We like to ridicule some ‘homerific’ broadcast coverage of NHL teams. NESN and Leafs TV are two of the worst offenders. But in a category all by themselves is RDS. While NESN may present coverage of the game heavily slanted towards the Bruins, RDS warps their broadcast in favor of certain players and against others. We all know who they are.
Golden boy Guillaume Latendresse was applauded by RDS last game for having gone 31 periods without a penalty. Apparently this was more important for us to know than the fact that Latendresse had only scored one goal in 19 games (20 after tonight’s game).
Tonight, Francois Gagnon presented a chart comparing Marc-Andre Bergeron with Andrei Markov. Outrageous? Apparently not to RDS.
For fairness, here it is:
(These are post lockout numbers.)
| Bergeron | Markov | ||||
| Goals | 52 | 44 | |||
| Power play goals | 35 | 28 | |||
| Power play points | 77 | 127 | |||
| Power play points/5 on 5 points | 57% | 58.50% | |||
Statistics buffs will know that if one selects carefully and narrowly enough, they can make an argument for almost any case.
Gagnon offered the disclaimer that some statistics can be deceiving. No kidding. Like these ones? In that case, why air them?
Why would Gagnon select a narrow range of statistics and present them as if they had meaning, if not to deceive a viewing audience? What purpose did this comparison serve?
Is Gagnon naive enough to not realize that he is only fueling the extreme and bigoted views of the disciples of Bob Sirois?
Does Gagnon not realize that Markov is one of the top five defenseman in the league? Does he not recall that 30 NHL teams passed on offering Bergeron a contract during free agency? Has he forgotten that the only reason that Bergeron is employed by the Canadiens is that they lost two defenseman to injury?
Perhaps he does remember all of these facts, and it was just all in good fun. Really?
For those who like comedy with their hockey, be sure to tune in next game as RDS features Gagnon’s comparison of Patrick Traverse to Doug Harvey.
I jest. They wouldn’t. Would they? Well up to tonight, I would have never imagined that even RDS would attempt to make a comparison between Bergeron and Markov.
umm wow… the things I miss when I go to attend a lecture instead of watching the Habs play. RDS keeps finding new and creative ways to amaze me – and I don't mean that in the "good" sense at all….
This is very disturbing. I enjoy RDS broadcasts, primarily (if not only) because of Pierre Houde. The rest of the cast I can certainly live without.
I detest homerism, even when it's in favour of my own team. I just want a well thought out, balanced and rational broadcast.
In my opinion, Gagnon is the best reporter on the Habs beat, which why I am so disappointed that he chose to present these statistics.
I don't have him pegged as one of "those" guys who just want the roster filled with local players. But then he goes with this worthless piece. Sure, Bergeron has decent offensive numbers, and surprisingly, not all of them are on the powerplay.
What he did conveniently forget to mention is that since the lockout, Bergeron is robust -12, mainly on the "strength" of his -14 in 2007-08. He's also a 16-17 minute player, which is not very flattering with that kind of +/-.
Markov, on the other hand is a +14, ALWAYS gets matched against the other team's best forwards and probably averages well over 22 minutes per game in doing so.
I know a lot of people don't care much for +/-, but that's because they don't understand the value of it.
I'm not sure what Gagnon's point was, but he better not be going down the road I think he's going down with this silly argument. Bergeron is a free agent again at the end of the season, and it will be very interesting to see if they start banging the "bring him back forever" drum.
There's a good reason why Bergeron did not get a call from any team until the Habs got desperate, and that's because he's just not very good at what he's *supposed* to do as a DEFENSEman.
I had to laugh at this… there are game on Center Ice that are only televised on RDS–so I'm stuck watching a game in French (when I dont speak French). Thank you for letting me know that I'm not missing much!
By the way, NESN is awful for Bruins games. Jack Edwards makes me want to stab myself in the eye.
I think some of you might have missed the point. If I hadn't seen Gagnon's intervention, I might have thought the same thing. Gagnon's was careful to say at first that Markov and Bergeron are not in the same class of defencements. Everyone knows that Bergeron is not very reliable defensively, he didn't have to repeat it there. He was talking about the power play. We got Bergeron after Markov's injury because the power play sucks without the number 79 and with O'byrn's injury, we also had the role of the 6th defencement to fill. I was one of those who thought Webber could do the job, but the Habs prefered to sign Bergeron. We signed him for his play on the POWER PLAY and Gagnon was showing numbers that show that he is good on the POWER PLAY and he thinks he should play on the first shift. It's that simple. In no way did he meant that Bergeron is a better D-men than Markov.
Thanks EP, Kyle, Matt & Anon for the comments.
I completely understood Gagnon's point. I simply don't believe there is much value in it. I acknowledge Gagnon's setup and disclaimer prior to presenting the graphic. But when the piece is over, the only thing that people remember is Bergeron was being compared to Markov.
And that is my point. Any comparison between the two is a discredit to Markov. And the only way the comparison is made was to use a narrow group of statistics.
Bergeron is a marginal NHL player and Markov is a superstar. Imagine the outcry if an English network compared faceoff stats of Doug Wickenheiser and Jean Beliveau.
Any comparison of those two players is absurd…just as Bergeron vs Markov.
Bergeron is nothing more than a fill-in..a substitute teacher.
As for Weber, he has a better shot than Bergeron, he is a better skater, and he plays better defensive hockey. The problem is that he is young…and we know that coach Martin doesn't have a good track record with young players.
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