No Business

Photo credit https://habsterix.com

It was the news I didn't want to hear. Veteran Montreal Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov would not be returning to the team.

Damn.

While we don't know the exact details of the negotiations, the organization and media tell us it was mostly to do with money. I'm not angry with General Manager Marc Bergevin or Andrei Markov. These things are complicated, pros and cons must be carefully weighed on both sides. I believe that for both parties the situation was difficult, balancing the pressures of managing a team and a player considering his personal needs and a career at a crossroads. In the end it was a decision that had to be made.

'Hockey is a business' is the cliché phrase trotted out for these occasions. As fans we're supposed to nod submissively as we acknowledge the cold, hard reality those words convey. After a near half-century of hearing that statement repeated time and again, I can say with conviction that it is simply not true.

The connection fans have to professional sports doesn't come close to the typical consumer/product relationship. Rightly or wrongly, those who choose to support a team develop a unique kinship with the players, coaches, and yes even management. In particular, a franchise like the Montreal Canadiens, with a history so rich and storied, hockey is far more than a business.

If you have lived in Montreal for any period of time, you would be keenly aware of how pervasive Canadiens hockey is in the city's culture. Those who live outside of Montreal also feel a deep connection to the team and the city, as do many fans of many franchises in professional sports. In Canada, hockey is personal, it's emotional, it's intimately connected to our own unique history and the relationships that form around it. It is part of our national psyche, a link that binds communities, generations and all that has passed before.

The Montreal Canadiens organization not only embraces the team's history and its deep connection to fans, they cultivate it with pomp and ceremony that borders on sacred ritual. The legend and lore that is an intrinsic quality of Habs fandom even extends to players and coaches, who frequently acknowledge that being part of the organization is something unique and special. Ask just about anyone who supports the team, or is associated with the organization, to define the greatness of the Montreal Canadiens, pretty far down the list would be successful business model.

Andrei Markov will not be returning to the team.

It hurts because it's supposed to hurt. He meant something to us, just like all the other players who have come and gone from the Canadiens roster throughout our personal history with the team. Even when we understand that tough decisions have to be made, don't try to minimize it with a trite cliché like 'hockey is a business.' You and I both know it means more than that, and yes you are completely entitled to feel bad.

Damn.