News and Notes: Ferraro on Markstrom, Binnington on the Calder Trophy
By Cam Lewis
4 years agoThe Canucks’ game earlier this week against the St. Louis Blues brought forward a couple of mini online controversies. Jordan Binnington bothered fans by saying he should have won rookie of the year and Jakob Markstrom also rubbed people the wrong way when he broke his stick over the net following the overtime loss.
Ferarro on Markstrom…
The Canucks got dropped in overtime on Tuesday after the Blues scored the game-winning goal on a three-player breakaway. After allowing the game-ending goal, Jakob Markstrom was visibly furious, breaking his stick over the net.
Markstrom’s meltdown garnered quite a bit of attention online, as did the entire play with the Canucks players falling down, getting caught in the offensive zone, and allowing the three-on-zero breakaway. Some people criticized Markstrom for getting upset, suggesting that the act was immature and that he showed up his teammates by doing so.
On Thursday, Ray Ferraro appeared on TSN Vancouver and shut down the notion that Markstrom was in the wrong for being angry.
TSN: What’s your read on Markstrom breaking his stick?Ferarro: He was angry.TSN: Was he showing up his teammates?Ferarro: Oh, bullcrap. Come on. It was a 3-on-0, he was pissed off so he smashed his stick into 100 pieces.TSN: All I said was that I thought some people might have read it that way.Ferarro: Here’s the thing guys. This is why the public never gets it. The guys don’t care. He didn’t show them up. What they saw is the goalie looked up and saw a 3-on-0 and he was pissed off and he smashed his stick into a hundered pieces. By the time he got back to the locker room, that was over, and the guys said ‘hey good game Marky, sorry we screwed up.’TSN: We had so many mesages in the inbox about being ‘a bad role model’ and ‘showing bad sportsmanship’ by breaking the stick over the post.Ferarro: Go play rec league. It’s his job. He’s pissed off. Sportsmanship? Oh, I can’t even say what I’m thinking right now.TSN: Like, what’s little Johnny going to do when he gives up a goal in Atom? Break his $300 goaie stick?Ferarro: Guess what? If he breaks his stick, his dad is going to say ‘if you do that again, then you don’t play.’ Take some responsibility if you’re a damn parent. Don’t be a puppet. Parent your own kid. Why do you need Jakob Markstrom to parent your kid? Are you clueless? God, that pisses me off. It really does. A bad role model? Pfft.
Ferarro hit the nail on the head here. Players are competitive, they get upset. If Markstrom had gone back to the bench and screamed at the players on the team before they went into the locker room, then sure, we can talk about him showing them up. But it was nothing more than a quick, emotional reaction after a hard-played game that was over in seconds. If your kids are breaking things because they saw a player on the Canucks break his stick, you have bigger problems.
Binnington on the Calder Trophy…
Before that game against St. Louis, the goalie on the other side also got himself into the news cycle. When asked about not winning the Calder Trophy last season, Jordan Binnington said that he had a bad taste in his mouth. He was then asked if he thought he should have won, in which he replied “yeah.”
Binnington certainly had himself an incredible year. When he was recalled, the Blues were in the basement of the league. He then posted a .927 save percentage and went 24-5-1, helping the Blues win their first-ever Stanley Cup. Still, Binnington only received 18 first-place votes, finishing well behind Elias Pettersson for rookie of the year.
There’s no doubt that Binnington’s play was incredible, but Pettersson was still the better rookie. Binnington played in only 32 games, which was a similar amount to the unexpected heater that Andrew Hammond went on with the Ottawa Senators a few years back. Pettersson also put up 66 points in 71 games as a 19-year-old, making him a better fit for rookie of the year than a player who has played professionally in the AHL for half a decade.
Binnington’s comments, at a glance, seem a little bit classless, but the line of questioning in this situation is more the issue. If you ask players about these sorts of things, what do you honestly expect them to say? He’s glad that he didn’t win an individual award?
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