Since Nov 2018 -The Good ,Bad and The Jury is still out on .

[hal]

On the above mentioned date Cape Breton's Major Junior Hockey Team was sold to Mr Irwin Simon , a Cape Bretoner residing in New York City . Nearly 5 years in , I thought it might be interesting to look at it a little closer to see how things have gone since that eventful day . These Opinions are my own , so feel free to agree , disagree , dissect , dislike ........or just plain rip apart .


The Good

- Mr Simon has very deep pockets and by definition is a Local Boy , Andre Cote's Leadership had gone stale .

- Cut a Cheque to bring to an end the Marc Andre Dumont Era .


- The 2019-2020 Squad under the guidance of Jake Grimes ( Good then Bad ) was built in such a way that the gut feeling is that they would have been in the mix for the Championship . They were an exciting Team to watch and provided many nights of Great Entertainment at C200 .

- I personally thought upon his hiring , although a small sample size that Chad Cassidy would have been the Right Guy at The Right Time to be the Head Coach of our Team .

- In 2022 hired Sylvain Coutourier a Memorial Cup Winning General Manager who has a resume full of building very good Clubs , 2 Q Champions and 1 Memorial Cup Winner .

- Hired Lindsey MacIntosh who seems to wear her heart on her sleeve when it comes to her job and seems to be ambitious . Did we even hear from her predecessor ?

- Won the Lottery in the 2022 Q Draft and selected Tomas Lavoie #1 Overall , he is going to be a Good One .........A Real Good One . They also selected William Shields and Thomas Desseureiux ( more on him later )

- Made the 2023 Q Playoffs with an OK 2nd half to the Season and gave the Fans of Cape Breton a taste of what is most likely the Start of the Good Things to come .


The Bad

- Mr Simon out of the gate used the term World Class to every move he planned to make . He hired a retired Devco Management Official to be his President . Initially I thought this might be OK but then .........

- Jacques Carrierre is hired as the New GM , now 3 things come to mind .....Who was he an assistant to ? (MAD) He never once gave a thought to moving here and he is so far away from a World Class Hire .

- Jake Grimes seemed to be doing a Good Job but his Off Ice / Away from the Rink Issues just killed any momentum he had .


The Re Brand ....you took a Unique Original Name and Logo and replaced it with a Bland Kellogs Corn Flakes Looking Bird and just dropped the Screaming part . No Color Changes even ....when PEI did it , it all made sense . New Name , New Emblem , New Colors....A return to their Historic Tradition ..........ours was just a Minor Tweak ......Unnecessary in my mind .


- COVID ........I know that this is on every Organized Sports Teams List but as far as the Q goes it really hurt 5 Teams and we unfortunately were one of them . ( The Others have rebounded much quicker then us though ) .

- The 20-21 Abbreviated Season was painful to go through , watch and attend . 3 months of watching Charlottetown and Halifax left a lot of people wondering about coming back and sadly a lot didn't .

- The 21-22 Season was also a painful experience that couldn't end soon enough and I think it cost us more fans .

- The European situation never seemed stable other than Ivan Ivan until Satny paired up with him . The other two were forgetable .

- The 1st half of the 22-23 Season , the comings and goings of Veteran Players was puzzling and nobody can tell me that our 3rd 1st Round Pick in the last Q Draft , Thomas Desserieux was handled properly . The Kid only asked to be moved after at least twice through his agent requesting more ice time . Lavoie was the 1st Pick Overall , he isn't going to sit (nor should he with the First half Defence we had ) but Dessereuix should have not have sat out and William Shields ( and I think he is gonna be a good one too ) always dressed . The Kid was a Team Canada U17 Invite . Now after a half a Season with another Team and another Head Coach he is projected as a Late 1st Round Pick in the 2024 NHL Draft . Amazing what a fair shot sometimes does for a Kid .

- Game 2 in Halifax of this years Playoffs.....So tough to deal with .


The Jury is Still out On


- Gerard Shaw ....does Mr Simon always give him a Pass on all things Eagles ?

- Jon Goyens ....is he the Right Coach to lead us to Big Success ...Maybe...Maybe Not ...I am not sure in all honesty . Me personally , I have watched and listened to him on a lot of occasions and he comes across to me as someone who just has to show you how smart he is . Even the simplest of things he doesn't look to make it simple , his explanations are always complicated . Do the Kids get his Message ?

- C200 .....will all Parties involved get on the same page and get the improvements done that need to get done ? It's gonna be tough , even with Improvements to Host a Memorial Cup if Moncton wants in with their shiny new Building , also the fact that they may not want to go a 3rd time in a row to a Maritime City . Also Quebec Remparts are sitting with an NHL Sized Venue . Mr Simon seems sincere and so does the Municipal Government but I can't help but think that C200 is very low on The Provincial Governments Priority List and even lower on the Federal Governments .



