from Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star,

It’s a copycat league, they say. Big team wins, teams get bigger. Trapping teams win, teams keep trapping.

Win with Wayne Gretzky and a cast of Hall of Famers . . . well, fine. Some things can’t be duplicated.

But as the 2015 Stanley Cup final begins this week, it is a hopeful sight. The Chicago Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lightning are built along similar lines, though they are at different points of their evolution. They aren’t big, aren’t bruisers, aren’t defined by the grind. They are both elite puck-possession teams — Chicago was second in shot attempts percentage, or Corsi, at 5-on-5 this season, Tampa fifth — but not with Kings-like muscle. Their core is fast, skilled, dangerous, bold. They’re invested, for the most part, in the better angels of the game. They’re fun.

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