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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Oct 4, 2022 0:01:27 GMT -5
Ottawa Senators vs Montreal Canadiens
Tuesday, Oct 4th @ 7 PM ET
Networks: TSN2,
RDS, TSN5
 VS 
2019-20 Cardset Finland - Series 1
Jesse Ylönen - Pelicans Lahti
Jesse Ylönen 2017 IIHF U18 Highlights
* Logos courtesy SportsLogos.net and TSN.ca
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Oct 4, 2022 10:44:06 GMT -5
On one hand, it is nice to see Suzuki healthy and getting his first game in. It is also nice to see them giving Slafkovsky a shot with Suzuki and Caufield. The lineup goes drastically downhill after that though. I guess we will see a bunch of guys for the last time tonight as I expect they should go into the two Kraft Hockeyville East Coast games with a “close to ready” lineup.
Oh, and the Sens have close to an opening day lineup tonight. The ice should be tilted all night methinks.
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Post by Willie Dog on Oct 4, 2022 12:48:27 GMT -5
I expect the Sens to pound us on the score board and I expect the Hens to go after Axe.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Oct 4, 2022 13:35:23 GMT -5
I expect the Sens to pound us on the score board and I expect the Hens to go after Axe. Indeed. The Habs and Sens play three straight to wrap up preseason: tonight, Thursday and Saturday. It could get chippy at some point. |
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Post by seventeen on Oct 4, 2022 13:44:29 GMT -5
I hope the Sens 'go after' Axe. Might as well put them in their place early in the year. I sure wish it was someone like Tkachuk, rather than some nameless goon. We're not icing a big team of forwards, but Pezzetta can hold his own. He doesn't have to be #1 this year.
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Post by Tankdriver on Oct 4, 2022 13:48:29 GMT -5
I turned down company tickets for this game... Hoping my turn comes around again in the regular season but as a fan I am not sure how you would want to pay big money to see this lineup.
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Post by seventeen on Oct 4, 2022 14:45:26 GMT -5
I'd get enjoyment out of Lines 1 and 3 (above) and Ylonen. Line 1 to see if Slavkovsky continues his improvement, especially playing with 2 smart guys, as well as to check on Suzuki's health. Line 2 is a snoozer. Line 3 has Beck and Heineman. But I get your drift. Half the line-up is AHL quality or depth guys.
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Post by Willie Dog on Oct 4, 2022 15:07:11 GMT -5
I hope the Sens 'go after' Axe. Might as well put them in their place early in the year. I sure wish it was someone like Tkachuk, rather than some nameless goon. We're not icing a big team of forwards, but Pezzetta can hold his own. He doesn't have to be #1 this year. Tkajerk won't go directly after Axe, he'll wait until knuckledragger Watson starts |
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Post by frozone on Oct 4, 2022 19:56:20 GMT -5
Other than some flashes, this game has been a bit of a snoozer. Nick's setup on Armia's goal has been the bright spot for sure.
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Post by seventeen on Oct 4, 2022 20:11:43 GMT -5
You know something’s amiss when Matthieu Joseph is torching you. He’s averaging 1.5 ppg against us after 2 games. That reminds me not to make too big a deal about any performances during preseason. The quality of competition can make even AHL players look good.
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Post by Willie Dog on Oct 4, 2022 20:34:10 GMT -5
Cole score on the pp 4-3
Guhle makes a rookie mistake 5-3
Axe scores 5-4
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Post by seventeen on Oct 4, 2022 21:08:20 GMT -5
Might hurt our chances for Bedard if our goalie could stop a beach ball. A .783 save percentage is helping Monty make the team.
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Post by habsorbed on Oct 5, 2022 1:45:39 GMT -5
It would seem Hugo are making sure we don't get out of the gate too quick, or more like slow. The roster tonight was a joke. So our best case scenario is we will dress our full roster for 2 games in the pre-season. That's ridiculous. Every other team has been going with pretty much their full line up the last couple of games and we are dressing at most two NHL lines. I appreciate we want Bedard but still...
