
Edmonton Oilers playoff run could leave economic hangover when it's done
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But what goes up must come down, and local restaurateur Christian Mena of the Sabor Restaurant Group said if last year was any indication, restaurant spending could dip when the playoffs conclude.
'People get excited and you're so conflicted, right? You want the Oilers to go all the way to the to the Stanley Cup, and let's kick ass this year, right? This is the year, boys,' Mena said, who acknowledged that his own restaurants don't tend to get the same playoff boost as others, on account of them not having TVs to watch the games.
'But by the same token, people are totally, for lack of a better term, blowing their wad during the Oilers. And then when it's over, you're like, 'OK, well, everybody needs to take a break here'. We kind of recoup. It's like February after Christmas,' Mena said.
Moneris tracked the biggest spends near Rogers Place and around the city during Games 3 and 4 against the Vegas Golden Knights. The highest increase in spending throughout the city came on Game 3 with spending transactions rising 13 per cent across the city, compared to a comparable non-game day. Spending near the arena hit its highest for the series during the following game on May 12 with an increase of 69 per cent over a comparable non-game day.
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Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
The Maple Leafs have given themselves no choice but to try and re-sign Mitch Marner
So it's the Vegas approach. Forget about the future. Today is all that matters. Not what comes next year, or the year after. The Vegas Golden Knights have been playing this hand since their inception, and it has delivered a Stanley Cup championship and some very good teams. First-round picks and prospects? Let the other 31 teams worry about those. Whether this catches up with the Knights one day, well, all we know is that it hasn't yet. They're a contender every year. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The Maple Leafs are now heading down this path. The patient building days are over. The architect of all that has been dismissed. The Leafs have no first-round picks for the next three years, having traded them away for the likes of Jake McCabe, Brandon Carlo and Scott Laughton — none of them NHL stars. In terms of elite prospects, they have London forward Easton Cowan and Oshawa defenceman Ben Danford, both of whom have a good shot at one day landing regular NHL work, maybe more. But they're not ready yet, and good teams give young players time to mature. Other than Matthew Knies, none of the key Leafs are youngsters. This is no longer an up-and-coming team, but rather a team built around 27-year-old Auston Matthews and 29-year-old William Nylander. The other key components are 35-year-old Chris Tanev, 31-year-old Anthony Stolarz and defenceman Morgan Rielly, also 31. The former captain, 34-year-old John Tavares, is unsigned. Leafs Opinion Damien Cox: Why Brad Treliving's track record should worry Maple Leafs fans The only thing the Leafs should be considering is: How do we get better? But it doesn't feel like that's what they're doing. Leafs Opinion Damien Cox: Why Brad Treliving's track record should worry Maple Leafs fans The only thing the Leafs should be considering is: How do we get better? But it doesn't feel like that's what they're doing. Which brings us to 28-year-old Mitch Marner. While many are again disappointed with his playoff production, it seems pretty clear he is irreplaceable. If he walks, the Leafs can spend money on other players, but immense offensive and special teams capability will be lost. In another situation, with good prospects or farmhands on the way and first-round picks available in coming years, you could make a logical argument for not re-signing Marner. If Nick Robertson hadn't been a scratch for most of the playoffs, maybe he could be asked to partly fill the void. But given the current situation — a team that can't score in the post-season when it matters and didn't defend well against the Florida Panthers in Games 5 and 7 of their second-round playoff loss — that argument doesn't exist. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The Leafs pretty well have to sign Marner now. Or try to in hopes of at least staying at the same competitive level. You can't say the Leafs didn't see this coming. By dealing away first-round picks (as well as forward prospect Fraser Minten) for Carlo and Laughton, general manager Brad Treliving made the situation more acute while also not getting a Marner contract done. For that wizardry, Treliving effectively got a promotion. He has more power with Brendan Shanahan gone, a decision that really hasn't been explained logically. This is a bed that Treliving has made. Marner had two seasons left on his contract when Treliving became GM, so perhaps it's fair he gets to deal with the ramifications. How he intends to do that is unknown. He talked a lot during his media availability on Thursday, but basically said nothing of substance. He could have covered it all in a two-paragraph media release. Leafs Opinion Nick Kypreos: The Leafs have undervalued Mitch Marner for years. They'll pay the price when he leaves It often seemed like Mike Babcock was trying to sabotage his development. And the team lowballed him at contract time. Still, he was the fastest Leafs Opinion Nick Kypreos: The Leafs have undervalued Mitch Marner for years. They'll pay the price when he leaves It often seemed like Mike Babcock was trying to sabotage his development. And the team lowballed him at contract time. Still, he was the fastest The stuf f about needing new DNA seemed strange given that Treliving has been here for two years and is very much responsible for the DNA of Toronto's NHL team. Criticizing their makeup was at least partly an indictment of his own work. How exactly he sees Marner is unclear. It all seems very much like the way the late Johnny Gaudreau left Calgary while Treliving was the Flames' GM. The right things didn't get said at the right times. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW But just as it's hard to figure out how simply deleting Shanahan without replacing him makes the team better, it is similarly impossible to fathom, given all the elements, how the Leafs intend to make themselves better if Marner walks out the door as an unrestricted free agent. If Marner re-signs, the Leafs will retain most of the key components of the team that finished first in the Atlantic this season. If Toronto is going to go full Vegas, more futures can be traded away to take a run at the Cup next season, and maybe the season after. Let him walk, however, and they almost certainly take a step back even with a successful free-agent season. Marner would have to be replaced as Matthews' winger, the power-play quarterback and a member of the No. 1 penalty-killing unit. He was also Connor McDavid's linemate at the 4 Nations Face-Off and set up McDavid for the tournament-winning goal. There's no player out there who can do all that for the Leafs and is available. There is much less of a choice here with respect to Marner than it once seemed. The Leafs let it get this far, dealing with Marner differently than Matthews or Nylander, and now they may end up bidding maximum dollars to even be in the game to retain his services.


