2021 NHL Entry Draft

[nutman]

Friggen Habs... I just hate them.

 

[rdowdall]

https://twitter.com/thee4thidiot/status/1419076988975919105

This was my biggest problem with the draft selection. When this news originally broke and the reports were some teams were taking him off their draft lists and some weren't I figured somebody would have still drafted him (wouldn't have guessed 1st round though) and the reaction to the pick would have of course been pretty bad still but I don't think it would have quite reached these levels.

Then the kid did the best, smartest, and most responsible thing he could have done in the situation (aside from you know sincerely apologizing to his victim) and he asked to be withdrawn from the draft. He said very clearly "being drafted into the NHL is an honour and a privilege that no one takes lightly. The NHL Draft should be one of the most exciting landmark moments in a player's career, and given the circumstances I don't feel I have demonstrated strong enough maturity or character to earn the privilege in the 2021 Draft. If I were to ever have the honour of being selected I would want a fanbase to be proud to welcome me to their organization".

This was the path of rehabilitation he, his family, his agents, and anyone else counselling him on this issue decided was best for him. He could have taken the next year to hopefully reflect on his own personal issues and became a better person for it. And then in 2022, in his own words, been worthy of being drafted and could have had a once in a lifetime draft experience that wasn't completely tarnished by his past mistakes.

And the Canadiens pretty blatantly said, "nah, f*@k how you want to rehabilitate yourself, we want a good hockey player".

Great post, and you hit the nail on the head.  What was supposed to be about a young person rehabilitating himself has been blown out of the water because the Canadiens decided not to pick someone else.  Pretty brain dead move on their part, as it totally throws his development path off course.

 

[Kin]

I try not to be cynical but honestly, I think what the Habs knew is there's no real downside for them in drafting him. Oh sure, they'll be clowned on twitter for a day or two but then we'll be on to the next thing. Meanwhile if he goes on to be a good player then the fawning hockey media will write article after article about how "brave" the Habs were for "showing faith in him even when he didn't have it in himself" or something.

 

[Bender]

I try not to be cynical but honestly, I think what the Habs knew is there's no real downside for them in drafting him. Oh sure, they'll be clowned on twitter for a day or two but then we'll be on to the next thing. Meanwhile if he goes on to be a good player then the fawning hockey media will write article after article about how "brave" the Habs were for "showing faith in him even when he didn't have it in himself" or something.

Didn't Arizona walk away from a pick for him also being a colossal douchebag?

 

[herman]

I try not to be cynical but honestly, I think what the Habs knew is there's no real downside for them in drafting him. Oh sure, they'll be clowned on twitter for a day or two but then we'll be on to the next thing. Meanwhile if he goes on to be a good player then the fawning hockey media will write article after article about how "brave" the Habs were for "showing faith in him even when he didn't have it in himself" or something.

Didn't Arizona walk away from a pick for him also being a colossal douchebag?

Arizona renounced the pick (colossal d-bag is an understatement) due to public backlash. They were entirely committed to doing what Nik suggests Montreal is doing, which is leveraging the d-bag pool as a market inefficiency.

 

[Bullfrog]

I'm struggling to find where I stand on this one.

In some ways, I'm with WIGWAL. He's a kid; he did a bad thing and hopefully, he'll mature from it. It's serious what he did and morally wrong, but he didn't sexually abuse anyone. The sincerity of his apology is certainly questionable, but I don't think it's up to us to judge on something that should be private. I believe the victim's skepticism of his apology. I do. I don't know all the facts, but I haven't heard that he shared the photos to be hurtful, to extort, or similar reasons. It sounds like he shared them because he's a teenager who's probably immature and doesn't understand the real-world implications to his actions.

On the other hand. It is very strange that he specifically requested to not be drafted and an NHL team ignored that. You can question his move as simply a PR stunt, but he nonetheless made the request.

From the Canadiens' side, I think Nik is right (if I'm understanding correctly), it's probably going to more-or-less blow over and they may have a steal of a pick. I'm not convinced they can convincingly spin it into such a positive (bravery, showing faith, etc), but I'm convinced it's not really going to hurt them at all.

