Posted at 9:00 a.m.
Ukraine and sport
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has many diplomatic and financial implications. What about the world of professional hockey? Specifically, are there any implications for the participation of North American players in the KHL?
Jean-Francois L’Heureux
Response from Simon-Olivier Lorange
There are certainly repercussions, which can be summed up in particular by the departure of non-Russian players, even if the KHL playoffs are in full swing. As of March 10, at least 15 foreign players have requested that their contracts be terminated. The majority are Finnish, but there are a few North Americans in the group – Geoff Platt, Nick Shore, Kenny Agostino, Shane Prince… In addition, two clubs withdrew from the league playoffs altogether, namely Jokerit, team based in Helsinki, Finland, and Dynamo Riga, Latvia. Otherwise, the NHL has announced in recent days that it has asked all of its teams to sever ties with the KHL. It should not be surprising if other twists occur.
The vagaries of the calendar
I would like to know how the schedule of games for a season in the NHL is made. Is it done with a mitt or with a computer program? Are the teams consulted?
Jean-Guy Trinque
Response from Guillaume Lefrancois
This is a complex file, and the demands of the teams are indeed part of the equation. The availability of arenas is one of the issues; the Bell Center hosting shows during the holidays, the Habs always hit the road after Christmas. In this specific case, the NHL also satisfies the Florida teams, which have a full house guaranteed thanks to Quebec vacationers who follow the Habs. Some executives also have special requests that the NHL tries to meet. It is said, for example, that Marc Bergevin liked the Canadian to start his seasons with several games abroad, in order to unite the team. And indeed, since 2014, the Canadian has started each of its seasons with at least two games on the road, sometimes three or four, before its first match at home. An NHL publicist described the creation of the schedule as “a collaborative process.” He recalls that the NHL is doing its best to meet the demands of the teams while taking into account “the collective agreement, the demands [des] four national broadcasters and the availability of arenas”.
The balance of disadvantages
I never understood the weigh-in system in boxing. I’ve read that the boxer doesn’t eat, dehydrates, sweats, and steps on the scale nearly naked to exactly meet the weight limit for his class. Then he eats and drinks as he wishes. So, inevitably, he will exceed the weight limit during the fight, right? Wouldn’t it be much simpler and healthier for the body for the boxer to monitor his weight a few weeks before the weigh-in rather than do all this circus?
John Dufresne
Answer from Jean-Francois Teotonio
Indeed, the pugilists will try to lose as much weight as possible just before the weigh-in. We want to be sure to reach the upper limit of the category planned for the confrontation. The weigh-in usually takes place the day before the fight. The training camps that precede the fights are exhausting and physically hard. Weight loss is thus postponed to the last possible moment, a few hours or days before the fight. And that usually happens through dehydration. It is weight that can be regained relatively easily in the following hours, by rehydrating and eating carbohydrates. All means are good, or almost. The fighters will settle on the scale almost naked, to avoid counting superfluous weight. If they don’t quite reach the limit the first time, they have a few hours to catch up. The danger of dehydration and extreme weight loss is that it can endanger the health of an athlete in the long term, during their career. In the short term, the risk of injury during the fight is also present. There are, however, bodies that have rules in place to ensure that the weight disparity between weigh-in and fight is not too great, such as the IBF.
The fault of the injured?
If we put aside the question of the coach, I have the impression that most of the difficulties of the Canadian in the first half of the season came from the number of injuries (physical conditioning) and the difficulties in front of the goals. These are two departments that have seen a change of guard in the past year. Question CH: has the impact of these changes been underestimated? Sporting question: we know that Pierre Allard was very good. Is there any monitoring of the performance of the fitness managers (number of injuries, for example), considering that there is always a strong (bad) luck factor in injuries?
Alexis Giguere-Durand
Response from Guillaume Lefrancois
The sports science department, led by Pierre Allard, collected data on, in particular, the energy expenditure of the players, which certainly helped to prevent injuries. That said, the actual impact of the changes is nearly impossible to measure from the outside, as we lack far too much information to get an accurate picture. For stats, the ManGameslostNHL Twitter account compiles the games each team’s players miss due to injury. A website is linked to this Twitter account, and subject to a subscription, you can consult its data.
A little last
What is the best site to find NFL statistics and more specifically those of quarterbacks? For the current year, but especially over several years?
Simon Gonthier
Reply from Nicholas Richard
Of course, the NFL site remains the official reference, but personally, I love the pro-football-reference.com site. There are plenty of individual and collective stats, current and past players, and the search tools are easy to use. Good research!