Even though it’s been more than 72 hours since we learned thata significant amount of public money ($5-7 million, to be exact) had been spent by the government to lure the Kings’ training camp to Quebec City for a week in the fall, the subject continues to cause a stir. After all, the context of negotiations in the public sector has made the whole thing rather delicate, with employees set to go on strike in the coming weeks.
CAQ MPs may “understand” the unease, but the fact remains that it’s not going down well.
And what didn’t help matters was the fact that, in the hours following the government’s announcement, Alexandre Pratt revealed that the CH had also raised its hand to play in Quebec City, and in his case, it would have done so free of charge.
The “hypocrisy of the Habs” was denounced, the club reportedly called Luc Robitaille to complain, and even a Quebec City radio station got into the act: it’s all very touchy.
But this morning, Réjean Tremblay made an interesting point in his column of the day on the BPM Sports website: Pratt’s text, which comes directly from France’s Margaret Bélanger, is intended as revenge for the 2021 summer playoffs.
THE BIKER AND THE COWBOY…DASHING 
Réjean Tremblay’s latest Editorial HERE
https://t.co/e9YzoWN66w
Thank you Karl
pic.twitter.com/fnIiv4X0ZS
– BPM Sports (@BPMSportsRadio) November 17, 2023
With Pratt’s text on Tuesday night, the Quebec government really found itself in a precarious situation. Public opinion really swung against the CAQ, and it made the government look pretty bad.
Two years ago, this same France Margaret Bélanger was at the height of negotiations with the government to increase the number of fans allowed inside the Bell Centre during the 2021 playoffs. In both the semi-final and final, the club was limited to 3,500 fans inside its arena.
It’s for this reason that the columnist sees a certain revenge on the part of the Tricolore, who reversed the pendulum of public opinion two years later.
Was this really Groupe CH’s goal in publishing this column? You have to wonder, in the end, because it’s not impossible that they wanted to sway public opinion in their favor. Perhaps not necessarily as revenge for 2021, but in an attempt to protect its hold on the province’s market.
Of course, we’ll probably never know the answer to this, but France Margaret Bélanger’s outburst on Tuesday night does make a lot of people look bad, even if Quebecor claims that some facts have been distorted.
I wonder if Éric Girard is starting to regret it all, since he may have played a bigger game than he thought…
In short
– If I were him, I’d hope so too.
Legault hopes Bettman comes to see the Kings https://t.co/JX2mmydBy5
– Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) November 17, 2023
– Very interesting.
ICYMI: We’ve got a FloHockey original feature on Lane Hutson (MTL) as we start our march toward the 2024 World Juniors. You can watch it on Flo or YouTube. Includes some Hutson magic and teammates trying to contextualize his otherworldly skill https://t.co/J7KyaYuPth
– Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) November 17, 2023
– Major injury for Barrett Hayton.
Hearing Coyotes C Barrett Hayton is going to miss 4-6 weeks; surgery likely for an injury sustained last night vs. Columbus.
Hearing the Coyotes will recall C Jan Jeník from Tucson to replace Hayton.
Sounds like Matias Maccelli is going to be OK; just needed major dental work.
– Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) November 17, 2023
– I doubt it too.
Friedman on 32TP: “I think Dallas is going to go out to try to find the best defenseman they can find, that’s my guess as to what they’re going to do, so I think (Patrick) Kane would love to play there, I just don’t know if the fit is going to be there”
– NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) November 17, 2023
– I didn’t expect to see Brock Boeser and Sam Reinhart at the top of the list. Frank Vatrano is also quite a surprise.
Rocket Richard race:
Matthews, #LeafsForever: 13
Boeser, #Canucks: 13
Connor, #GoJetsGo: 13
Reinhart, #TimeToHunt: 13
DeBrincat, #LGRW: 11
Vatrano, #FlyTogether: 11
Pastrnak, #NHLBruins: 11
Kucherov, #GoBolts: 11
– NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) November 17, 2023
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