NHL fans should be happy their league has a plan … MLB facing time crunch … Eight weeks of analyzing matches starts now ... Remembering Chris Dufresne
Maybe Bob Cole is to blame.
Some Senators fans used to insist the legendary play-byplay man hated their team because he’d make a reference to an “Ottawa player” rather than using the guy’s name in a playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Fact is, Bob was in his 80s and either forgot or couldn’t see the jersey number. Wasn’t his fault.
But don’t tell that to Senators fans. They have small market syndrome. They think everyone is out to get them. And when the Maple Leafs would eliminate the Senators, they cursed poor Bob. On Tuesday, they despised
Gary Bettman and whoever else in the damn NHL came up with the idea of giving 15 teams a crack at the coveted first pick in the entry draft.
Doesn’t matter that if the regular season had been completed as usual, that same number would have been in the lottery.
Some Senators fans had fallen for a rumour that, because of the extraordinary circumstances of this spring, only the bottom seven teams would be entered into the
Alex Lafreniere Sweepstakes.
“We got jobbed,” one caller said on the TSN 1200 afternoon drive show. “There’s only one word for it, we got screwed.”
His math aside, I get that Senators diehards are angry. They have watched their lousy team finish last or second-last in the overall standings for three straight years. That’s a real test of patience.
But this draft was going to be worth all the suffering. This draft was going to be special.
They didn’t even throw away their lottery pick this time.
With their own high selection from yet another futile finish, and with a high San Jose pick they lucked into because nobody guessed the
Sharks would be this bad this season, the Senators’ chances of winding up with Lafreniere were looking decent.
Especially if only seven teams were in the lottery.
So now they still have a 25% shot at picking first overall (13.5 with theirs and 11.5 with the Sharks) and only if they’re terribly unfortunate will three “placeholder” teams get drawn before them, leaving Ottawa with picks No. 5 and No. 6.
But even at that, Senators fans should be thankful for what happened on Tuesday. Same with all NHL fans.
Their league has a plan to play.
The NBA doesn’t. Neither does MLB. Bettman and the boys drew up a blueprint not just for the draft lottery, but also a means to determine the champions of a season on hold.
Not everybody likes either script, but they knew that was going to be the case going in. At least they came up with something.
“What a great day for hockey fans and people that love this game,” said NBC broadcaster Eddie Olczyk. “A tip of the helmet to Commissioner Bettman and (deputy commish) Bill Daly for being transparent through this whole process.”
Don’t know about that last part. If they were so transparent, how did that rumour about only seven teams being in the lottery get started?
Was it Bob?
TOP OF THE ORDER
At least hockey doesn’t have baseball’s problems. At the moment, anyway. MLB and the MLBPA have about a week and a half to reach an agreement if the 2020 season is going to start by July 4, as desired. On Tuesday, MLB dropped the proposed revenue-sharing and introduced a sliding scale of compensation to the players. In this offer, a guy like Yankees ace Gerrit
Cole’s 2020 salary would drop from $36 million to $8 million. “Interesting strategy of making the best most marketable player potentially look like the bad guys,” tweeted Brewers pitcher Brett Anderson … On the other side of the coin, the Oakland A’s have informed their minor leaguers they would not continue paying them their $400 a week after the end of the month, according to ESPN sources. How can the return of baseball be around the corner when hard steps like these are being taken? … The ice in most NHL rinks is just horrible in the heat of June. I’m sure it will be much better in August …
CONNECTING THE DOTS
The statement from the Senators after Bettman laid down the law was a positive one. Watch for future interviews on The Fan 590 in Toronto to see if that changes … And how are the Edmonton Oilers going to explain missing the playoffs in 2022 with the league’s top three
scorers in Connor McDavid,
Leon Draisaitl and Lafreniere? … For the next eight weeks you’re going to learn every minute detail there is to know about the Blue Jackets-Maple Leafs matchup. First on the grill is a zoom conference call Wednesday afternoon with Columbus captain Nick Foligno, whose dad Mike toiled parts of four seasons (199094) with the Buds … If I’m on the PGA Tour, the only reason I want fans at tournaments is to keep my ball from rolling under a tree … I have some good friends at the Toronto
Star. I’m hoping they land on their feet.
FINISHING TOUCHES
There’s no fooling around with the Korean Baseball Organization. According to TMZ Sports, former Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman
Jung Ho Kang has been suspended for one year as a result of multiple DUIs … Heat wave, heat schmave. If you didn’t get outside for a walk Tuesday, you don’t know what you missed … Fifteen years after he lost to a semi-bum by the name of
Kevin McBride in his last bout, Bare Knuckle Fighting is going to pay more than $20 million for Mike Tyson to fight again, at the age of 53. Even if some is going to charity, how does this make any sense? And yes, of course I’ll watch … Less than three weeks ago, award-winning columnist Chris Dufresne, formerly of the Los Angeles
Times, wondered in a piece for TMG Sports if he had covered his last live sporting event. He was 62 and a year ago had suffered a relapse of childhood asthma, and mentioned that with a compromised immune system he had barely stepped out of the house in the last two months. On Monday night, he died while dining with his family. In these pandemic times, count your blessings every day.