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Post by folatre on Oct 5, 2022 6:00:02 GMT -5
If the boys cannot stay out of the box, the goalies are going to have a very long season. The trend of taking an early penalty and spotting the opponent the opening goal will bury a team as fragile as this one.
Basically Montreal is going to have three rookies (Guhle, Harris, Barron) and a journeyman (Wideman) starting on the blue line opening night. Robidas and St. Louis need to stay positive with the kids.
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Post by BadCompany on Oct 5, 2022 9:10:17 GMT -5
I turned down company tickets for this game... Hoping my turn comes around again in the regular season but as a fan I am not sure how you would want to pay big money to see this lineup. Which is why Hughes - like Bergevin before him - refuses to call this a "rebuild". It's easy for fans to say they'll tolerate a rebuild - especially fans who don't live in the city and don't go to games anyways - but we're talking about the real world, with real consequences. We're talking money. Let's say attendance drops by 4000 people per game. Which would still put the Habs at around 17,000 a night. Still decent but a big drop anyways. According to the Fan Cost Index it costs a family of four $552.27 to go to a game. That's $138 dollars per person (and I don't know what impact inflation had on this). Let's lower that and assume each fan coughs up $100 to go see the Habs. Tickets, food, beer, merchandise, parking. 4000 less fans x $100 = $400,000 $400,000 x 41 games = $16,400,000 Over $16 million that won't be going to Geoff Molson (potentially). Multiple that by say, three years, and you're looking at close to $50 million in lost revenue. Multiply that by the five years some people think this will take, and we're at $82 million. And of course this doesn't take into account the (probable) drop in TV and radio ratings which could result in less advertising dollars, nor does it account for the loss of any potential playoff revenue ($1 million per game, famously). Sure, people will start to trickle back, but that's assuming the rebuild goes well, and that the team doesn't fall into the bottomless pit of suckitude that losing often begets. This is an owner that reportedly was one of the hardliners during those lockouts. Is he going to be happy losing out on $50 million in revenue? Maybe more? Can he afford that? I personally don't care about his bottom line, few fans do, but we're not the ones paying the bills. It's easy to say that's we'll tolerate a rebuild (and I'm not convinced we will) but we're not the ones that matter. People vote with their money, and Geoff Molson counts those votes. This is going to be a real interesting test of Montreal's commitment to the team - at all levels. |
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Post by CentreHice on Oct 5, 2022 10:03:08 GMT -5
Tough to sell an obvious rebuild as a re-whatever without a Price to keep the team somewhat competitive.
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Post by Boston_Habs on Oct 5, 2022 10:24:49 GMT -5
This is going to be a real interesting test of Montreal's commitment to the team - at all levels. The best precedent period is the dark seasons of 1998-99 to 2002-03 when the Habs missed the playoffs in 4 out of those 5 years, including three consecutive non-playoff years from 1998/99 to 2000/01. And those teams were BAD. Like Oleg Petrov, Brian Savage, Chad Kilger, Patrick Poulin, Sergei Zholtok, Dainius Zubrus level bad. In those years we were pinning our hopes on Mike Ribeiro and a young Andrei Markov. But as bad as those teams were, the Habs still averaged over 20,000 fans a game. At least that was paid attendance - I'm sure actual attendance was lower. But paid tickets still count even if if you don't get all the ancillary revenue from F&B and merchandise. I would be surprised if attendance dropped off by that much, at least paid attendance. And this team has the advantage of having some sense of an emerging young core led by Suzuki, Caufield, and a fresh #1 pick in Slafkovsky. Those teams of 1999-2003 were pretty depressing to follow and there wasn't much to get excited about. It was pretty much the same sad story every year and hard to even call it a rebuild. This version needs to at least show the fans that they are getting better. |
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Post by habsorbed on Oct 5, 2022 10:41:46 GMT -5
Montreal has the TO syndrome. Fans will love the team regardless of its ineptitude. And there is a large enough fan base that the rink will continue to be sold out or close to. It's also the only show in town. And if worse comes to worse, Molson can add another logo to the jersey: Bank of Russia?  |
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Post by Tankdriver on Oct 5, 2022 11:08:25 GMT -5