Toronto Sun
3 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
SIMMONS SAYS: What McDavid, SGA are doing, Canadian sports fans may never see again
Get the latest from Steve Simmons straight to your inbox Simultaneously, Connor McDavid and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are embarking on something Canadian sports fans may never witness again. Photo by Getty Images photos There is no highlight that can compare Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the once-in-a-lifetime series-winning goal that Connor McDavid scored on Thursday night in Dallas. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account There is no natural comparison. Part of that comes from the difference in the games they play. Part of that comes from the singular genius that is McDavid. He does what no one else in his game can do. On occasion, he Secretariats the rest of the field. All Gilgeous-Alexander does is score and win, more than anyone else in basketball, purposefully and artistically leading the best team in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now the two young Ontario men, born one year apart in Toronto and Richmond Hill, respectively, are championship bound. McDavid leading the Edmonton Oilers to a second straight Stanley Cup final appearance; SGA leading OKC into its first championship series under this new group of players. What a time this is for Canadian sport — the best Canadian hockey player leading the best Canadian team to a possible championship season and the best Canadian basketball player leading the best NBA team to what looks like a certain title. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Steve Nash never played for the NBA championship. McDavid has never won a Stanley Cup. This could — and should — be the year for McDavid's Oilers and certainly for Gilgeous-Alexander's Thunder. And that should link their names together, because nothing like this has ever happened simultaneously before. Pretty much everybody in Canada knows McDavid's name. He's all over television. He's everywhere you look. The same isn't true for Gilgeous-Alexander: Sometimes, I mention his name in conversation — after all he has accomplished — and still get blank looks from friends. Part of that is because the NHL tramples on the NBA on Canadian television. But this isn't a time to divide. It's a time to appreciate. This has never happened before in our lives, should Oke City and Edmonton come away with championships at the very same time. That would be sweet. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. And it may never happen again. One of the teams eyeing Mitch Marner in free agency is the Vegas Golden Knights, which doesn't have enough cap room to sign the Maple Leafs' free agent come July. That has never stopped the Golden Knights from getting what they want in the past. They found a way to Alex Pietrangelo. They found a way to Jack Eichel. They found a way to win a Stanley Cup. Vegas has just more than $10 million to spend. It is going to take much more than that in order to sign Marner … One odd juxtaposition: The Leafs, who claim interest in Marner, haven't won anything with him. Vegas is a go-for-it team every year. It wants Marner because it wants to win. The Leafs quietly figure they can't win with him and the combination remaining. Somebody is going to be very wrong here in the end … I was with coach Peter DeBoer in my mind when he pulled Jake Oettinger after two goals in Game 5 against Edmonton. But I would have put Oettinger back in net after Dallas came back to make the score 3-2. That might have made a difference. But to follow up pulling Oettinger by bad-mouthing him post- game wasn't DeBoer's finest moment … The only thing Dallas doesn't have is a first-line centre … Oettinger and Connor Hellebuyck are supposed to battle for the starting spot in goal on Team USA in the upcoming Olympics, but both had dubious playoff runs this year. The third American goalie, Jeremy Swayman, had a tough regular season in Boston but a shutout in the gold-medal game at the world championship. Which means all bets may be off for February … When Canadian teams won eight Stanley Cups from 1984-93 — eight Cups in 10 seasons — all of the starting goaltenders were Canadian: Grant Fuhr four times, Patrick Roy twice, Bill Ranford and Mike Vernon being the others. Now Edmonton has a chance to win with the unflappable Stuart Skinner in goal … If a single Leafs player, including captain Auston Matthews, has publicly commented on the dismissal of team president Brendan Shanahan, I must have missed it … Don't expect Shanahan to say anything public about his time with the Leafs. He released a water-downed statement when he was let go. He's not looking to do post-Leafs newspaper or radio interviews. Like Greta Garbo, he wants to be alone … Thought the Buffalo Sabres would have been a perfect stop for Shanahan before they added Jarmo Kekalainen to their front office. The Sabres have some talent. What they need is direction … Not surprised that Leafs' associate coach Lane Lambert wound up as the head guy in Seattle. Lou Lamoriello raved about the job Lambert did as both an assistant and head coach with the Islanders. He said it wouldn't be long before he gets another head coaching opportunity … After Pat Quinn stopped coaching in the NHL, he told me that one of his largest regrets was how hard he was on officials. He would have liked to have a do-over in that area. I thought of that watching Rod Brind'Amour in the final game against Florida, screaming from the Carolina bench. I wish Brind'Amour could have a conversation with the late Quinn. