Often accused of opposing the return of the Nordiques behind the scenes, Geoff Molson wanted to be clear: he would vote for Quebec.
As part of a long interview given to TVA Sports (which will be broadcast Saturday evening), he clearly indicated that he would never put a spoke in the wheel to prevent the return of the Nordiques to Quebec.
“I have always said that if one day there is a vote, for or against the arrival of a team in Quebec, that my vote will be for,” affirms the owner of the Canadian.
“I think there is a portion of the population who will never believe me. That, I understand and it is their choice not to believe me. But I am honestly in favor of the return if it comes through the NHL and I have no doubt that if Quebec succeeds in having a team it will be a rivalry that we will relive as I experienced it in my youth. I never objected to this opportunity.”
The CH at the Videotron Center?
On April 2, the “minister of the Nordiques,” Eric Girard, met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in his New York offices to tell him that Quebec was ready to host games by an NHL team. , but this time in the regular season and not simple preparatory matches.
On Wednesday, we learned that this famous team was the Canadian. Minister Girard, beforehand, had indicated to the team’s leaders that he wanted to see the Canadian play regular season matches and not preparatory matches at the Videotron Center. This is the message he delivered to Gary Bettman and the minister was trying to obtain the latter’s support.
Not in the plans
This statement obviously caused a lot of noise and placed the Canadian in a strange position. The fact remains that, in living memory, the Montreal team has never played a local regular season match elsewhere than at the Forum and the Bell Centre, in more than 100 years of history.
So, is this project in the Canadian’s plans? I asked France Margaret Bélanger the question.
“It would be very surprising due to the complexities linked to such a project,” explains the sports and entertainment president of the CH Group. It must be understood that regular season matches are closely supervised by the league. We have 41 home matches with agreements with our thousands of season ticket holders, our hundreds of box holders, our hundreds of sponsors, our dozens of commercial partners, the match broadcasters and we must not forget our employees at the event. That means that taking a home game and taking it out of our arena is very complex.”
It should be remembered that when teams participate in away games or games in Europe, during the regular season, the NHL takes care of all costs and reimburses the home team for their shortfall for that game. The Canadian has always been the visiting team whenever he has participated in a league event.
As for preparatory matches, teams can decide where they want to play. The Canadian has played around ten exhibition matches in Quebec so far and we confirm that the Habs intend to play again at the Videotron Center.
No connection with expansion
We now know what to expect. But is there a link to be made between the Canadian’s support for the return of the NHL to Quebec and the fact that it would be surprising if he played a local game at the Videotron Center? “The fact of not playing matches in Quebec has nothing to do with our support for the possible return of the Nordiques,” underlines France Margaret Bélanger.
We are therefore talking here about two files which are completely independent. So, if one day the Canadian plays a regular match in Quebec, it is obvious that they will be the visiting team.
But don’t hold your breath: It’s been a long time since this happened under Commissioner Gary Bettman.