even matchup. We’ll see.
Toronto, as we know, expired ignominiously in the opening round versus a very average Boston team. Knowing that their window is closing the Leafs fired coach Sheldon Keefe in favour of no-nonsense Craig Berube. But their wobbly balance between offence and defence remains to be exploited by opponents. It is exacerbated by the huge amounts paid to their Core Four Auston Matthews ($13.25), William Nylander ($11.5), Mitch Marner ($10.9) and John Tavares ($11 M).
That was lost in the relief of Toronto signing Matthews last August. Alas, despite Matthews netting 69 goals in the regular season, it was not enough. We suggested as much at the time:
1) While Matthews has yet to prove he can lead the Leafs anywhere but a golf course come May, he remains their best hope for any assault on the 56-year Stanley Cup drought. It might be a stretch to say the 40-plus-goal scorer in the regular season led them to their first postseason series win last April against Tampa. Patrice Bergeron he ain’t. But he didn’t hold them back, either. Not every Leafs star can say that.
He’s at a point (26) where a number of NHL stars have morphed from stats producers to win producers. Bryan Trottier, Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic and Vincent Lecavalier are a sampling of guys who added leadership their tool box in mid-career and went on to multiple Cups. We will see if Auston does likewise.
2) Matthews’ decision to remain in a Canadian city is a huge relief for the league which has recently seen American stars abandon or ignore Canadian cities for the lure of their home country. Indeed, Matthews would likely have gotten all the perks of this deal elsewhere— plus the anonymity of being an NHL player in a city obsessed by the NFL, NBA or MLB. He could’ve maxxed his take-home pay going to one of the NHL teams benefitting from no-state-income-tax. And the NHL would get a huge problem with Canadian fans.
As Canada’s economy wobbles and players have a choice on lifestyle, Matthews’ decision to live in the Toronto fish bowl means that at least one CDN team is relevant. And, let’s be honest, he has a chance of winning the Cup that he wouldn’t in six other CDN teams. If that doesn’t pan out his contract is movable should he desire to move on before 2028.
3) Speaking of relief, getting the deal done is a break for new Toronto GM Brad Treliving. It was he who, as Flames GM, had to negotiate the escape of Americans Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk from Calgary. Had he not been able to retain Matthews in Canada’s largest market it would have not been a job enhancer. Now, he has to find a way to squeeze all Toronto’s glamour boys— hello William Nylander— under the cap and leave room for what they still need. Good luck, Brad.
4) Matthews’ commitment to Toronto means that a number of teams who’ve been delaying bold moves and hoarding trade bait in anticipation of his potential trade or UFA market can now move to Plan B. There were a number of U.S. teams poised to offer the Leafs the moon and stars— NHL version— at the trade deadline or to sign him next summer. This should now signal some activity by teams anxious to deal.
Ironically, the Leafs used to be that team waiting for a Toronto Moses to emerge in the UFA market. Remember Brian Burke’s unseemly longing for Steven Stamkos? Even when they got their local guy in John Tavares, the Islanders star was past his peak and has proved a millstone under the Toronto salary cap. This time they get a star in his peak years.
5) Matthews’ league-leading benchmark of $13.25 M. over just four years allows the NHL salary grid to fall in place behind him as the salary cap takes a bump in 2024-25. His deal will be the comparison for the next superstar contract that enters the unlimited FA portal in the future— although his max salary may chafe some stars who match Matthews’ production but have taken their teams deep into playoffs or winning a Cup. Don’t they deserve more? The expected rise in the league cap over the four years of the Matthews deal may help assuage that.
6) Finally— and most amusing— has been the response from hockey sweats to Matthews getting $13.25 M. For four years? To this crew who talk lovingly about The Game, this seems an awful lot to pay a guy for playing a boy’s game. That much? This just in, Matthews is criminally underpaid as one of the Top 10 players in a modern sports league.
The dizzying $13.25 as NHL No. 1 would make him the 113th highest-paid player in the NBA, the 103rd highest-paid player in the MLB and the 88th highest-paid player in the NFL. As one perspective, Toronto-born Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of OKC Thunder— starring for Canada’s national team— pays about $13.25M per year in income tax.
Sure, there are differences among the revenues of the Big Four pro Leagues But, as we’ve written extensively, the @NHLPA sold out its stars in the 2004-05 CBA negotiations to protect average players and grinders. (Actually, it was a small group of stars pushed by their agents to stab Bob Goodenow’s strategy in the back.) They like to mock the product in CBA talks.
