from Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail,

There are a lot of less-than-fun ways to express the east-west divide in this country. One useful way to do it is the Edmonton Oilers versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Leafs are new money, and as such, totally self-absorbed. It’s not really their fault – it’s the city’s. The last time the Leafs were good, Toronto was Rochester with free hospitals. Now it wants to think it’s in the same league as Paris. Anything that isn’t happening here isn’t happening. Which is why everyone acts like hockey stops as soon as the Leafs head out on their annual May vacation.

But when things go right just once, Toronto switches shamelessly from pretend apathy to pretend confidence. Hence, switching locally from Worst Franchise in Sport™ to talking like Stanley Cup favourites within the space of 24 hours.

The Oilers carry themselves like old money. There are still people in that organization who were there the last time Edmonton ran hockey. Their modern failures are harder to laugh off. Especially after you’ve lucked into another generational player.

At their lowest, the Oilers give off the feel of bankrupt aristocrats: We used to consort with Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky and that whole crowd, and now this.

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