SLBAM: Mark Stone should not have played in the playoffs

What’s up gang. Have you been following F1 in Montreal so far?

Before you read the article. I had the chance once again to appear on the Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro this Friday. On Fridays, however, it’s not Tony, but Matt. First time with Matt and I found the whole thing to be very smooth and very good.

We talked about a number of subjects that come up on a daily basis, and about buying out contracts.

We also went back over Michkov, who seems to want to choose his team according to certain sources, we talked about development in North America versus the KHL, but also, which CH players could be bought out and whether the club should do it now or wait. Anyway, enjoy.

Mitch Giguere: The Habs might face a lot of heat no matter what they do with Michkov@Mitch_Giguere joins @MatthewOhayon to discuss all things Habs and NHL draft.

Full Pod👇
Watch: https://t.co/d40IyFAW1w
Listen: https://t.co/iW12dZT6kk#GoHabsGo #thesickpodcast pic.twitter.com/CFmUDPmD9x

– The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) June 17, 2023

The ICE moving from Winnipeg goes to show you can’t over saturate markets with 3 teams. Even in the finals when they were playing at the NHL rink still only 5,500 which is brutal.

– World Hockey Report (@worldhockeyrpt) June 16, 2023

Unfortunately, this was to be expected the first year the Ice arrived in Winnipeg. Having been lucky enough to be part of the first Winnipeg Ice, I was behind the scenes on a daily basis, both at Wayne Felming Arena and at RINK.

On the second floor, there was never really a problem, honestly. The Ice field hockey staff got along great with the RINK staff. In fact, the Ice organization had hired our RINK employees for skills and goaltending.

The future looked bright in Winnipeg, and best of all, our owners at RINK had pulled out all the stops for us, building (privately) a $21 million arena not only to have our own bigger facility, but since they were the buyer of the Winnipeg Ice and the move.

The plan was to build a second arena next to the RINK one and make it a prediction venue with lots of attractions around it. All within a window, from memory, of three years after the move.

I didn’t personally witness anything because I was only referring to the head trainer. But our human resources person and those who resigned told us all about it.

With the first year not even over, our RINK owners held a meeting with all the RINK staff and apologized for buying part of ICE and how they were treating people.

Many of the people who were with us had to take second jobs when they saw the opportunity. In fact, they told us they had broken off their agreement with them.

The following year, I returned to Quebec before leaving for the KHL in Russia, but the Ice no longer had any RINK employees in the office, no skills coach or goalie trainer, and above all, no plan for the future.

With no pitch and no plan, it became almost impossible for them to find a new solution in time.

Fines piled up, deadlines were missed and we’ve just learned that the team has been bought and will be moving. It’s a shame, but it was to be expected.

On the other hand, I’m 100% convinced that if the RINK project had gone ahead, everything would have worked out. It was a magnificent plan.

Shootouts are such a waste of time in the NHL!

I don’t like it, not at all. They should review the overtime formula, and quickly. I don’t like it when a game is decided that way.

But anyway, I’ll answer your question.

So it’s not random during the games. However, there is one factor that can change the selection of players: the one who has a big game or the one who has scored several goals in the same game.

At that point, the coaches will talk about it and often put him in their top-3 to continue the “hot streak” he’s currently enjoying.

An excellent question and I wish I could answer it, but unfortunately, I don’t have many arguments. I even wonder what’s worse: a player who only comes back for the playoffs or being able to exceed payroll in the playoffs.

Either way, it’s not very pleasant.

Getting back to Stone, it’s important to remember that the league keeps a close eye on injured players and long-term injured players. If he’s ever fit to return before then, but the organization decides to leave him on the injured list, then at that point there will be serious penalties.

The other point where organizations can buy time for the season is, he’s not “game shape” to come back immediately, he needs more practice. And once the playoffs come around, you want the best players on the ice, in shape or not.

Should we review this rule? I think we should. However, I don’t have much of a solution right now, because in my humble opinion, if you make the payroll count in the playoffs, it changes everything.

Whether the player misses the whole season or not wouldn’t bother me since they still have to comply with the cap.

On the other hand, if nothing changes, we’d have to see to it that he plays x number of games during the season or during the last week to be able to participate in the playoffs. But as I mentioned, I don’t have that many solutions right now, but it’s obvious that one and the other don’t make sense at all.

See you next week and thanks again. Follow me on social networks @Mitch_Giguere.