Patrik Laine continues to shine under the colors of the Canadian, but instead of celebrating his impact, RDS chose to demolish him in l'Antichambre, a show which, more and more, resembles an outdated model of sports journalism.
Guy Carbonneau, Gaston Therrien and Maxime Talbot, well-known figures on this channel in free fall, have once again demonstrated why Canadian fans and hockey fans are turning away from this channel.
Laine, with his seventh goal in eight games, was the hero of a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings, scoring the game-winning goal with a blistering shot on the power play.
And yet, rather than highlighting his decisive contribution, the panelists in the Antichambre preferred to attack him with a series of absurd, disconnected and frankly shameful comments.
Guy Carbonneau started with a criticism that bordered on the ridiculous
“He just played a 60-minute game, you can’t see it, he was on the ice for 13 minutes, he had one one-timer and that’s it.
This is the winning goal. You have to be able to manage your emotions if you're from St. Louis, because you don't see Laine in the game, it must be extremely frustrating. »
Carbonneau seems to forget a fundamental truth: hockey is a sport where the result counts above all.
Laine may not have dominated every shift, but he did what you'd expect from an elite scorer: he made his team win.
How can you blame a player who is doing exactly what he was acquired to do?
Maxime Talbot went there with a free attack
“They are not easy players to coach. Because it's annoying. He is the culprit on the first goal. But he makes life difficult, he tries to have control of the puck. At 5-on-5, you pretty much have to hide it. »
Talbot does not hesitate to add more, but his criticism is not only exaggerated, it is hypocritical. Laine is far from perfect, but to reduce his game to a single moment of hesitation and ignore his decisive impact is to lack perspective.
If Laine is to be “hidden”, then how many players in the NHL wouldn't even have a place in a lineup?
We're talking about the biggest star in Montreal since Alex Kovalev.
Gaston Therrien added the cherry to the sundae of bad faith
“Patrik Laine doesn’t move. His feet are stuck there. Ovechkin moves, Laine doesn't move, he's lazy. »
Comparing Laine to Ovechkin is a demonstration of intellectual laziness.
Yes, Laine is no Ovechkin, but his role is not to skate around to impress spectators. His role is to score, and that's exactly what he does.
Calling him lazy after such a crucial goal is an insult to the intelligence of hockey fans.
These comments, coming from three Quebec analysts, illustrate a broader problem: RDS's inability to evolve with its audience.
Canadian fans are angry, and rightly so.
Why seek to demolish a player who directly contributes to the team's success?
Why turn a show supposedly devoted to analysis into a forum for unfounded criticism and constant complaints?
Social media has been merciless
“Laine scores, and they criticize. RDS is a joke now. »
“That’s why no one listens to the Antechamber anymore. Always negative, never constructive analysis. »
“Laine makes us win matches and they find a way to complain. It disgusts me. »
The free fall of RDS…is happening before our eyes…
It is increasingly clear that RDS is collapsing before our eyes. A show like l'Antichambre, once respected, is now an example of everything that is wrong in the Quebec media landscape.
Rather than valuing offensive success and providing balanced analysis, it turns into a spectacle of defeatism and bad taste.
Canadian fans deserve better. Patrik Laine deserves better.
This player, who is doing exactly what he was acquired to do, should be celebrated, not dragged through the mud by outdated analysts who don't seem to understand what they're looking at.
RDS needs to look in the mirror and ask himself what has become of him. Continuing to gratuitously attack players like Patrik Laine, while ignoring their impact on the team, only drives a wedge between the channel and its audience.
If RDS wants to remain relevant, it is time for them to change their tone, their personnel, and above all abandon their grumpy uncles.
For now, all we see is national shame broadcast live, night after night.
Gaston Therrien seems determined to push the network even further into a spiral of ridicule and unease by accumulating embarrassing moments in the Antichambre.
RDS analysts, desperate for attention, seem increasingly disconnected from the realities of modern hockey.
Remember that not so long ago, Gaston Therrien insisted that Brendan Gallagher be placed on the first trio.
This comment caused a mixture of disbelief and unease on set. Even Pierre Houde gave sideways glances, as if to make sure he wasn't the victim of a hidden camera.
