a lot of people have mentioned how upsetting it must be for trennt and evelyn... i said " may the best pair win".
Nobody wrote however how this may harm Matte and Ferland, Camille and Drew and Deanna and Maxime . these 3 teams work with Connolly and Marcotte. 2 of these teams progressed a lot recently. Now, they will have to play second fiddle as obviously, the new pairing will get a lot of attention.
I think that's collateral damage that fans have not yet considered....
My personal point of view about this : mixed feelings... but I hope the new pairing will mentor, inspire and influence positively their teammates...
Honestly, the new pairing of James/Radford is exciting and will certainly shake things up both in Canada and internationally. As I said about the pairing of Savchenko/Massot (which had a lot of fits and starts in the beginning due to the country release issues), 'Let the Skaters Skate!'
This new pairing adds some intrigue and excitement, and that's always welcome, in my opinion. Frankly, Canadian senior pairs has not been very strong since Meagan/Eric's retirement, and with the problems of Seguin/Bilodeau, and then Lubov/Bilodeau, coupled with Dylan's injury which led to the break-up of Lubov/Dylan in the first place (although Dylan likely had not planned to continue past 2018 Olympics, had he made it there). Kirsten/Michael have been the beneficiaries of all of this change and break-ups, etc. But although K&M are a fun, competitive team, they legit have not broken through to the very top, and their international podium potential at Worlds and Olympics, while possible, is doubtful. As a team, K&M have to mostly be wary of the teams biting at their skate blades, while the teams ahead of them are much more difficult for them to beat. The recent Worlds results are obvious evidence of this reality. Additionally, Ruest/Wolfe, an exciting aesthetic team, have always been inconsistent technically.
Matte/Ferland are a nice team with competitive potential perhaps in the second tier internationally, the same as Walsh/Michaud. Both M/F and W/M while still developing teams, seemingly both have a plateau in terms of skills and abilities matching up to top level international teams. Cami/Drew, as I said, have been vastly inconsistent, along with being hampered by injury setbacks, despite their lovely lyrical aesthetic.
IMHO, Brooke McIntosh/Ben Mimar, if they continue building as expected, would more than likely eventually surpass Walsh/Michaud in overall skill, ability and top level international potential, eh. If Brasseur/Daleman can progress and add difficulty, they too seem to have more top level potential than W/M and certainly than Matte/Ferland and Ruest/Wolfe. I really like Maxime/Deanna, and I'm very eager to see how far they can go. But honestly, Deanna is still awaiting her release if I'm not mistaken, as well as Canadian citizenship, so she wouldn't have an opportunity to compete for making the 2022 Canadian Olympic team anyway.
Meanwhile, the new team of James/Radford apparently will be training with Maxime/Deanna, and Matte/Ferland, as I believe Ian Connelly works with all three teams. It's always a good thing to be training in the same rink with a pair that consists of a former multiple World & Canadian champion/ Olympic bronze medalist/Team gold medalist; and a former World medalist & 3-time Olympian with GPF and European championships to her name, eh!
I'm sure the potential and credentials of this new pairing has not escaped Skate Canada. Frankly, with their recent diversity sensitivity issues, this new pairing is surely also a very welcome prospect for Skate Canada who can claim how much they care about diversity in concrete terms. I recall some fans suggesting that Vanessa James might pair with Danny O'Shea (a random suggestion since it's not clear he's still seriously interested in competing). I never thought that was a viable suggestion. James/Radford makes much more sense and are much more intriguing and a much better match-up. Not to mention that Vanessa was born in Canada, so she has roots there (her mother is Canadian), and thus there's no citizenship issues to deal with. As well, Skate Canada has more boffo political clout than France and the U.S. combined, along with a strong pairs legacy.
One additional thing: When Virtue/Moir decided to return to competition, it had even more of a huge impact on Canada's ice dance division, which is very deep, while the current Canadian senior pairs division has a ton of room available for a veteran pairing made up of two former champions with huge talent. There certainly weren't a lot of Canadian fans complaining overly much about V/M 'harming' other teams when they came back. It simply is what it is. Competition is competition. No handouts. Every athlete has to weather the sturm und drang, and frankly put up or shut up.
P.S.
Haven't Kirsten/Michael also indicated that they plan to retire after the Olympics? As one Canadian fan previously suggested, maybe Kirsten might have better prospects post retirement with Trennt Michaud, who is an excellent pairs partner. Trennt & Evelyn are a nice, gutsy team, similar to the gutsy competitiveness displayed by Kirsten/Michael. The issue for both teams has been one partner trying to come up in experience and skill level to match the other with mixed results. As the stronger of their respective current pairings, Kirsten/Trennt could be a dynamic pairing with greater potential. However, I'm not certain that Kirsten wants to continue competing with a younger partner post-2022 Olympics. And of course, Trennt may not ever want to split with Evelyn, for short-term gain. Even though, as I said earlier, Walsh/Michaud most likely will be eventually surpassed by a stronger team in McIntosh/Mimar.