Limiting the maximum contracts to 20 percent of the cap allows the league to have higher minimum and median salaries than NFL and MLB. (Hands up those people who buy tickets or digital packages to see the third line and fifth defenceman?) And pay lip service that it’s still Don Cherry’s Original Six league. With its cozy business plan there’s been little incentive to push the NHL’s business model beyond more expansion.
Also of note, if NHL doesn’t make its revenue target under this #CBA Matthews and the other players will have money clawed back in escrow. Great deal, huh? None of the other leagues has escrow, a device thought up by an NYC law firm and foisted on gullible NHL stars in secret meetings to break the 2004-05 lockout. Everything since then has been pantomime labour negotiations.
So good luck, Leafs fans. Enjoy Matthews and the star-spangled Toronto lineup. Things could change with the same guys making more money. But don’t hold your breath.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the publisher of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Now for pre-order, new from the team of Evan & Bruce Dowbiggin— Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL & Changed Hockey. From Espo to Boston in 1967 to Gretz in L.A. in 1988 to Patrick Roy leaving Montreal in 1995, the stories behind the story. Launching in paperback and Kindle on #Amazon this week. Destined to be a hockey best seller. https://www.amazon.ca/Deal-Trades-Stunned-Changed-Hockey-ebook/dp/B0D236NB35/
Bruce Dowbiggin
Trump Effect: No One Gretz Off Easy Backing The Donald
It hasn’t been the greatest month for Wayne Gretzky. One one hand he has a Putin pal, Alex Ovechkin, systematically stalking his record for the most regular-season goals in an NHL career. After a slow start The Great Eight is now tracking Wayne like Carey Price tracking a mule deer (more on that later). When this is over he could have only 60 NHL records left!
On the other hand, his secret about supporting Donald Trump got out in the wake of Orange Man Bad re-possessing the White House. Yes, Gretz is a MAGA man, right down to the hat. While his son-in-law, LIV golfer Dustin Johnson, tees it up regularly with The Donald (they’re neighbours in the Palm Beaches) most of the hockey sweats were unaware that No. 99 votes for Trump. (In Wayne’s defence he votes GOP in the Hollywood congressional district which is like using a hair blower to melt the Columba Ice Field.)
Then, after Trump’s stunning (to some) win on Tuesday, pictures emerged on the Great One with his family at Mar A Lago celebrating the win. Janet Gretzky cooed, “Congratulations Mr. President Donald J Trump ♥️🤍💙🇺🇸 You did it, You deserved it, you earned every bit of it. The world is a better place to have you as our Leader. Proud to be an American. Thank you for being such a great friend . May God keep watching over you ♥️🙏🏻♥️ Love our family to yours !”
The secret (to some) was out. Then hero of the Great White North, which has elected Justin Trudeau three times, melted down. Like this. “People should burn all their old hockey jersey and cards of this guy. A shame”. And those were the nice ones.
University of Alberta professor Robert Summers @RJSCity: “He’s been a pretty unlikable guy for a long time, this just further solidifies it. He was an amazing hockey player.” @ktownkeith: “Gretzky is disgusting and pathetic. I will celebrate when Ovechkin breaks his record. Also FYI, Mario was the best hockey player ever, not Whine Gretzky.”
Dave MacIntyre @dave_macattack: “Wayne Gretzky being at Cheeto’s inauguration party is disappointing in ways I can’t properly express in a tweet. And no, I don’t care that hockey culture is conservative. Being fiercely opposed to a fascist dictator should be the absolute floor for anyone with a conscience….He ain’t the GOAT for me anymore.”
“Not sure this guy is the Canadian icon and encapsulation of Canadian values that many think he is. The first red flag was his very partisan support for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives starting in the mid-2000s. No thanks, Wayne!”
Globe & Mail columnist Andrew Coyne, who was on an 0-50 heater during the election weighed in. @acoyne: “I have no problem with Gretzky being a conservative. I do have a problem with him hanging with Trump. Who, for starters, is not a conservative.”
There were some who defended him. My pal Ted Bird chirped back. @manofbird: “The pissants complaining about Wayne Gretzky attending Trump’s victory party are the same people who would’ve snitched on their own kids for playing road hockey during COVID.”
But it’s safe to say that as Canada prepares to defenestrate Trudeau in the next federal election, Gretz will not be invited to Rideau Hall for beaver tails with Justin. It’s likely he’ll experience the Bobby Orr blackout, becoming a non-person in Canada for getting too close to Trump.