As for Norman Flynn, usually the clown on duty, he seemed barely able to hold back a fit of laughter.
On social networks, hockey fans were quick to react:
“Who can take this guy seriously?”
“Gaston is losing his way.”
Therrien's obsession with “hardworking” players like Gallagher is not new. Therrien seems to believe that all of a team's problems can be solved by adding courageous plumbers.
The problem is not limited to Gaston Therrien. Criticism of the Anteroom and its aging analysts is mounting, and fans are wondering why the network can't seem to adapt.
“The Antichamber is a vestige of another era. Gaston and the others are disconnected. »
“RDS needs a complete clean-up. Monuncles like Gaston Therrien, that's enough. »
The comments of Guy Carbonneau and Maxime Talbot at the Antichambre follow Therrien's thoughts and are no longer really surprising.
But they reveal an almost unhealthy obsession with defensive play, so much so that they seem incapable of appreciating the offensive talents that thrill hockey fans.
Their attack on Patrik Laine, despite his spectacular winning goal, recalls an old squabble: that of Carbonneau against Alex Kovalev when he was coach of the Canadian.
Under the leadership of Guy Carbonneau, Alex Kovalev was often criticized for his flamboyant and unpredictable style.
However, Kovalev was the most spectacular and talented player on the team, capable of changing the outcome of a match with a single shift.
But that wasn't enough for Carbonneau, whose defensive player mentality seemed incapable of adapting to creative talent like Kovy's.
Carbonneau, who went to the Hall of Fame as a defensive player, seems to believe that all players should adopt the same style he embodied: that of the defensive plumber, the supporting player good at the little details.
But modern hockey, just like in Kovalev's era, demands players like Laine: scorers, offensive stars capable of breaking up close games.
Maxime Talbot, too, subscribes to this same school of thought. A Stanley Cup winner in 2009 with the Penguins, Talbot built his career as a reliable but lackluster defensive player.
When he says that Laine is “nearly impossible to use at 5v5”, one can't help but notice a glaring lack of perspective.
Talbot and Carbonneau seem to want to transform the NHL into a league where only Jake Evans would be acceptable.
According to them, every player on the ice should be a hard worker defensively, regardless of the offensive impact or raw talent they can bring.
But if all teams were made up of only these types of players, where would the spectacle be? Who would score the winning goals? Who would bring the crowds to their feet?
Listening to Therrien, Carbonneau and Talbot, it is obvious that they are still prisoners of a mentality that dates from another era of hockey.
Yes, defense is important. Yes, a Jake Evans has his place on a team, but that doesn't mean every player has to look like him.
Patrik Laine is an elite scorer, a player who does exactly what he is paid to do: change the outcome of a game.
Carbonneau and Talbot forget that great teams are not built only with plumbers. They need offensive talent, players capable of scoring impossible goals in crucial moments.
To listen to them, we would have to exchange all the spectacular players to form a team composed entirely of shadow workers. But who would watch that?
The irony is that hockey has evolved, but their analysis has not. Players like Alex Kovalev and Patrik Laine have always been criticized for their apparent lack of consistency, but they are the ones who provide the magical moments that fans come to see.
By relentlessly criticizing them, Therrien, Carbonneau and Talbot show that they do not understand what fans are looking for today: players capable of scoring decisive goals and making arenas vibrate.
RDS, by letting analysts like Therrien, Carbonneau and Talbot monopolize media space with such disconnected comments, further angers its audience.
Canadiens fans want to celebrate the offensive successes of their players, not see them dragged through the mud by analysts nostalgic for a bygone era.
By destroying players like Patrik Laine, the RDS moncles show that they are incapable of appreciating modern hockey.
Their outdated vision, where every player should be a defensive plumber, no longer has a place in a league where offensive talent is the key to success.
The Montreal Canadiens are lucky to have a player like Patrik Laine. And if RDS cannot recognize this value, perhaps it is time for the Antichambre, like its analysts, to move on.
Fans deserve better than this outdated mentality which destroys the very essence of the sporting spectacle.
