While Paul and I were hiding from World Cup Tweets (Paul isn't a soccer fan, and I'm...Not thrilled with FIFA being FIFA), Sportsnet's John Shannon posited an intriguing tidbit, as noted by Pro Hockey Talk's Mike Halford:

Shannon also revealed that the 2014-2015 season schedule is coming out on Sunday, June 22nd, so I'm guessing that he's seen it.

I wonder whether the "Stadium Series" has been nixed for a year and we'll simply see a Winter Classic and a Canadian-team-participating Heritage Classic, or a Winter Classic and a warm weather-venue game, due to the All-Star Game's presence in late January.

Halford notes that Gary Bettman offered the following comment to the media (during his state-of-the-game presser at the Stanley Cup Final) regarding the NHL's outdoor saturation:

“This year we used those games in a variety of ways. Part of it was promoting us going into the Olympics, part of it was promoting it coming out. And doing it in New York [around the Super Bowl] with two games…we had to do lots of stuff,” Bettman explained. “Our people did an extraordinary job, but we really taxed things to the limit. But also, interestingly enough, the Olympic break let us set up for more games. So, it’ll be more than one and less than six next season.”