from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- Evander Kane called his new team, the Edmonton Oilers, Stanley Cup contenders. He did it with a straight face. And they might be that. But last I checked, heading into Saturday night, the Oilers were 11th in the Western Conference. Don’t you have to make the playoffs before you can contend for a Cup?

- It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Leafs and Panthers will meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Leafs haven’t won a playoff round since 2004. The Panthers haven’t won a playoff round since 1996, their third season of existence.

- Places better to house the Arizona Coyotes than a local college campus: Quebec City, Houston, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Toronto, Hartford.

- Ralph Mellanby loved to tell the story — long after the fact, of course.

One of the most iconic sporting moments on television didn’t happen after the famous Olympic game in which Team USA knocked off the Russians, in what is now known as the Miracle On Ice game. The star goalie, Jim Craig, waved to his father in the stands. His father, proudly waved back. It was a tug of the heart moment — the kind that is shown every time the Miracle game is referenced.

The shot was real. The timing wasn’t.

Mellanby, producing the game, understood the emotion of the moment, had a sense like few others to make great television, and made great dramatic television that crazy day in Lake Placid and years later admitted what happened. The shot of the Craigs had been taken in an earlier game. Mellanby had the sense to place it perfectly where it was needed....

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