I turned down company tickets for this game... Hoping my turn comes around again in the regular season but as a fan I am not sure how you would want to pay big money to see this lineup. Which is why Hughes - like Bergevin before him - refuses to call this a "rebuild". It's easy for fans to say they'll tolerate a rebuild - especially fans who don't live in the city and don't go to games anyways - but we're talking about the real world, with real consequences. We're talking money. Let's say attendance drops by 4000 people per game. Which would still put the Habs at around 17,000 a night. Still decent but a big drop anyways. According to the Fan Cost Index it costs a family of four $552.27 to go to a game. That's $138 dollars per person (and I don't know what impact inflation had on this). Let's lower that and assume each fan coughs up $100 to go see the Habs. Tickets, food, beer, merchandise, parking. 4000 less fans x $100 = $400,000 $400,000 x 41 games = $16,400,000 Over $16 million that won't be going to Geoff Molson (potentially). Multiple that by say, three years, and you're looking at close to $50 million in lost revenue. Multiply that by the five years some people think this will take, and we're at $82 million. And of course this doesn't take into account the (probable) drop in TV and radio ratings which could result in less advertising dollars, nor does it account for the loss of any potential playoff revenue ($1 million per game, famously). Sure, people will start to trickle back, but that's assuming the rebuild goes well, and that the team doesn't fall into the bottomless pit of suckitude that losing often begets. This is an owner that reportedly was one of the hardliners during those lockouts. Is he going to be happy losing out on $50 million in revenue? Maybe more? Can he afford that? I personally don't care about his bottom line, few fans do, but we're not the ones paying the bills. It's easy to say that's we'll tolerate a rebuild (and I'm not convinced we will) but we're not the ones that matter. People vote with their money, and Geoff Molson counts those votes. This is going to be a real interesting test of Montreal's commitment to the team - at all levels. Hi, Except the players get half that revenue. So cut all your figures in half. My tickets were already paid for by the company, so it's a sunk cost. Also I think there is a difference in Regular season vs pre-season. Reg season you have a full lineup of NHL players. Last night was definetly not that. I'll fully support a rebuild. Just I can't take a night off from work, drop $100 on gas and drive 2 hours to the game and another 2 hours back on a weeknight. |
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Post by Tankdriver on Oct 5, 2022 11:10:13 GMT -5
This is going to be a real interesting test of Montreal's commitment to the team - at all levels. The best precedent period is the dark seasons of 1998-99 to 2002-03 when the Habs missed the playoffs in 4 out of those 5 years, including three consecutive non-playoff years from 1998/99 to 2000/01. And those teams were BAD. Like Oleg Petrov, Brian Savage, Chad Kilger, Patrick Poulin, Sergei Zholtok, Dainius Zubrus level bad. In those years we were pinning our hopes on Mike Ribeiro and a young Andrei Markov. But as bad as those teams were, the Habs still averaged over 20,000 fans a game. At least that was paid attendance - I'm sure actual attendance was lower. But paid tickets still count even if if you don't get all the ancillary revenue from F&B and merchandise. I would be surprised if attendance dropped off by that much, at least paid attendance. And this team has the advantage of having some sense of an emerging young core led by Suzuki, Caufield, and a fresh #1 pick in Slafkovsky. Those teams of 1999-2003 were pretty depressing to follow and there wasn't much to get excited about. It was pretty much the same sad story every year and hard to even call it a rebuild. This version needs to at least show the fans that they are getting better. Those were bad years, and yet we never really did a tank job. |
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Post by folatre on Oct 5, 2022 11:30:44 GMT -5
For sure, rebuilds are not fun and a bad team will certainly never come anywhere close to maximizing revenues at the gate. However, I believe the season ticket base is still comfortably top five in the league despite the pandemic and the lousy product in 2021-22. And Molson is probably less nervous about spending than he was a few years ago. The ESPN/Turner tv deal that kicked in last season dwarfs the previous contract the league had in the US market. So effectively Groupe CH is pocketing $15 million USD more annually from US tv rights than it was back in 2020-21. I am not sure when the national Sportsnet and local RDS tv contracts are up, but I think it likelier than not that the value of those deals will rise significantly rather than flatlining or falling.
