STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – JETS THREAT – I could write, possibly all 10 Thoughts this week, on the horrible marketing tactic the Winnipeg Jets deployed this week in an effort to boost season ticket sales.  The Jets are about 3000 tickets (per game) short of pre-pandemic levels.  In fact, Jets games used to be sold out each and every night and there was even a waiting list.  Now, tickets can be had via third parties for a fraction of the cost the Jets are selling them for.  I’ll get into the reasons further below but threatening your fan base has long been proven to be a failing tactic as far as generating more revenue and it, often, results in further losses.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it one more time:  the Jets are actually operating as though they WANT to leave Winnipeg.  If you wanted to orchestrate a departure from a city, they are establishing a perfect blueprint for it.

2 – REASONS FOR DECLINING ATTENDANCE – The hockey reasons for Jets fans cooling on the product are very easy to identify.  First of all, you have a team that has done absolutely nothing to capitalize on the prime years of their stars.  Three seasons ago, many around the NHL were predicting, at least, one Stanley Cup for a club that featured Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler, Nik Ehlers, Kyle Connor, Patrik Laine, Josh Morrissey, Dustin Byfuglien, and Jacob Trouba as its core.  Here we are five years later and Byfuglien has quit, Trouba forced his way out, Scheifele has developed a bad reputation as far as dressing room character is concerned, Wheeler is old, Ehlers has been injured and underperformed, Laine was chased away and replaced by an overrated centre who also now wants to leave, and the General Manager has added nobody of note to replace them.  The Jets longtime coach bailed saying he was out of ideas on how to get maximum potential from the group.  The GM, himself, has been the subject of questionable ethics surrounding the Kyle Beach situation and the ownership stood behind him.  The old, tired argument is that players don’t want to come to Winnipeg.  Baloney.  Players will go wherever they can win.  Connor McDavid can get max money from any team in the league and he chose Edmonton.  However, if you have an organization indifferent to winning, playing in a market where they tax you at 50% and the weather is freezing cold…of course nobody wants to go there.  Change the culture, the players will come.  

3 – MORE REASONS – Now for the off-ice reasons fans aren’t going and some of you will disagree and that’s fine.  The Jets are in the same boat as the Roughriders as far as how much their attendance is suffering and I bring it all back to the alienation of their fans through rigid health measures that, yes were forced by governments, but they were cheered by both organizations and both teams bragged about how unvaccinated people weren’t welcome at the games anyway and could easily be replaced by folks who felt more safe.  That was a ridiculous thing to say on day one and both teams are paying the price for it today without even the slightest acknowledgement of it.  A simple apology, in my mind, would go a long way to getting some of these people back.  In the case of the Jets, they asked their workers to go out of their way to harass fans who were a bit lax on wearing masks during games.  As we know, you could have a drink or something to eat and you are able to remove your mask.  I heard stories of attendants glaring at fans and screaming at people to get their masks back on in between sips or bites.  I’m sorry, but if I’m going to pay that kind of money to watch an NHL game, I do not need to be barked at.  Heck, if I’m vaccinated, why am I also wearing a mask?  Treat me like you appreciate me.  I, for one, went to about 6 Jets games a year prior to the pandemic.  That’s a five hour drive commitment each way.  I’ve been to none ever since the arena was reopened to fans because, for that price, I expect to be appreciated, not harassed.  I also expected these sports teams and the government to show confidence in the vaccine by removing all restrictions if everyone in attendance is vaccinated.  Sports teams really should have advocated hard on this one but they, in some cases, exceeded government restrictions.  Bad idea.  The other calculated risk the Jets took that they didn’t bank on, was that by not advocating for fans to attend their games, a lot of people realized that not having a game to go to isn’t so bad.  There are other things to do that cost less, especially in a time where costs everywhere for everything are on the rise.

4 – ONE OTHER THING ON JETS – Here’s the other thing that would be hilarious if it wasn’t so insulting.  The Jets have increased ticket prices every single year despite an on-ice product that has deteriorated every single year for the last five seasons.  I’ve often said to other fans who love rebuilds, “Why would you attend games when your team is junk on purpose?  As they chop their payroll, are they chopping your ticket prices?”  We all know the answer to that.  So, here we have a team that is less entertaining, less competitive, less appreciative of their fans, tone deaf on an economy that is devastating people and business as far as disposable income is concerned and they issue a threat to leave town.  You know what?  Go.  Don’t let the door hit you on the way out and if you can make more money in Houston, Kansas City, or Salt Lake City…more power to you.  See ya.

