from Frank Seravalli of TSN,

If only, Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice mused, the NHL could have it all – an all-Canadian North Division and fans in the stands.

What a bubbling cauldron that would create: endless one-anthem nights to feed frenzied fan bases with rivalries that feel like more than just key divisional points are on the line.

"The idea is wholly selfish … We have our own little tiny league here,” Maurice said Monday, before Winnipeg visited Toronto. “We’re not crossing the border, not going all over the place.

“It would be fantastic.”

Alas, Maurice will be hard-pressed to get his wish. A permanent all-Canadian division is not feasible – not over an 82-game campaign. The rest of the hockey world (and paying rights holders) in the United States should get variety and the opportunity to see Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, just as much as Canada should be able to have Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon come home to play.

But the NHL may be on to something with the wildly popular North Division.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun on Monday that the league has agreed to explore the results gathered from this season’s baseball-style schedule with multiple games played against the same opponent on single trips.

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