from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

The legendary Bob Cole hates predictions. When we’d work together, I’d say, “Going to be a great game tonight,” and he’d reply, “How do you know? You have no idea!” It wasn’t a joke, either. Seriously annoyed him.

He learned that from Toe Blake. They were sitting next to each other at a game when the Hall-of-Famer saw something on the out-of-town scoreboard and asked Bob if it was a final result.

Bob said, “I think so.”

The next thing he heard was a loud smack as Blake’s hand slammed the counter.

“Don’t tell me what you think,” he snarled. “Tell me what you know!”

It’s a great story. And with apologies to both Toe Blake and Bob Cole, I’m excited for this season. I think it’s going to be an incredibly entertaining year. I’m actually not crazy about predictions either, but if you’re going to be forced to do them (Sportsnet basically tortures us to do so), you’ve got to find a fun way.

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