It’s such a darn good idea, so let’s make it permanent.
When/if/how/why/where hockey of the National Hockey League variety returns to vacant/half-full/capacity arenas, it’s looking like a sure thing that the Canadian clubs will all be lumped into the same division.
Makes sense, obviously, from a logistical standpoint given the travel restrictions and realities.
It also makes sense, from the perspective of this writer, to make it a concrete move.
Maybe it’s being a little selfish, from a Canadian’s viewpoint?
Seeing the likes of Toronto battling Montreal on a consistent basis, or Toronto-Ottawa, or Alberta kin Calgary and Edmonton hooking horns or Vancouver-Winnipeg (which is turning into a decent rivalry), there wouldn’t be a dull moment on the schedule.
And once we get this trifling matter of a world-wide pandemic straightened away, we can draw US-based teams into the Canadian mix, but certainly with less frequency.
Imagine a day when it’s mid-week in February and you don’t have to struggle through eyeballing an Arizona-Ottawa yawner, or a Minnesota-Toronto matchup.
One Canadian (and Canadien) coach likes the idea, even if it’s just for one season.
"First of all, I'm not going to lie, I'm going to miss playing games in the States,” Montreal boss Claude Julien said to the NHL @TheRink podcast last week.
“There's good rivalries there as well. There is a part of it you lose, but at the same time, as you mentioned, growing up in Canada and being a Canadian, there is excitement there because it's different, it's short-term, could be just for a year if it happens."
"The thing that I'm looking at the most now, as a coach living in the present, is how competitive that would be because most of the teams, I would say, with very few exceptions, are all teams that feel they are competitive and feel they should be playoff teams," Julien added.
For those concerned about the outcome of all this – for the present – for the American organizations, word is they would be spread out between three divisions, aligned and designated through their geographical region.
But back to the original premise here, Canada competing divisionally against Canada for the long term.
Imagine the vitriol and hate built up on a nightly basis (and as mentioned here before, as Senator play-by-play pipes Dean Brown is fond of saying: Hate in hockey is a good thing).
Every point matters. The Leafs are two up on the Habs with a late March Saturday night game on the docket? Count me in, and I’m only a lonely Islanders’ fan (. . . for the time being, ahem).
Your Ottawa Senators are out of the final playoff rung by a single point and face the Jets on the final night of the season? (Oh yeah, and the Jets are the team ahead of them.) Count me in again.
Would the American teams buy in?
Why not. Casual fans populate the hockey landscape south of the border. Many don’t care if it’s Connor McDavid coming to town, the fact that it’s Edmonton makes ‘em cringe. Give me Vegas or one of the New York teams . . . now that’s enticement, they’d say.
The league is led by a United States citizen as well, in case you hadn’t noticed, and Gary Bettman would appear at first glance to be anything but pro-Canadian (anyone remember the grand reluctance when Winnipeg grabbed hold of that flagging franchise in Atlanta. ‘Well, we’ll see if that fan base will actually buy a sufficient amount of tickets’ was the hue and cry. Oh, and don’t get me going on the whole Quebec City fly-by).
But I digress.
But (again) since we have no definitive date on when/if/how/why/where hockey of the National Hockey League variety returns, we can dream a little.
There’s mine.
Oh Canada, baby!
Photo: Courtesy Sportsnet.ca