from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

It’s not easy to sum up an NHL season.

Unless, of course, all that matters is the identity of the Stanley Cup champion, which would mean the 2015-16 season was, primarily, about the Pittsburgh Penguins and the very different two halves of their journey to a championship.

That logic would certainly resonate in Pennsylvania — well, outside of Philadelphia, anyway — but not nearly as much in the rest of the league. A season is many things to many people, to many towns, to many teams, and these days, it’s a little difficult to define exactly where one season ends and the next begins.

For example, did “last” season start with Connor McDavid being drafted first overall by the Edmonton Oilers and end with Phil Kessel finding redemption by lifting the Cup in San Jose?

Or did it begin with opening night wins by the Habs, Rangers, Sharks and Canucks, and end with P.K. Subban traded to Tennessee and Milan Lucic signing a $42 million (U.S.) contract to join McDavid in Alberta?

For the Maple Leafs, of course, one of the most important sequences in team history began on July 1, 2015, when Kessel was traded to Pittsburgh for a draft picks and cap space, and concluded with a 30th-place Toronto squad drafting Scottsdale, Ariz., product Auston Matthews first overall in Buffalo last month, arguably the most important draft pick for the franchise since Darryl Sittler (eighth overall in 1970) or Wendel Clark (first overall in 1985), depending on your vintage and point of view.

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