There is no doubt Molson wants a competitive team sooner rather than later. But I think he is reasonably optimistic management can accomplish a changing of the guard similar to what was done with the Rangers.
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Post by frozone on Oct 5, 2022 11:37:02 GMT -5
Bergevin said the fans won't tolerate a rebuild. That wasn't quite true, but it's not exactly true that we WILL tolerate one either, despite most of us actually wanting one. Fans just want to reserve their right to tune out, and that's the part that management doesn't want to see.
I could see things going either way this season: perhaps attendance drops off significantly if the team really struggles, but it's also possible that there will be a buzz about the team this season. New management, young core, #1 draft pick and all that. I really have my doubts that it will be a consistently entertaining product, but at least MSL and HuGo are planning for an offensive style of play. Can we consistently lose 5-4? We have the defense and goaltending to do so, but it's putting up the 4 goals that I'm more concerned about. But hypothetically, let's say CC is on pace for 35+ goals, Suzuki is chasing down 1 ppg, local boy Matheson is having a career year and Gally or Monahan is having a bounceback campaign... I think that's more than enough for folks to stay tuned in and excited about the team.
The flipside is kinda ugly though... I don't care what anyone says: giving up 5 goals regularly in a losing cause will weigh on everyone: players, coaches, fans... so even if fans continue showing up to the games, we'll simply be paying for all those losses in another way.
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Post by seventeen on Oct 5, 2022 13:49:50 GMT -5
This is going to be a real interesting test of Montreal's commitment to the team - at all levels. The best precedent period is the dark seasons of 1998-99 to 2002-03 when the Habs missed the playoffs in 4 out of those 5 years, including three consecutive non-playoff years from 1998/99 to 2000/01. And those teams were BAD. Like Oleg Petrov, Brian Savage, Chad Kilger, Patrick Poulin, Sergei Zholtok, Dainius Zubrus level bad. In those years we were pinning our hopes on Mike Ribeiro and a young Andrei Markov. But as bad as those teams were, the Habs still averaged over 20,000 fans a game. At least that was paid attendance - I'm sure actual attendance was lower. But paid tickets still count even if if you don't get all the ancillary revenue from F&B and merchandise. I would be surprised if attendance dropped off by that much, at least paid attendance. And this team has the advantage of having some sense of an emerging young core led by Suzuki, Caufield, and a fresh #1 pick in Slafkovsky. Those teams of 1999-2003 were pretty depressing to follow and there wasn't much to get excited about. It was pretty much the same sad story every year and hard to even call it a rebuild. This version needs to at least show the fans that they are getting better. That was going to be my reply, without the research into attendance back in those awful years. Montreal's a hockey city with no winter major league competition. If season tickets were up for grabs, they'd be grabbed quickly, because we know we're having a party 5-6 years down the road and you want to have season's tickets...if for no other reason than as an investment. I'm never going to use any reasoning that Bergevin might have used. If fact, I think I've seen quotes from Hughes where he has said re-tool, rebuild, call it what you will. He also has said that he wants to be competitive every year and you can read what you want into that phrase. What GM is not going to say that? "Yeah...we'd like to win, but if you want the Cup you have to suck for several years to get those impact players that aren't available any other way. So get ready for 4 years in the lottery and tons of losing. Having fun yet?" The standard line will be rolled out but even if we're losing, if we can see the kids improving and the depth and quality of the organization climbing, there will be a positive outlook. I like what Gorton and Hughes are doing. Slaf, Mesar and Beck will be really good players. Hutson is either a home run or a strikeout, but at least they've anted up for the chance at the home run. We've got more than one first round pick in each of the next 2 years and I can see us acquiring another after this TDL. Move them further ahead so we always have more throws at the board to keep up the quality. That's how you deliver good players to the development group to keep contending. |
