Posted at 8:00 a.m.
The big gap
What is the biggest point spread from season to season for a team that has played in the Stanley Cup Finals?
Guy and Susie
Response from Simon-Olivier Lorange
As a team that goes to the Stanley Cup final is not necessarily the one that has accumulated the most points, I only looked at the ranking points of the season following the final in order to compare it to the one experienced by this year the Canadian – that’s where we were going, isn’t it? Compiling all the scenarios since the expansion of 1967, the most severe tumble, to date, is that of the Carolina Hurricanes. These, having reached, to everyone’s surprise, the grand final in 2002, finished 30and and last in the overall NHL standings with just 61 points. Their closest “chasers” are the 1993-94 Los Angeles Kings (66 points) and the 1998-99 Washington Capitals (68 points). The 2021-2022 CH could fall much lower than the 2002 Hurricanes: after 52 games, they had obtained only 29.8% of the available points, which corresponds to a harvest of 49 points over a full campaign.
Who picks up the bill?
Are players injured in the NHL or players who need psychological help paid by the club or by an insurance company?
Richard Sauve
Response from Katherine Harvey-Pinard
Hello, Mr. Sauvé. I asked the question directly to the organization of the Canadian. According to what I was told, the team takes out insurance only for its big contracts. So I would tend to believe that is the case for Carey Price and Shea Weber. In these cases, an injured player continues to be paid by the organization until he has missed a certain number of matches (30, without prejudice). From that moment, the salary is largely covered by the insurer.
friends of friends
In hockey, when teams appoint leaders (GMs, coaches, etc.), names of former players come up all the time. We only have to think of Daniel Brière, Mathieu Darche and Roberto Luongo for the position of GM of the Canadian. I think I detect an increase in career head coaches in the NHL, but the presence and active participation of former players in “decision groups” seems more frequent in hockey than in other major sports. Career coaches and managers seem to be the norm in football, for example. I’m moderately interested in baseball and basketball, but that seems to be the case in MLB and NBA as well. Why more in hockey than in other sports?
Marc-Andre Boivin
Response from Richard Labbe
That’s a very good question. Hockey is a sport where things don’t change often, where the same people are often retrained, and that explains this phenomenon in large part; the name Peter Chiarelli surely means something to you. That said, things are changing, albeit very slowly. In the end, the Canadiens hired a new GM who is not a former player, and soon after, the Canucks hired Émilie Castonguay and Cammi Granato. You could call it progress…
What color is the sweater?
I would like to know if there is a fixed rule that defines which team will wear the white jerseys in the NFL: the home team or the visitors team.
Laurier Tremblay
Reply from Nicholas Richard
Hello, Mr. Tremblay! According to the NFL rulebook, the rule is quite simple. The home team decides which uniform they will wear. Usually she chooses the dark uniform. However, she has the right to choose the pale. In such a case, the visiting team must wear their dark jersey.
Until dawn
What is the NHL waiting for to make the three-on-three session last when the score is tied after five minutes of overtime? I am convinced that many people would be happy, if I trust the people around me. Many of us left after the three against three: the shootout does not interest us.
Claire Pageau
Response from Simon-Olivier Lorange
Rest assured, you have allies among NHL governors. After 16 years of shootouts – the practice was introduced in 2005-2006 – this phase of the game continues to divide decision-makers. It is also to limit the number of matches concluded in this way that the three against three succeeded the four against four, in 2015-2016. Already, in 2010, games won or lost in the shootout had been removed from the standings tiebreaker process. Philosophically, many are the opponents of the fact that in a collective sport, a match is decided by an individual game. Soccer receives the same kind of criticism. All that said, maybe on a personal basis you don’t like shootouts, but there are many, many people who do. At the Bell Center as elsewhere, fans are enjoying it. And when a player pulls a bunny out of his hat, his feint loops on TV and social media for weeks. Unless there is an unexpected turnaround, you will therefore have to endure them a little longer…