In Orr’s case it was his published endorsement of Trump’s losing 2020 campaign that led to the shade being drawn over the greatest defenceman (IMO player) ever. “He’s the kind of teammate I want”.
Much like the Gretzky tsunami of condemnation, Orr took it in the cup, especially in liberal New England where he made his bones. “Not that Bobby Orr will care, but his endorsement of Donald Trump is one of the most disappointing things I’ve ever read in my life. I guess all I can say is that he seems to have a weak spot for conmen/future convicted criminals.”
In Canada it was no better for Orr. Here was Vancouver columnist Daniel Wagner: “In other words, Orr faces no harm from a Trump administration and is likely insulated from the harm that others have experienced. That doesn’t excuse his endorsement, but goes a long way towards explaining it.” In the Hockey News Ken Campbell tied Orr to the Jan. 6 riots. “Bobby Orr Was Part of the Problem. Now He Can Be Part of the Solution”.
In our column of Nov. 8, 2020, we pointed the wee hypocrisy of the liberal-left press box. “Just weeks after giving LeBron James’ political activism a tongue bath, the Globe & Mail sent in the goons for Orr. “Neither Bobby Orr nor any other athletes should be leading the political conversation” thundered Cathal Kelly.
Sure. Leave it to us. Other Canadian sports media called Trump a “monster”, a “racist” and “a totalitarian”. You could heat most of the GTA with the steam emitted by their indignation at Orr having the temerity to speak out. Others swore to sell off their precious Orr memorabilia as if Orr had been accused of throwing a Stanley Cup Final.”
A bitter Orr has taken a low profile since as even some in his hometown of Parry Sound wants nothing to do with him. “Poor Parry Sound,” tweeted Mary Lou George on Oct. 31, 2020. “What a disgrace #BobbyOrr has turned out to be. Guess he believes bragging about assaulting women really is just locker room talk since he wants Trump on his team. Sad.”
Longtime fans in Parry Sound dumped on him. “I just assumed that he was a good guy. Honestly it was heartbreaking for me to learn this about him. It just shattered my impression – I guess it was an illusion – it just shattered it… It kind of now, makes me rethink a lot of my hockey heroes … it’s just disappointing.”
The message is that in progressive Canada it doesn’t pay for even the greatest hockey heroes to diverge from their Trudeaupian orthodoxy. As Canadiens star goalie Carey Price learned when he dared to disagree with Trudeau’s plans to seize guns.
“I love my family, I love my country, and I care for my neighbour,” Price wrote in a published post. “I am not a criminal or a threat to society. What @justinpjtrudeau is trying to do is unjust… Thank you for listening to my opinion.”
We commiserated with him in our column at the time. “Good luck with that, Carey. Coming in the week when Quebec commemorates the 2014 École Polytechnique massacre, the political message backfired. Quebec’s media exploded against the man who was so recently their hero. Price tried to clarify his stand.
“My views are my own, and I do believe in them,” he tweeted. “The only reason I bring up this issue is because it is what’s being brought up now and not out of disrespect to anyone.” That brought the Habs belatedly to protect him. “Carey was not aware of the unfortunate timing on his statement. The Montreal Canadiens wish to express their sincere apology to any and all who have been offended or upset by the discourse that has arisen over this matter in recent days.”
But the message is clear. Whether you’re Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr or Carey Price, Canada’s Woke chorus will not abide insubordination to their cause. That includes much of the media. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson’s character in A Few Good Men , they can’t handle the truth. So shut up and pass the puck.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
Bruce Dowbiggin
Look Who’s Back & Who Now Controls The Social Media Pulpit
“A Second Trump Administration Would Be a Carnival of Corruption and Greed,” New York Times headline.
Surprise! The carnival just rolled into DC. On a night after Americans told the Washington elites and Hollywood toffs to get stuffed, the denial squad was back in full force in both America and Canada on Wednesday. Instead of asking what they did wrong they re-doubled efforts to do the Obama finger point at people they see as their lessers.
But it’s falling on deaf ears. It’s now okay to answer questions again about what happened in 2020 and what will happen going forward. Our good friend Toronto Mike asked if we thought the 2020 election— laughingly billed as the “the most secure election in history”— was rigged. Our answer was that, just as in justice, it’s not good enough stage a fair election. You must be seen to stage a fair election.
The 2020 vote failed that test. Tuesday night the best argument that 2020 was a stinking potage was the mystery of the missing voters, Specifically, it appears that Kamala Harris will win about 12 million fewer votes than did Biden. They didn’t go to Trump, who’s just barely ahead of his 2020 number. Where did they go? Did they sit out the election? We thought there were millions more Americans set to vote in 2024?