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Post by seventeen on Oct 5, 2022 14:00:43 GMT -5
The best precedent period is the dark seasons of 1998-99 to 2002-03 when the Habs missed the playoffs in 4 out of those 5 years, including three consecutive non-playoff years from 1998/99 to 2000/01. And those teams were BAD. Like Oleg Petrov, Brian Savage, Chad Kilger, Patrick Poulin, Sergei Zholtok, Dainius Zubrus level bad. In those years we were pinning our hopes on Mike Ribeiro and a young Andrei Markov. But as bad as those teams were, the Habs still averaged over 20,000 fans a game. At least that was paid attendance - I'm sure actual attendance was lower. But paid tickets still count even if if you don't get all the ancillary revenue from F&B and merchandise. I would be surprised if attendance dropped off by that much, at least paid attendance. And this team has the advantage of having some sense of an emerging young core led by Suzuki, Caufield, and a fresh #1 pick in Slafkovsky. Those teams of 1999-2003 were pretty depressing to follow and there wasn't much to get excited about. It was pretty much the same sad story every year and hard to even call it a rebuild. This version needs to at least show the fans that they are getting better. Those were bad years, and yet we never really did a tank job. So true, and what was the result? More losing, no improvement, no high picks. In large part, that too was due to the scouting and development staff. From 1998 to 2011 drafts we had 15 first round picks. Two were top 10, Price at #5 and Kostitsyn at #10. That's it. Fourteen years of misery and two top 10 picks. One was a home run and the other a disaster. Not one in the top 3. That's a large sample and shows that if you want a Cup, you have to tank, period. The best way is to not have good goaltending. Build your team from the other direction and complete it with the goaltender at the end. |
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Post by seventeen on Oct 5, 2022 14:08:17 GMT -5
Bergevin said the fans won't tolerate a rebuild. That wasn't quite true, but it's not exactly true that we WILL tolerate one either, despite most of us actually wanting one. Fans just want to reserve their right to tune out, and that's the part that management doesn't want to see. I could see things going either way this season: perhaps attendance drops off significantly if the team really struggles, but it's also possible that there will be a buzz about the team this season. New management, young core, #1 draft pick and all that. I really have my doubts that it will be a consistently entertaining product, but at least MSL and HuGo are planning for an offensive style of play. Can we consistently lose 5-4? We have the defense and goaltending to do so, but it's putting up the 4 goals that I'm more concerned about. But hypothetically, let's say CC is on pace for 35+ goals, Suzuki is chasing down 1 ppg, local boy Matheson is having a career year and Gally or Monahan is having a bounceback campaign... I think that's more than enough for folks to stay tuned in and excited about the team. The flipside is kinda ugly though... I don't care what anyone says: giving up 5 goals regularly in a losing cause will weigh on everyone: players, coaches, fans... so even if fans continue showing up to the games, we'll simply be paying for all those losses in another way. Might I recommend meditation? You are completely right. That's the price to pay in order to get elite talent. We might not even be very good the following year, but if we have Slaf, Harris, Mesar, Beck, Xhekaj, Guhle, all a year older, stronger, better, along with a Bedard or Fantilli, you can see things taking shape. We have 2 picks in the first round this coming year and all indication are a very deep draft. What if Hutson has put up over 1 ppg in the NCAA, has added an inch and 15 pounds? It was hellish suffering this past year (especially before Bergevin was fired), but look at the rewards. It's worth it, but it takes real perseverance and patience and a good mantra. |
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Post by Willie Dog on Oct 5, 2022 14:25:20 GMT -5
