Éric Girard puts the chances of seeing the Nordiques again at 10%.

Over the past week, the Nordiques have been the talk of the town.

After all, Eric Girard’s decision to authorize an expenditure of at least $5 million to bring the Kings two warm-up games next year didn’t go over too well.

Really, not even.

While Quebecers are tightening their belts, and while many readers will be reading my text with their children nearby because of the strike in the education network, seeing such a government expenditure makes us wonder even more what happened.

Faced with such a wave of discontent, the Minister of Finance and Nordic Affairs, Éric Girard, appeared before the media to talk a little about the issue of the day. One of the issues of the day, anyway.

And as Le Soleil’s Simon Carmichael and Olivier Bossé report, the Minister accepted and defended his decision, adding that it was a step towards the Nordiques’ return one day.

Because taxpayers paid $400 million for an arena in Quebec City back in the day(while politicians knew full well it was a bad decision, but hey), Éric Girard wanted to make sure he gave NHL hockey fans their money’s worth, as planned.

He wouldn’t “ideally” have paid that much (between two and five million dollars), in his words, but he had no choice for a quality product.

Of course, you’d think the show would be good. Since the Kings, Panthers and Bruins are good, and since it will be at the end of camp, that’s not the problem.

But elsewhere, taxpayers aren’t paying that price for games where, in reality, there won’t really be any economic spinoffs.

But what you don’t find elsewhere is the desire to see the Nordiques back. Nor do we find a “Minister of the Nordiques” who plays both sides of the fence and wants to please Gary Bettman.

Éric Girard clearly wants to improve his 10% chance of seeing the club back on Quebec soil full-time one day. Because yes, that’s the 10% chance he’s estimating for the return of hockey to Quebec City.

It’s a promotional expense to show that we have NHL infrastructure available.

These are steps aimed at […] using our infrastructure and showing that Quebec City has fans […] and a hockey culture. – Éric Girard

As long as Gary Bettman is NHL commissioner, the Quebec City market can forget about the Nordiques’ return. What’s next? That will depend on the priorities of the next commissioner.

But since Bettman is here to stay…

In Brief

– Here’s why there’s no game tonight in the NHL.

– Notice to interested parties.

– Seen the same.

– Interesting read.

– A name to watch.