from Jack Todd at the Montreal Gazette,
The Stanley Cup drought has reached 30 years in the True North Strong and Free, with no end in sight. The Maple Leafs inevitably wilt in the heat of the playoffs, their young, expensive and talented core disinclined to battle the way you have to battle come playoff time.
The Oilers have the two best players in the game but without vintage 2015 Carey Price goaltending, they can’t get over the hump.
The rest, at this point, are wannabes — the Canadiens included. The Canucks have a mess at the top, the Flames will regret the Matthew Tkachuk trade and the departure of Johnny Gaudreau forever, the Jets have a sick dressing-room culture, the Senators can’t quite seem to get there and the Canadiens may have a shot in three or four years, but they’re in rebuilding mode 30 years after they won Canada’s last Stanley Cup.
As of this writing, we’re left with three Sun Belt teams (two of them transplanted from the north years ago) and two expansion teams — one of them the Seattle Kraken, a team that has yet to celebrate its second birthday.
This is Bettman’s vision. The only thing that could possibly make him happier would be to see his beloved Arizona Coyotes play a Cup final in front of 5,000 people at Mullett Arena on the Arizona State campus.
Its time for the league to give up on this experiment. Hockey in the North just doesnt work. 30 years of futility, I appreciate that Bettman, and the league have given this more than a fair shot, but its time to call it. Look at the teams left standing, if their northern brethren would just play hockey the traditional way, like these teams do, then things might work out different.
Edmonton and Toronto are similar. They both can score goals, but cannot defend.
Jack Todd seems like a real buzzkill.
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