* All this leads us to the Right Now and where we are and where we are headed . If Coutourier has additional assets coming in from this years deals , we end up with 2 Solid Euros and the Goaltending Situation is addressed then Better Days lay ahead . Have a Good Off Season Folks .

[Jack Bauer]

Some of the pro's really show how difficult it's been here.

I realize 2020 will be a "what if" forever but that team was also heading for a very tough 2nd round matchup and as easily as it could have been playing in the finals it could have been eliminated before round 3. That was another repeat of a mistake this franchise has made: buying when the correct but tough choice but to sell and start a rebuild. You can't blame them for the circumstances and how they unfolded....but you also can't try labeling them as a contender without acknowledging they probably would have had to pull 3 straight upsets to win which is a tough feat at this level.

Winning a lottery is a great thing for the team long term but it came due to incompetence and completely bottoming out after 2020 and making many poor decisions along the way around coaching, managing, development, you name it.

We were coming off 2 straight seasons out of the playoffs and a last place team. We added a bunch of veterans 18 and older along with the #1 overall pick...making the playoffs was not an accomplishment. It was meeting the absolute bare minimum of expectations. Finishing so far behind Moncton was a disappointment as the season as a whole was but the 2nd half schedule lined up perfectly with a pile of home games against bad teams.

I've liked what Irwin had to say in the CBC interview but he's still trying to sell certain personnel, like Shaw, as having some experience they don't or have performed anything beyond poorly. The results tell us that. Its pretty simple. You're right to stick by his "world class" comment when it came to finding the best people. We have not.

The rebrand was so poorly done people barely know the difference. It made no impact on marketing or sales. There was nothing but opportunity left hanging by not doing a full on rebrand and pushing it as a culture change. I'll never understand why that was handled the way it was. Really seems like a case of someone making a poor choice and nobody having the balls internally to question it. Especially with an example in PEI about how it can be done well to change the image of how people percieve the team.

For me what Goyens is will be determined in the first 30 games of next season. If there's not a good start and if there's as many issues with roster management and keeping players happy which leads to turmoil and losses...we don't have the opportunity to give him to figure it out. Its imperitive that if this team is going to keep burning through assets that the fans actually see some success and a team they can be proud of. This is why I think a #1 goaltender will be a part of the offseason agenda.

Maybe I am too hopeful but it sounds like he's put a lot behind getting things moving on C200 with the province being the real holdout at this point. After hearing Irwin talk about that I have way more confidence in something actually happening.

[justathought]

Hal and Jack, I think you've done a very good job of putting things in perspective.

Hal, I don't think you gave Jacques Carrierre enough credit in the "Bad". When I think of him, I think of poor asset management, poor trade decisions, questionable draft selections, possible roster interference and repeated "First Years of a Rebuild".

Two years ago, many people felt that Daigle had outplayed Perron in the pre-season but somehow Perron made the team out of training camp ( It wasn't a coaching decision ). I know he was the Eagles first pick but I've already mentioned questionable draft selections. Last year, in his second year in the Q, Perron had 9 assists and was a -36 while Daigle in his first year had 4 goals and 16 assists while being a + 8.

Jack, I'm not really sure if you are more confident about C200 improvements, off ice improvements or actual on ice performance improvements?

Keep up the good work!

[WhiteTyAffair]

[Jack Bauer]

Apr 8, 2023 11:12:19 GMT -4 justathought said:

Hal and Jack, I think you've done a very good job of putting things in perspective.

Hal, I don't think you gave Jacques Carrierre enough credit in the "Bad". When I think of him, I think of poor asset management, poor trade decisions, questionable draft selections, possible roster interference and repeated "First Years of a Rebuild".

Two years ago, many people felt that Daigle had outplayed Perron in the pre-season but somehow Perron made the team out of training camp ( It wasn't a coaching decision ). I know he was the Eagles first pick but I've already mentioned questionable draft selections. Last year, in his second year in the Q, Perron had 9 assists and was a -36 while Daigle in his first year had 4 goals and 16 assists while being a + 8.

Jack, I'm not really sure if you are more confident about C200 improvements, off ice improvements or actual on ice performance improvements?

Keep up the good work!

I am confident in some money being spent on C200.

I think on ice improvements are inevitable but it will be by turning the picks we have into older players.

[hal]

Just on CBC News about C200 . CBRM Council recognizes that C200 is in much need of many Upgrades . Councillor Cyril MacDonald said that they are working with all Levels of Government and they are in need of a Cheque for 10 Million Dollars to do the necessary recommended work . Irwin Simon said he is willing to work with all Levels of Government to make it happen . He basically said it is falling apart and way below other Q Arena's . He also said they are missing out on the ability of hosting other Major Events because of the Building's Condition . I couldn't help but think that Councillor MacDonald in his reference to a 10 Million Dollar Cheque , was almost thinking / hoping that Mr Simon would cut the cheque himself .