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Department of Rather Small Thinking: Attributing the success of the Panthers to the notion that Florida has no state tax, as some have done, is an insult to the work of general manager Bill Zito. In five years on the job Zito has traded for Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Eetu Luostarinen, Seth Jones and Brad Marchand, and claimed Gustav Forsling off waivers. That is spectacular work. He did all of that after inheriting Sergei Bobrovsky, Sasha Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Anton Lundell and the players he eventually traded away. Zito also made terrific small signings such as Niko Mikkola, Evan Rodrigues and Carter Verhaeghe (who have all turned into a big signings). And he hired coach Paul Maurice. That's as good a five-year run as any GM has ever had … What doesn't get mentioned often: The team Florida beat out to originally sign Verhaeghe was the Leafs … Word out of Florida is that free agent Bennett would like to remain a Panther and they would like to keep him if the dollars work out. Also, word out of Florida is that the Panthers don't have a whole lot of interest in re-signing the veteran defenceman Ekblad … If Bennett is available, the Maple Leafs will be among those bidding for the centre from Holland Landing. He's the perfect fit, price aside, for the DNA roster switch the Leafs are attempting … Leafs apparently have no interest in Ekblad … If Bennett is unavailable in free agency, expect Treliving to be an active trader this summer … Should Bennett leave Florida, the returning to the NHL Jonathan Toews would be a perfect fit for the Panthers. Few players comprehend winning the way Toews does. And if you slide Lundell up to second-line centre — and he's capable of that — Toews would be an ideal third-line fit for Florida … Where wouldn't Toews fit, depending on the kind of contract he's asking for? He would probably fit in perfectly in Vegas, in Colorado, in Dallas, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver: We could go on … Toews has won three Stanley Cups, two Olympic gold medals, two world junior titles … Another fit for Toews: Anaheim, where former Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville has landed … Lane Hutson of the Habs, drafted 62nd overall in 2022, is the likely winner of the Calder Trophy as NHL's rookie of the year. He's just the latest high-end defenceman improperly identified by the NHL scouting fraternity. You can add Hutson to the list of misdiagnosed wonderful blue-liners such as Shea Weber (drafted at 49), Duncan Keith (54), Chris Chelios (46), P.K. Subban (43), Nick Lidstrom (53) and Adam Fox (66) … When Dave Hodge began hosting at Hockey Night in Canada, Darryl Reaugh was playing minor hockey in British Columbia. Hodge was at HNIC for 16 fine seasons, and later moved on for two decades of hockey broadcasting at TSN. So, how do NHL broadcasting voters explain the annual passing of Hodge, Ron MacLean, James Duthie and the late Don Wittman — four of the best of all time — for a team broadcaster such as Reaugh, who came after most of them. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. This is the stuff of baseball dreams: Aaron Judge vs. Shohei Ohtani, Yankees vs. Dodgers, on a weekend series at Dodger Stadium. Judge hit a home run in the first inning on Friday night. Ohtani followed up with a home run in the bottom of the first. Then, just to make it more fun, Ohtani hit a second one … The past four MVPs in the American League: Judge, Ohtani, Judge and Ohtani. 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This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Two things were obvious near the end of the sexual exploitation trial of hockey's David Frost in 2008. One, he was clearly guilty in the court of public opinion. Two, he was found not guilty by the presiding judge. Too many witnesses lied in the trial. Too many didn't hold up under cross examination. And too many conveniently changed their stories. For legal purposes, there was far too much doubt to find Frost guilty. There was also a mismatch in court between the defence attorney and the lead prosecuting attorney. And now, some of this seems to be repeating itself in a court room in London, Ont., where five former Team Canada junior players currently stand trial for sexual assault. Don't know what the verdict will be for the any of the accused players. 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Edmonton Journal
7 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
A member of the Edmonton Oilers critical to its success is not getting his due: 9 Things
Article content 9. A few people seemed upset that Connor McDavid touched the Clarence Campbell Trophy after their big win on Thursday. I do not get the big deal. Toronto players have not touched it in decades. 8. The Oilers have home ice advantage. The Schedule: Game One is Edmonton is Wednesday, June 4. Game Two is Friday, June 6. If necessary, Game Five would be June 14, Game Seven June 20. 7. As per Oilers broadcaster Bob Stauffer, since the WHA merged with the NHL in 1979-80, Edmonton has Stanley Cup Finals appearances (nine) than any other Canadian franchise. Montreal has four, Calgary and Vancouver three. Ottawa has made it to the dance once. 6. Jeff Skinner on Thursday became the oldest player in Oilers history to score their first Stanley Cup Playoffs goal. Skinner was thirty-three years and thirteen days. The old record had been held by defenceman Stave Staios who scored in 2006 at thirty-two years and two-hundred ninety-nine days.