from Mike Imrem of the Chicago Daily-Herald,

The league always is looking for a way to make January and February relevant, a series of outdoor games being the latest concoction.

Here’s the solution: Bah-bah, Olympics, bye-bye.

Then set aside six weeks in the dead of winter and make the break more useful by annually or every couple of years playing an Olympic-style tournament in cities around North America.

The first week would be to gather players for practice. The final week would give them an opportunity to unwind.

The middle four weeks would feature a compelling international tournament at home.

Players who want to represent their native lands — though not enough to enlist in the military, by the way — still would be able to wave their flags.

Fans in places like Chicago who are addicted to attending hockey games would get rivalries like U.S.-Canada instead of Blackhawks-Blues.

NHL owners would lose revenue from maybe a dozen fewer regular-season games but get it back in more lucrative TV contracts and bloated ticket prices for the tournament.

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