 

[ZBBM]

If the NHL were serious about these issues (which they aren't), here's a straightforward solution: if you are convicted in court of abuse of any kind, you're banned from the league for life.  No exceptions.  That'll do more to get rid of toxic masculinity in elite competitive hockey at all levels than all this hand-waving "concern."

It's not a perfect solution.  If you can manage to settle a case with a victim (looking at our very own #34 here) to avoid a conviction, then you can wiggle out of it.

Of course it will never happen.

 

[Frank E]

If the NHL were serious about these issues (which they aren't), here's a straightforward solution: if you are convicted in court of abuse of any kind, you're banned from the league for life.  No exceptions.  That'll do more to get rid of toxic masculinity in elite competitive hockey at all levels than all this hand-waving "concern."

It's not a perfect solution.  If you can manage to settle a case with a victim (looking at our very own #34 here) to avoid a conviction, then you can wiggle out of it.

Of course it will never happen.

The kind of labels that are being pinned to this 18 year old weren't being pinned on Matthews when he pulled his own douchey move when he was 4 years older/wiser?

Severity of douchebaggery needs to be part of the discourse before we simply "cancel" kids, or organizations, and write them off as terrible people.

 

[louisstamos]

For the record, as someone who knows people who are victims of revenge porn (which essentially what this is), this is absolutely sexual abuse.  Just because there's no physical harm that came to the victim, doesn't mean there isn't emotional trauma.  It's exactly how death threats are still considered a crime - the assailants can't hide behind "yes, I did threaten to kill them, but I didn't actually cause any *physical* harm, so no foul, right?"

That said, I'm a firm believer in the "no one deserves a second chance, they have to be earned."  People who have done their rehabilitation and jail time have earned their second chances.  My issue is, this kid *did* want to go about it the right away.  He asked not to be drafted, he would go back to junior, try and build up some good will - maybe through community involvement or theraphy, and be drafted once he's done so.  Bergevin robbed him of his opportunity to do it the right way.

Part of me wonders after listening to the Steve Dangle podcast that if Bergevin knows the axe is coming for him because of his involvement in the Chicago situation, and because of it he's just said "screw it" and is doing what he wants, consequences be damned.

 

[herman]

From the Canadiens' side, I think Nik is right (if I'm understanding correctly), it's probably going to more-or-less blow over and they may have a steal of a pick. I'm not convinced they can convincingly spin it into such a positive (bravery, showing faith, etc), but I'm convinced it's not really going to hurt them at all.

I think louisstamos addressed the first part. It's a serious offense, and the fact that hockey culture (and mainstream culture to a large degree) downplays it is also a serious issue. Framing it as a 'cancel culture' problem is erroneous and telling. Guy still got drafted and still gets to play a game for a living so clearly he's not being even remotely 'cancelled'.

There might not be a hockey consequence, and I guess that's all that matters to them, but a move like this absolutely erodes away (maybe catastrophically) at over 50% of the fanbase and Canadiens' ops-level staff. It's an HR timebomb. Hockey is how they make money so that's all that matters, especially over a whole person's dignity, reputation, feelings.

Bergevin robbed Logan of his 'chance' to mature and rehabilitate outside of the spotlight; Logan robbed his victim of her choice of who to share her intimacy with, and went on to frame her as vindictively wanting to ruin his life.

 

[Bullfrog]

louis, I'm with you. You were much more articulate than what I was trying to say.

The only difference is I'm not sure this is revenge porn. I don't know the details, but I think it was just sharing. Still wrong of course.

Full disclosure: I've read very little about what happened. While the effect to the victim is equal, there's a difference between exposing pictures to hurt someone and being an idiot and sharing pictures to show what his "hot girlfriend did."

 

[Bullfrog]

If the NHL were serious about these issues (which they aren't), here's a straightforward solution: if you are convicted in court of abuse of any kind, you're banned from the league for life.  No exceptions.  That'll do more to get rid of toxic masculinity in elite competitive hockey at all levels than all this hand-waving "concern."

It's not a perfect solution.  If you can manage to settle a case with a victim (looking at our very own #34 here) to avoid a conviction, then you can wiggle out of it.

Of course it will never happen.

I think that's an extreme solution. I also don't think the NHL should be the morality police.

