The Estevan Bruins are in fifth place in the Sherwood Conference, holding the final playoff spot, and two points out of last place.
Sometimes teams in that position trade away some of their older players at the trade deadline in an attempt to make themselves stronger in the future.
But all signs point to the team being buyers.
With the team making a profit of about $200,000 last year, the executive has given head coach and general manager Keith Cassidy unlimited resources to improve the team via trade.
This team can afford to buy a star player, a luxury not all teams have, and the message from the executive has been to use the team's off-ice success to improve the on-ice product as much as possible.
Cassidy has given mixed messages leading up to Thursday's SJHL deadline, but the underlying feeling seems to be that the Bruins will, at the very least, add a pair of forwards to make up for the long-term loss of Wyatt Garagan and the uncertainty regarding whether Calder Neufeld (high ankle sprain) will return at all this season.
Further to that, the Bruins will be looking for at least one potent top six forward. Cassidy has been attempting, unsuccessfully, to bolster an underachieving offence all season, although the latest option, Alex Cote, certainly shows some talent.
Cassidy also said the Bruins will try to add an impact defenceman if one is available.
Still, an onlooker will take stock of all this and perhaps ask why the team isn't selling.
A fifth-place team that has been in that spot all year and has lost four straight games at a point in the season where the most important game is always the next one. A team that hasn't remotely looked like a club that can make some noise in the playoffs. A team with seven 20-year-olds (although you might not know it by their performance this season) whose 1995-born list could use a boost.
It makes sense on the surface, to see whether a conditional deal involving Neufeld could net a list player, or what kind of value players like Cole Olson, Tyler Paslawski, Connor Milligan and Curtis Martinu have (although concerns about the health of Steven Glass's knee have arisen again lately).
But you can understand why it won't happen.
Every junior hockey team goes through cycles, except, apparently, the Humboldt Broncos. In the Bruins' recent history, when it's time for the "high" part of the cycle, they fall flat. This isn't the first time this has happened in a season they were expected to do well, and fans are fed up. They, for the most part, don't want to see the B's throw in the towel. They want them to do everything in their power to change the situation they find themselves in.
One thing's for sure, nothing will change unless the Bruins bring in some leadership at the deadline. That's missing in spades right now.
Ex-Bruin Matthew Dochylo was in town for a visit on the weekend, and the team only wishes he could play. Dochylo would fill so many voids: leadership, heart, desire, toughness, grit, did I mention leadership?
This year, the Bruins do not have a Matthew Dochylo. That, more than anything, is the problem.
***
I can't begrudge anyone from being excited that the NHL is back. I can't blame people for immediately rushing back to buy tickets, jerseys, hoodies or Center Ice subscriptions.
All I can say is have fun during the 2020-21 lockout.
In 1994, baseball players walked off the field and the World Series was shelved for the first time ever.
And baseball fans sent a message.
Attendance was way down, revenue was down and Major League Baseball took three or four years to recover.
MLB got the message. Not one missed game since 1995 for a league that used to be notorious for labour strife.
The NHL lies to us, condescends to us, paints Donald Fehr as Satan and drives the agenda for the most unnecessary lockout in the history of pro sports - oh, and did I mention it was the third time they've done it in 18 years? - and we come back like nothing happened.
All those people who said they weren't coming back? They're first in line.
The league takes its fans for granted because it can. After the last lockout - the only full season cancelled ever among the Big 4 sports leagues, by the way - fans came flooding back and the league realized record revenues for the next seven years before locking out the players again because the "system didn't work" (translation: our owners can't control themselves, so you have to pay for it).
Look, I'm not asking for people to leave the game and never come back. I'm asking the people who were "mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore" or simply stopped caring during the lockout to stop giving the league their money.
I'm asking for one statement. Arenas half-empty on opening night, and not just in Phoenix. Can't we even manage that?
Lockouts are the NHL's method of choice in negotiating new collective bargaining agreements because there are no consequences.
They failed, and in accepting their failure, we did too.
Josh Lewis can be reached by phone at 634-2654, by e-mail at [email protected], on Twitter at twitter.com/joshlewis306 or on his Bruins blog at estevanmercury.ca/bruinsbanter. Sooo go Irish?
