from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

Bettman has plans to double the number of NHL outdoor games, one in the U.S. dedicated solely to NBC and therefore American-based teams, and one in Calgary next February that won’t involve the Maple Leafs but will, like the first Heritage Classic in Edmonton, include the Montreal Canadiens.

The NHL awards? Had those moved from Toronto to Las Vegas because the new fair-haired boy at NHL headquarters, John Collins, envisioned something bigger and glitzier — headlined by geezer Chaka Khan, no less — than the GTA, apparently, was capable of delivering.

All-star game? Minnesota’s Twin Cities next year. Entry draft? L.A. this June, then Raleigh.

Next fall, the league will play exhibition matches and regular-season games in Helsinki, Stockholm, Prague, Riga, Mannheim, Belfast and St. Petersburg.

Just none involving the Leafs. Can’t compensate MLSE, apparently, for the lost gate, and the league doesn’t view the Leafs as a worthy flagship franchise capable of selling the brand.

read on