Just not their Day
As good as hockey phenom is, 67’s have their hearts set on Konecny
Sean Day is going to sell a lot of tickets in Ottawa over the next four years — in 2013-14 at Scotiabank Place, and then the following three at the refurbished Civic Centre.
He just won’t be in an Ottawa 67’s jersey.
You can tell by what little the 67’s are saying and doing.
If Day’s last name was Tavares, Ekblad or McDavid, the people who run Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, which now owns the 67’s, would have been celebrating Thursday night when Hockey Canada granted the 15-year-old can’t-miss star from the Detroit Compuware minor midgets exceptional status to enter the Ontario Hockey League draft one year early.
Would 67’s general manager and head coach Chris Byrne not be on his way to the Day’s home in Rochester, Mich., to sell Day on Ottawa in time for the draft, just 14 days away on April 6?
Would 67’s governor Jeff Hunt not be heralding Day’s arrival as the key building block to lead the team back to Bank Street in 2014?
Instead, Bryne said the club has to make the best pick for the team and Hunt says they have settled on their player.
That the pair hasn’t mentioned Day’s name means the player and his representatives will have to wait for a call from a team picking after the 67’s.
John Tavares (2005), Aaron Ekblad (2011) and Connor McDavid (2012), the only three previous players granted the exceptional status tag, faced no such uncertainty.
The 67’s have watched Day time and again, and as recently as two weeks ago at the Michigan minor midget state championship tournament.
They liked what they saw in Day, even as far back as at a tournament over the Christmas holidays. They realize he is going to be a great junior player.
But it seems they just keep coming back to Elgin Middlesex centre Travis Konecny, whom 67’s fans can expect to be in Ottawa as early as April 3 for an introduction as the first overall choice and the player to lead the 67’s back to respectability and a refurbished Lansdowne.
The 67’s master rebuild plan was formulated back in late 2012, after the team got off to a disastrous start.
Nobody involved with the team ever expected it would win just three of its first 10.
Then, when the 67’s sandwiched two seven-game losing streaks (Nov. 6-18 and Nov. 23-Dec. 7) around a single win Nov. 20, it was time for Plan B.
At the time, the team’s brain trust decided to clean house — if the return was decent for the few commodities the 67’s had to deal.
If was never their intent to tank the entire season, but if they hit rock bottom and got first pick overall, that would just be a bonus.
And barring some surprise change of heart, Konecny will become the face of the franchise after captain Sean Monahan departs.
Some of the blocks are already in place.
The 67’s have the eighth and 19th overall picks from the 2012 draft in Jacob Middleton and Dante Salituro.
Andrew Abou-Assaly, their third-round selection, would have been a middle to late first round pick had he been willing to leave Ottawa. Jonathan Duchesne at 37th overall is another key piece.
And now they get to pick Konecny, then again at No. 20 and No. 40.
April 6 is going to be a big day in 67’s history.
Sean Day just won’t be a part of it.