5 – JETS CAN UPSET – I realize I just spent quite a bit of space criticizing the Jets, but their first round playoff matchup couldn’t be a better suited pairing.  They can pull off the upset here as they have the better starting goalie and I think they actually have more talent top to bottom than the Vegas Golden Knights, it’s just a matter of maximizing it.  I also think this is finally the year Toronto gets out of round one.  It may not be close.  I know a lot of people are pointing to Andrei Vasilevskiy being the difference maker but he’s just 11-10-3, 2.87, .911 since February 1.  Contrast that to Ilya Samsonov, who’s 10-5-3, 2.35, .921 over the same time period and I think the advantage between the pipes isn’t what most think.  

6 – RECENT STATS – I’ve always given more weight to stats in hockey over the final two months because I think it’s a better reflection of how players and teams are playing as the playoffs begin.  There’s no stat more important than wins, so here are your leaders since February 1:  Alexander Georgiev (20), Stuart Skinner (16), Igor Shesterkin (16), Jake Oettinger (16), Linus Ullmark (15), Ilya Sorokin (15).  The top scorer over the last two months has not been Connor McDavid.  It’s actually Nathan MacKinnon (32-23-38-61).  As great a season as the Boston Bruins have had, if you picked the Colorado Avalanche to repeat as Cup champs, I wouldn’t argue with you.  If you are looking at an ‘under the radar’ team, how about Minnesota?  Filip Gustavsson is 11-2-6, 1.95, .938 since February 1.

7 – SMALL MARKET FRAUDS – Most people don’t subscribe to this thinking, but I no longer buy into the notion that there are small market teams that can’t afford superstars.  Guess what?  All of them played for over a year to either empty buildings or greatly diminished capacity and none of the pro teams in North America went under.  The Phoenix Coyotes are committed to playing in a 4500 seat arena for the foreseeable future and don’t seem to be in any danger of shutting their doors.  Therefore, fans are a luxury and not a necessity.  Whether you are the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Los Angeles Dodgers doesn’t matter.  Both can afford Shohei Ohtani if they truly wanted him but one of them has a built-in excuse to not even try and most of their fans accept it, even though it is a bunch of BS.

8 – RUSH STUNNED – The Halifax Thunderbirds ended the playoff hopes of the Saskatchewan Rush on Saturday night in typical Rush fashion as they defeated the hapless Rush 15-11.  Goaltender Alex Buque left the game seven minutes in due to a lower body injury and was replaced by Eric Penney, who was sensational for 38 minutes before collapsing over the final 15 in which the Thunderbirds scored nine times in erasing a 10-7 deficit.  By contrast, the Rush had just nine shots in the fourth quarter.  Halifax’s Jake Withers won 30 of 31 face-offs (I have never seen a face-off stat that lopsided) as the Rush lost for the seventh time in eight games.  A season that started 4-and-2 (with both losses coming by one goal) is going to end on a stunning and shocking note.

9 – RATTLERS ON DECK – The Rush have two games left, but I’ll be turning my attention to the CEBL’s Saskatchewan Rattlers as they open the new season on May 31st against the Vancouver Bandits.  Officially, they’ve signed three players for the upcoming season.   One of which is Malik Benlevi, one of the dominant five starters they employed last season.  Another is Mike Nuga, who made an impact upon arrival late in the year, and the third player is D’Andre Bernard, a strong bench player who will be entering his third season with the Rattlers.  The Rattlers were 11-and-9 a season ago and played very entertaining basketball after struggling mightily in 2020 and 2021.  Their ticket prices are on the rise but the CEBL remains the best bang for your sports entertainment buck in the country.

10 – RED SOX MORALS OVER COMPETITIVENESS – Last week, I talked about sports teams living in a time where it’s never been easier for them to win if they put their minds to it.  Many organizations are focused on non-competitive things such as diversity and equity as well as very selective morality.  The Boston Red Sox are an unmitigated disaster being a large market Major League Baseball team operating as a small market one.  A couple of years ago they acquired Alex Verdugo in a trade with the Dodgers for Mookie Betts despite a very checkered past (you can Google his indiscretions).  You also have, perhaps, their most storied player ever – David Ortiz, known to run in somewhat shady social groups.  However, the team has drawn the line when it comes to signing Trevor Bauer, who was cleared of wrongdoing after a witch-hunt from a jaded lover.  In fact, Bauer has been, effectively, black balled from MLB and is playing in Japan.  You can be appalled at his sexual appetite, but he hasn’t been proven to have done anything wrong and there are plenty of players who have done worse, I assure you, on every single roster.  So, any MLB team that finds themselves dealing with a pitcher shortage this season that prevents them from winning deserves no sympathy.  Any one of them could have signed Bauer for league minimum money and, probably, gotten a Cy Young calibre season in return.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)