Tuesday Commentary: The Good, The Great & The Ugly

(Listen daily for the RP Commentary on All New Hits 98 & LTD Radio)

It’s Tuesday and time for the Good, the Great & the Ugly. For the first time ever, all three cover one topic!

First the good: It’s not like the NHL was hurting for news or drama, but this Connor Hellebuyck-returns-to-Winnipeg-but-does-he? story is one for the ages. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, tonight marks Hellebuyck’s first return to Winnipeg since requesting a trade in the offseason and being dealt to New Jersey a few weeks ago. However in a stunning turn of events, he won’t play as Devils GM Sunny Mehta said in a statement that Hellebuyck playing decreases the Devils’ “win probability”. Cue the outrage.

Next the great: Of the tidal wave of reaction I’ve seen since, the greatest commentary has come from Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos who ripped Sunny for “insulting our intelligence” as Canadian hockey people. He went further to say that hockey culture is to “show up and not hide” but perhaps that’s not the culture where Mehta comes from, which is professional gambling and the analytics world.

Kyper said what we were all thinking.

So that’s great.

And finally the ugly: So now the question has become “Does Hellebuyck really want to play or not?” Not that it matters. They can’t go back now.

It’s ugly for all the fans who shelled out hundreds of dollars for tickets for the Hellebuyck Return game and for those who had elaborate plans to burn their #37 jerseys at the corner of Portage & Main.

It’s ugly that this is further a sign of the times and as an RP Show viewers stated Monday, it sure sends a weak message to kids that they don’t have to face the music. Hey, if Connor Hellebucyk doesn’t have to, why should they?

Some days I wonder if we’re making any progress at all.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.

(Sign Up For the Rod Squad Newsletter for insider columns, Hot Takes, contests & more!)