The best precedent period is the dark seasons of 1998-99 to 2002-03 when the Habs missed the playoffs in 4 out of those 5 years, including three consecutive non-playoff years from 1998/99 to 2000/01. And those teams were BAD. Like Oleg Petrov, Brian Savage, Chad Kilger, Patrick Poulin, Sergei Zholtok, Dainius Zubrus level bad. In those years we were pinning our hopes on Mike Ribeiro and a young Andrei Markov. But as bad as those teams were, the Habs still averaged over 20,000 fans a game. At least that was paid attendance - I'm sure actual attendance was lower. But paid tickets still count even if if you don't get all the ancillary revenue from F&B and merchandise. I would be surprised if attendance dropped off by that much, at least paid attendance. And this team has the advantage of having some sense of an emerging young core led by Suzuki, Caufield, and a fresh #1 pick in Slafkovsky. Those teams of 1999-2003 were pretty depressing to follow and there wasn't much to get excited about. It was pretty much the same sad story every year and hard to even call it a rebuild. This version needs to at least show the fans that they are getting better. That was going to be my reply, without the research into attendance back in those awful years. Montreal's a hockey city with no winter major league competition. If season tickets were up for grabs, they'd be grabbed quickly, because we know we're having a party 5-6 years down the road and you want to have season's tickets...if for no other reason than as an investment. I'm never going to use any reasoning that Bergevin might have used. If fact, I think I've seen quotes from Hughes where he has said re-tool, rebuild, call it what you will. He also has said that he wants to be competitive every year and you can read what you want into that phrase. What GM is not going to say that? "Yeah...we'd like to win, but if you want the Cup you have to suck for several years to get those impact players that aren't available any other way. So get ready for 4 years in the lottery and tons of losing. Having fun yet?" The standard line will be rolled out but even if we're losing, if we can see the kids improving and the depth and quality of the organization climbing, there will be a positive outlook. I like what Gorton and Hughes are doing. Slaf, Mesar and Beck will be really good players. Hutson is either a home run or a strikeout, but at least they've anted up for the chance at the home run. We've got more than one first round pick in each of the next 2 years and I can see us acquiring another after this TDL. Move them further ahead so we always have more throws at the board to keep up the quality. That's how you deliver good players to the development group to keep contending. Need to include Mailloux in the prospect pool... I think, as a RHD at 6'3" and 212lbs and only 19, he will become a top 4 D man for us... in 12 games last year in London he had 3 goals and 6 assists... |
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Post by seventeen on Oct 5, 2022 15:30:20 GMT -5
Need to include Mailloux in the prospect pool... I think, as a RHD at 6'3" and 212lbs and only 19, he will become a top 4 D man for us... in 12 games last year in London he had 3 goals and 6 assists... I keep separating him from the rest of the group because of the uncertainty over his value. Yes, he's big and an RHD, but he's missed a lot of games. Since March/April 2020, he has played a total of just 12 games. That's a lot of development missing for 2 years. If he pans out, I'll consider him a bonus but for now, I'm just leaving him out of the equation, which still looks pretty good. If Mailloux pans out as a top 4 dman, even better. |
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Post by Skilly on Oct 6, 2022 15:35:51 GMT -5
I turned down company tickets for this game... Hoping my turn comes around again in the regular season but as a fan I am not sure how you would want to pay big money to see this lineup. Which is why Hughes - like Bergevin before him - refuses to call this a "rebuild". It's easy for fans to say they'll tolerate a rebuild - especially fans who don't live in the city and don't go to games anyways - but we're talking about the real world, with real consequences. We're talking money. Let's say attendance drops by 4000 people per game. Which would still put the Habs at around 17,000 a night. Still decent but a big drop anyways. According to the Fan Cost Index it costs a family of four $552.27 to go to a game. That's $138 dollars per person (and I don't know what impact inflation had on this). Let's lower that and assume each fan coughs up $100 to go see the Habs. Tickets, food, beer, merchandise, parking. 