Or did they, as Trump loyalist Steve Bannon suggests, never exist in the first place? It’s a telling point as the new Covid voting rules left gaps in the supervision and conduct of mail-in voting, drop boxes, vote harvesting and chain of custody. Because they were so greedy for power the DEMs engineered the @Biden win in 2020, using Covid restrictions to gin up a fanciful 81 million votes for Biden, who they knew was senile. In their exuberance to stomp out Trump using illegal ballots did they produce too high a bar for votes? Oops.
They got their comeuppance Tuesday night as Biden World collapsed onto a shellshocked Kamala Harris. Perhaps the biggest losers outside of Harris/ Biden were the legions of celebrities who took it as their appointed duty to lecture what Sunny Hostin of The View called “uneducated” voters. The sense of entitlement by everyone from Beyonce to Bruce Springsteen to Cardi B was shattered by the referendum on privilege Tuesday.
All you needed to know about their heavy foot in this election was George Clooney. The A-list actor decided after the June debate that senile Biden couldn’t win. He cut off his financial support and urged other Hollywood libs to do the same. Then he wrote an OpEd telling Joe to go. On the say-so of Clooney and Hollywood loons like Rob Reiner, Mark Ruffalo and Ed Begley the DNC threw away the legal primary votes for Biden and stuck Kamala in his place— without any vetting on her lecherous husband or radical roots.
They then rounded up the Media party and pollsters to take her from 36 percent approval to 50 approval in a week. And there we were on Tuesday. George Clooney’s election. Hope The View enjoyed it. Now they’re reduced to begging for rapprochement from the GOP after having none when the tables were turned.
The lasting takeaway from 2024 won’t just be Trump but Elon Musk and the replacement of legacy media by social media. By restoring Right voices to his X site he destroyed the social media cabal of Facebook, Google, MSM and more supporting the Blob. By going on the Joe Rogan podcast for two hours or talking to Tucker Carlson’s podcast he emphasized the new prominence of podcasts and social media as an alternative to debates on the Big Four networks or sit-downs with dismissive hosts on 60 Minutes .
Suddenly there was another channel for message sending. Musk’s conversion to Trump (after the Left spurned him) left the grandees of status quo from the Bidens and Barack exposed. Their traditional interlocutors had lost the public trust during Covid. With no alternatives but middle-of-the-night raids and dissembling NYC prosecutors they showed their true colours. .
The Trump hate was endemic— some of it justified. Allusions to Hitler, internment camps, defunding unfriendly media and more. This from the party where Barack Obama said they go high when others go low. Good night and good riddance. Had they simply waited out Trump’s second term in 2020 they’d have likely won last night with a fresh leader and an eight-year runway. Now Trump gets four more years, with J.D. Vance, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Hailey and Tulsi Gabbard ready to tack on another eight years. Kamala Harris disappears ignominiously. Bad move all around in 2020.
In Canada, a volatile Trump re-elected should act as a brake on Justin Trudeau’s wilder instincts. While Canada is not America, the populist unrest that propelled Trump is very alive in Trudeau’s nation. He sits in the 20s for approval. A Kamala win might have been a green light to more globalist pandering. Now, after Tuesday’s bloodbath Trudeau risks the CDN economy by moving further to the trash heap. For the next six to twelve months his Chinese handlers are going to be mad as Trudeau must cleave closely to them.
As we said, some are calling for unity and understanding in the wake of the 2024 election. (Most of them the ones who took the nastiest, most vicious shots at him in the courts and Congress.) There will be time for that soon. But first, for no other reason than to remember how they acted in power, recall how they took a picture of mounted border police apprehending illegal migrants in a Texas river. Biden said they were whipping the people with their reins. His lapdog media piled on. It was a lie they perpetuated for weeks.
Finally, say a prayer for the polling industry such as Disney’s 538 Project whose work was followed religiously by most media and political junkies. In the end almost all pollsters outside Rasmussen and Atlas Intel came grovelling in favour of the candidate from the uniparty. Even when the mistake was revealed several major firms refused to call close races. Meanwhile those who followed the polymarket betting sites saw a consistent preference over 60 percent in favour of Trump all night. In the end they might have been the night’s biggest winner.
Charles De Gaulle famously asked, “How can you govern a nation with 538 different cheeses?” America is about to find out that, in the new news era, governing will involve 538 different media sources producing information. With Elon Musk as the ring leader.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
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