dekedangle_rpfanon | #26 — Vanek! with a Jurco

#26 — Vanek! with a Jurco

This is the twenty-sixth post of Deke Dangle RPF Anon, a community for all your ice hockey anon meme needs.

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I'm not gonna lie and say it hasn't considerably diminished whatever enthusiasm I had for team NA. It's starting to seem like the whole point is marketing McDavid.

Same tbh. Of course this was a cash grab tournament from the start, but it's hard to get excited if it's going to be a blatant cash grab and a blatant marketing campaign.

ayrt
Yeah, I kind of just realized that most of my excitement about this team was because Team USA is such a mess and I was happy to have a chance to root for some younger American guys (most of whom I actually like a lot). But I'm never going to be able to root for Canada in an international tournament and the fact that this team is shaping up to be Future Canadian Olympic Team (oh, and some Americans, ignore them tho) is a real bummer. I should have expected this.

It's starting to seem like the whole point is marketing McDavid.

That has been my impression from day one. I don't think McDavid is the only reason why this U23 team exists, but I think having him as the main attraction, which wouldn't be case even if he got selected for Team Canada, was a pretty big factor in the creation of Team NA.

ayrt
Oh yeah, for sure, but the reality of 95% of their interviews/marketing/etc being about him is still a little jarring for somebody who doesn't especially like him and was excited about the team anyways (oops).

AYRT

Seriously. I like the kid a lot, and Team North America is the only thing about this tournament I'm legitimately excited about, but it's getting on my nerves how they are being marketed as "McDavid's team".

As an American I'm pretty freaking annoyed. Call me crazy but I do believe there is a bias going on.

I think there is. Couturier is fine, and he has the most experience, but McDavid and Ekblad are the faces of the future of Hockey Canada.

ayrt. Fuck this shit, guess I'm going Europe/Finland/Sweden.

McDavid has played 45!!! NHL!!! Games!!! It doesn't matter how many interviews I read about his leadership skills or whatever the fuck, I firmly believe that he wouldn't be getting picked for this (or Oilers captain) if he wasn't Connor McDavid, future best player in the league. That's my tinhat conspiracy theory and I'm sticking to it.

(also all those quotes from the Friedman piece about how the Oilers had to trade Hall because he had too much personality and was overshadowing McDavid. If he's such a natural leader why was that an issue?? huh???)

I agree 100% with your first paragraph, but for the second, wasn't that specifically one player speculating? I remember it being kind of an aside in one article, but admittedly I forget specifics approximately 5 seconds after reading. Were there more?

ayrt
You might be right, I thought it was mentioned multiple times but I might be confusing it with what was said about PK. I think Friedman talked about it again later on tv though and clarified that he thinks that was a significant factor.

AYRT

Oh thanks, I didn't see the tv thing! I tend to trust Friedman's judgment, so if he also believes it I'd give it more weight. I thought from the beginning McDavid was a big factor in what made Hall expendable, but the idea of getting rid of him in part because management didn't want competing leadership is new to me, and it really rubs me the wrong way. It's just such a dumb reason to get rid of someone.

Yeah, tbf I think the player (and Friedman) were framing it more in terms of personality than leadership? Like "Hall was a big personality and needed to go". But if Hall's personality alone was enough to overshadow Connor "natural leader" McDavid in the room then it seems like McDavid's personality can't stand on its own? idk

Agreed. If anything, I think "big personality" is an even stupider reason to trade someone, but I am So Done with hockey's weird insistence on conformity to begin with.

Trading someone for having a "big personality" gets you Subban-for-Weber levels of bad trades. (PK, I hope Nashville lets you have all the "personality issues" your heart desires and you get a ring out of this.)

I have nothing against McDavid, but dude is already dealing with being "the Next One". I think maybe an A for the 2017-2018 season is a better idea than insta-Oilers C. Saad should definitely have gotten an A for Team Kidlets.

/US nonnie

I'd thought for sure that Saad would get the C for TNA.

tywau, but i feel like hockey fandom's forgotten that not all personality issues have to do with being non-conforming or not following the party line. i have colleagues that i hate and it has nothing to do with me being too narrow-minded to accept them and everything with them being entitled brats. from what i've heard about taylor hall (which may all be propaganda but who knows), he was a downer in that locker room, and i can't fault the oilers for trying to get rid of that to see what it gets them.

na

I would agree, but I think the Friedman story definitely made it sound like a "big 'personality'/too much 'personality' overshadowing the real star McDavid" issue, rather than Taylor Hall is a downer and not a pleasant person to be around (which imo does matter a lot in a work environment). That's just the impression I got, but I'd prefer it if you were right. I do think that fandom itself also tends use "personality" and "nonconformity" to mean the same thing, for whatever reason.

Saying Hall has too much personality is probably better that outright saying he's an ass/aggressive downer.

Re: World Cup of Hockey

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Re: World Cup of Hockey

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Re: World Cup of Hockey

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Re: World Cup of Hockey

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Re: World Cup of Hockey

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Yeah, exactly. The Friedman article specifically framed it as the players believing the trade was because of McDavid. Even if he was a downer (for a perfectly understandable reason, like the Oilers were a toxic work environment, or something else entirely) that's not the context from the players, which I think becomes the problem.

McDavid himself has also been pretty complimentary of Hall in several recent interviews, so there's that.

McDavid himself has been

iirc it was a couple of Oilers players and they were on record to Friedman

I am neither American or Canadian and it looks pretty biased to me too.

NA

I've been annoyed about Team NA since the Galchenyuk snub, ugh.

I hope he gets outscored by Gaudreau or Saad

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