It’s becoming increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction, especially when it comes to rumours regarding the Montreal Canadiens. One of such rumours was discussed at length last Thursday, as a Slovak website published an article suggesting Habs prospect Filip Mesar had openly revolted against the team by refusing to present himself to the development camp.
In addition, the website claimed he had admonished his teammates in the OHL, that he was no longer considered a top prospect, and that the Winnipeg Jets had refused a trade offer from the Canadiens for disgruntled prospect Rutger McGroaty that included Mesar, a first-round pick, and either Jordan Harris or Justin Barron.
Before we get into how this rumour came to be, we have to discuss a few truths about the language barriers when it comes to sports media in Quebec. An article that is written in French does not always make the rounds in English circles, and vice versa. Some legitimate information can slip through the cracks and eventually surface a few weeks later in a different language, appearing as if it were new.
In this case, the rumour about Mesar’s apparent turn to the dark side was given life once it was translated into Slovak and posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) with an English caption. In the article, the ‘author’ suggests the news has come from ‘overseas’. That gives them enough manoeuvrability to pretend it’s a legitimate source while also removing any responsibility when it comes to proving its merit.
A few issues immediately stand out in the ‘report’. First off, the ‘author’, who is in Europe, states the rumours came from overseas, which in this case means North America. This connotes the information would have had to come from Montreal or Winnipeg, however, the Canadiens are known as an organization that does not leak. If this information about the trade offer was true, it would have had to originate from Winnipeg and make its way to Bratislava before anyone in Montreal got wind of it. With all due respect to every other hockey market, if there’s an iota of truth or a kernel of new Habs-related information available anywhere in Canada or the United States, the media, as well as the millions of fans that eat, sleep, and breath all things Canadiens would be discussing it well before it had time to be translated and published on a European website.
How False Canadiens Rumours Take Off
The ‘report’ immediately set off red flags. It contained no sources and essentially attempted to paint Mesar as a bad egg due to his unwillingness to report to the development camp. We’re not here to suggest Mesar has never had an issue with any of the directives given by Canadiens management, but there’s a significant difference between wanting to play in the AHL and openly revolting against your general manager. And then there was the trade proposal, which was, frankly, ridiculous. To make things even more interesting, the report went as far as saying the Jets refused the trade offer, which was quite generous.
We have to remember, the goal is to generate outrage, discussion, and even mean-spirited replies. That’s how these rumour websites work. They thirst for engagement, and for those with a lack of scruples, the ends justify the means.
It turns out the Slovak translation was lifted from a local junk site that consistently creates false Canadiens rumours and never bothers to offer any evidence as to their veracity. I won’t bother linking the website, as they would consider that a victory, but suffice to say they’re well known in Habs circles as an outlet that should be ignored. And that’s where the language barrier comes into play, as French (and many English) Habs fans knew they should pay no attention to the original source. But the website that translated the false rumours was not aware of any such issues, as this was local knowledge.
To recap, an untrustworthy website based in Canada created the rumours in French, which were largely ignored, until a European website with a clear lack of quality control proceeded to translate the ‘article’ into Slovak, which led to it gaining attention on X (formerly known as Twitter) (in English), and thus breathing life into some sort of ungodly false-rumour turducken.
Digging Even Deeper
There’s a fitting quote for this type of situation.
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes,” – Winston Churchill. Or perhaps it was the famous author Mark Twain who originally came up with the saying. Some suggest it was a quote from Fisher Ames. And others have stated it is a Thomas Jefferson creation, while debating a dozen other possible sources for the poignant citation.
See where we’re going with this?
Historians actually believe the first time the saying was used was way back in ancient Rome, in Latin, by the poet Publius Vergilius Maro. “Fama, malum qua non aliud velocius ullum,”, which roughly translates to ‘Rumour, than whom no other evil thing is faster.” This means our attribution to Churchill (or Twain, or Ames, or Jefferson, or…) is off by roughly two thousand years. At some point in history, you can be certain Virgil’s citation was ‘borrowed’ and attributed to another source, especially if said source managed to cross the language barrier. Hell, there’s even a decent chance that Virgil wasn’t the first to state it, as he too could have been inspired by someone else.
And that brings us to the language barrier we face today. At times, Habs-related information will be published in French media and be in circulation for weeks before it makes its way to an English outlet. But whether the information comes from a French, English, or event Slovak website is not the crux of the issue. However, the thin veil of assumed legitimacy that comes with reading an article in a foreign language does grant these type of false rumours a launching pad on which to gain traction around the internet.
Montreal Canadiens Brass Tacks
To get to the bottom of the Mesar situation we contacted sports journalist Tomáš Prokop, as he has a strong handle on all things related to Slovak sport. He wrote an article dismissing the allegations on the Slovak sports website called Denník Šport. In it, Prokop uses actual quotes from Mesar, which shed some light on how he’s feeling at the moment.
First off, we have to point out that contrary to the blatant lie, Mesar did not openly revolt against the idea of coming to Canada for a development camp, but rather, was told he did not have to attend. That being said, he will be in Canada relatively shortly.
Mesar also pointed out the odd nature of the rumour, as he’s well aware how hockey-obsessed we are in Canada, especially when it comes to Habs prospects. But the most interesting quote touched upon the one part of the original rumour that held slight truth impurity. No, Mesar did not openly denigrate his teammates in the OHL, but he did acknowledge that playing in the Canadian Hockey League, with teenagers, was a little more difficult than playing with adults in a professional hockey league, as he did for two season before arriving in Kitchener. It makes sense that Mesar wanted to play in the AHL last year, and it’s understandable that a certain level of frustration would arise when going from a professional league to junior hockey. You could suggest that perhaps he should have never mentioned the difference between both leagues, but that’s a rather cynical approach when we consider players like Mesar speak to Canadian and Slovak media regularly, and the question about the quality of his teammates was posed on several occasions.
The 2024-25 training camp will be a very important stage in Mesar’s career. There’s some merit to the idea that he will have to impress if he’s to maintain his position among the team’s many talented prospects. If we’re being perfectly honest as to his results, Mesar’s two seasons in Kitchener were good, but not great. Fortunately, there’s no civil war between Mesar and the Canadiens, and the idea that a legitimate trade proposal can make its way to Slovakia by way of Winnipeg without a layover in Montreal is the epitome of a far-fetched theory.