 

[ZBBM]

If the NHL were serious about these issues (which they aren't), here's a straightforward solution: if you are convicted in court of abuse of any kind, you're banned from the league for life.  No exceptions.  That'll do more to get rid of toxic masculinity in elite competitive hockey at all levels than all this hand-waving "concern."

It's not a perfect solution.  If you can manage to settle a case with a victim (looking at our very own #34 here) to avoid a conviction, then you can wiggle out of it.

Of course it will never happen.

The kind of labels that are being pinned to this 18 year old weren't being pinned on Matthews when he pulled his own douchey move when he was 4 years older/wiser?

Severity of douchebaggery needs to be part of the discourse before we simply "cancel" kids, or organizations, and write them off as terrible people.

You aren't canceling them; you're telling them to go play hockey elsewhere, if they'll have you.

 

[ZBBM]

If the NHL were serious about these issues (which they aren't), here's a straightforward solution: if you are convicted in court of abuse of any kind, you're banned from the league for life.  No exceptions.  That'll do more to get rid of toxic masculinity in elite competitive hockey at all levels than all this hand-waving "concern."

It's not a perfect solution.  If you can manage to settle a case with a victim (looking at our very own #34 here) to avoid a conviction, then you can wiggle out of it.

Of course it will never happen.

I think that's an extreme solution. I also don't think the NHL should be the morality police.

Well, if they want to present to the public that they are concerned, sensitive, etc., then they don't have a choice but to be "morality police."  The alternative is to take no moral positions at all.

 

[Kin]

From the Canadiens' side, I think Nik is right (if I'm understanding correctly), it's probably going to more-or-less blow over and they may have a steal of a pick. I'm not convinced they can convincingly spin it into such a positive (bravery, showing faith, etc), but I'm convinced it's not really going to hurt them at all.

For what it's worth, I don't really think the Canadiens would have to "spin" things if that were the case. I think we've seen in the past(with, say, Patrick Kane) that so long as a guy is playing well, there are all manner of media people willing to push a redemption narrative regardless of whether or not it has much in the way of substance behind it.

 

[LittleHockeyFan]

as if I needed any more reasons to hate the habs.

this doesn't sit well with me at all. and i know it's not gonna matter a good g d to the habs.

i'm just infuriated....and i wouldn't be surprised if this was all done as a stunt to make sure no one would even think about drafting him because the habs wanted him all along.

 

[bustaheims]

as if I needed any more reasons to hate the habs.

this doesn't sit well with me at all. and i know it's not gonna matter a good g d to the habs.

i'm just infuriated....and i wouldn't be surprised if this was all done as a stunt to make sure no one would even think about drafting him because the habs wanted him all along.

I'm with you until the bolded. Would have been a weird choice. It's not like he fell dramatically down the rankings. He was still taken very much in the range he was expected to go.

While I'm sure part of his request to not be drafted was about trying to save face and improve his reputation around the league, I just can't see it being part of a plan to get drafted by Montreal.

 

[Frank E]

as if I needed any more reasons to hate the habs.

this doesn't sit well with me at all. and i know it's not gonna matter a good g d to the habs.

i'm just infuriated....and i wouldn't be surprised if this was all done as a stunt to make sure no one would even think about drafting him because the habs wanted him all along.

I'm with you until the bolded. Would have been a weird choice. It's not like he fell dramatically down the rankings. He was still taken very much in the range he was expected to go.

While I'm sure part of his request to not be drafted was about trying to save face and improve his reputation around the league, I just can't see it being part of a plan to get drafted by Montreal.

Montreal wouldn't have drafted him without speaking with him and his family about it.

"We'll help you with your maturity and development to ensure you don't make a mistake like this in the future...it'll be better for you to get with an organization like us...so, will you sign if we just go ahead and draft you?"

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Montreal wouldn't have drafted him without speaking with him and his family about it.

What surprised me quite a bit is that prior to the selection being made they actually didn't speak with him at all since he released his statement requesting not to be drafted. Guess they didn't really care how he felt about that request being ignored.

 

[Kin]

What surprised me quite a bit is that prior to the selection being made they actually didn't speak with him at all since he released his statement requesting not to be drafted. Guess they didn't really care how he felt about that request being ignored.

So, effectively, the Habs need to learn a lesson about respecting consent.