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Jason Demers fiasco: a real farce… from start to finish

North American Hockey League (NAHL) General Manager Jessy Girard chose the perfect words to comment on the Jason Demers issue earlier today on BPM Sports’ Max Lalonde show.

It’s a bit of a crazy situation. – Jessy Girard

Wow. That’s the word.

For those not in the know, the Pétroliers de Laval thought they’d made a big splash by signing former NHL defenseman Jason Demers… But it wasn’t Demers.

Our colleague Charles-Alexis Brisebois discussed the matter inone of our articles this morning.

Now, more details have been revealed about the whole fiasco.

Jessy Girard claims that the Laval organization had “several conversations” with the man they thought was Demers… And these conversations were conducted over the phone, which meant that the Pétroliers were never able to confirm that it was indeed Jason.

That’s a bit suspicious, considering that contract negotiations are usually conducted through the player’s agent…

The league’s GM confided that there are legal proceedings underway to shed light on the matter… And Jessy Girard also confided that there will be changes made for future contract negotiations.

In the end, the important thing is to validate the player’s identity so that the scenario doesn’t repeat itself… Which should have been the case in the first place.

Because in this case, it’s the league’s overall image that suffers. It’s a bit of a haymaker:

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According to our sources, it was someone in-house who sabotaged the deal. This really complicates things, and you have to wonder what’s going to happen with the person who started this whole fiasco.

Wow.

Obviously, Jessy Girard’s goal is to attract the best possible players (old and young alike) to improve the league’s image and quality. That’s why he was happy and contacted the Petroliers to congratulate them on “the good move” in the first place… Even though we now know that’s not true at all.

The Pétroliers de Laval hadn’t told anyone about “Jason Demers” and they wanted to keep it a secret until the announcement in order to make a good marketing stunt… But it’s taken on huge proportions in the last 24 hours.

It’s a good lesson for the six clubs that play in the NAHL, though. It doesn’t happen every day, but what’s important is that the league and the managers of the various NAHL teams are able to be a little more cautious when it comes to putting a player under contract.

Because in the end… We realize that this is really a (bad) joke from beginning to end because it doesn’t look too serious.

What an incredible story!

In short

– Treat yourself :

– Good point.

– Jordan Oesterle is up for grabs with the Flames.

– Bromance.

– Juraj Slfakovsky has the support of his teammates when it comes to asking for advice.

– Perfect. Players’ health must be a priority.