4000 less fans x $100 = $400,000 $400,000 x 41 games = $16,400,000 Over $16 million that won't be going to Geoff Molson (potentially). Multiple that by say, three years, and you're looking at close to $50 million in lost revenue. Multiply that by the five years some people think this will take, and we're at $82 million. And of course this doesn't take into account the (probable) drop in TV and radio ratings which could result in less advertising dollars, nor does it account for the loss of any potential playoff revenue ($1 million per game, famously). Sure, people will start to trickle back, but that's assuming the rebuild goes well, and that the team doesn't fall into the bottomless pit of suckitude that losing often begets. This is an owner that reportedly was one of the hardliners during those lockouts. Is he going to be happy losing out on $50 million in revenue? Maybe more? Can he afford that? I personally don't care about his bottom line, few fans do, but we're not the ones paying the bills. It's easy to say that's we'll tolerate a rebuild (and I'm not convinced we will) but we're not the ones that matter. People vote with their money, and Geoff Molson counts those votes. This is going to be a real interesting test of Montreal's commitment to the team - at all levels. $100 is they very very very low end. Every time I go to Montreal the cheapest tickets I can find are $200+. And that’s just tickets. That doesn’t count, as you say, the food and beer $50 Buying something in the gift shop My hotel room - $300 My airfare - $1000 |
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Post by Skilly on Oct 6, 2022 15:38:04 GMT -5
Which is why Hughes - like Bergevin before him - refuses to call this a "rebuild". It's easy for fans to say they'll tolerate a rebuild - especially fans who don't live in the city and don't go to games anyways - but we're talking about the real world, with real consequences. We're talking money. Let's say attendance drops by 4000 people per game. Which would still put the Habs at around 17,000 a night. Still decent but a big drop anyways. According to the Fan Cost Index it costs a family of four $552.27 to go to a game. That's $138 dollars per person (and I don't know what impact inflation had on this). Let's lower that and assume each fan coughs up $100 to go see the Habs. Tickets, food, beer, merchandise, parking. 4000 less fans x $100 = $400,000 $400,000 x 41 games = $16,400,000 Over $16 million that won't be going to Geoff Molson (potentially). Multiple that by say, three years, and you're looking at close to $50 million in lost revenue. Multiply that by the five years some people think this will take, and we're at $82 million. And of course this doesn't take into account the (probable) drop in TV and radio ratings which could result in less advertising dollars, nor does it account for the loss of any potential playoff revenue ($1 million per game, famously). Sure, people will start to trickle back, but that's assuming the rebuild goes well, and that the team doesn't fall into the bottomless pit of suckitude that losing often begets. This is an owner that reportedly was one of the hardliners during those lockouts. Is he going to be happy losing out on $50 million in revenue? Maybe more? Can he afford that? I personally don't care about his bottom line, few fans do, but we're not the ones paying the bills. It's easy to say that's we'll tolerate a rebuild (and I'm not convinced we will) but we're not the ones that matter. People vote with their money, and Geoff Molson counts those votes. This is going to be a real interesting test of Montreal's commitment to the team - at all levels. Hi, Except the players get half that revenue. So cut all your figures in half. My tickets were already paid for by the company, so it's a sunk cost. Also I think there is a difference in Regular season vs pre-season. Reg season you have a full lineup of NHL players. Last night was definetly not that. I'll fully support a rebuild. Just I can't take a night off from work, drop $100 on gas and drive 2 hours to the game and another 2 hours back on a weeknight. I think BCs example is close to Molson’s share, maybe even under estimated. I think the average cost of going to a Habs game is over $200. Half if that gives you $100 each to Molson and the players |
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