A few musings as the NHL lifts off into Round 2 . . .
“The NHL and NBA draft lotteries are rigged. Tell me I am wrong.”
“You’re wrong . . . It’s just sheer dumb luck.”
Let the games begin.
Actually, they already started around 7:31 pm ET Tuesday night.
In case you missed it (and we know, you did not), the Toronto Maple Leafs rose from the weeds and ashes of an absolutely terrible season on the ice to score a grand slam off of it by winning the NHL’s annual draft lottery.
Reaction was to be expected; negative reaction from the mammoth amounts of empty-headed nerd-lingers patrolling social media who (as seen above) suggest the lottery was rigged.
Ask yourself this, conspiracy kings and queens, if Gary Bettman and crew were to choose a location badly in need of ‘growing the game’ and ‘gaining focus, ticket and jersey sales,’ it sure as shite wouldn’t be Toronto. The Leafs are the league-leaders in profitability, year after year.
Wouldn’t the ‘fix-be-in’ logicians be more apt to target spots like New Jersey, Anaheim or Utah?
Capturing audience (and big bucks) with the addition of a No. 1 pick is more logical for the league with one of its lower-tiered operations. (It’s all about money, folks).
‘Giving’ the lauded No. 1 to Toronto is not a rational economic move . . . it’s akin to adding more water to an already full pot.
‘Rig-onomics’ makes no sense.
The Minnesota Wild are tremendously talented, from top to bottom.
Great and deep blueline, ace netminding (usually) and stars and grit galore up front.
Unfortunately for Minny, it’s getting a look at Colorado in Round 2. The Avs are quickly proving that while there are other teams capable of playing at an exceedingly elevated level, Colorado plays in a different stratosphere.
With Tuesday night’s 5-2 blast of the Wild, the Avalanche have won their first six games of these 2025-26 playoffs. Also consider, combine those five series opening goals with the nine collected in a 9-6 sandblasting in Game 1 and Colorado’s 14 total are the most put up in the first two games of a set since Calgary bagged 15 against LA in 1988.
Keep in mind to boot that the game in the 1980s was considerably wider open; a feast for offences.
Minnesota finished tied for fourth in goals-against league-wide this past season (with Carolina). An excellent defensive team that is getting absolutely dismantled by Nathan MacKinnon and crew.
If the Wild represent the next-best of the circuit’s Western Conference, and I’d argue that they do, with no discredit to a decent Vegas troop, mail in the Stanley Cup to Denver pronto.
Maybe Minnesota rallies back home but asking that team – or any team for that matter – to win the next four-of-five games against Colorado is an impossible ask and task.
Carolina is the critic’s choice for best in the East right now and while the Canes are a nicely tuned group of guys, the club would look like the combined army of the living attempting to fend off the army of the dead in Season 8 of Game of Thrones (exaggeration is king here!).
Outside of the Battle of Ontario of the early 2000s, Quebec-Montreal and any sort of Edmonton-Calgary clash from the 1980s, the one many hockey fans are clutching their purses to begins Wednesday night.
At season’s start, who believed the vaunted Montreal Canadiens organization facing off against beleaguered Buffalo would draw such high levels of anticipation?
Well, it does and it will.
And it’s a welcome addition to Round 2.
“We’re ready,” offered up Habs head coach Martin St. Louis earlier this week.
He and they’d better be.
Buffalo fans have been waiting 14 long and painful years to get here, and there isn’t a louder rink in the league than KeyBank Center . . . unless you’re throwing the opposing Bell Centre into the discussion.
In a nutshell – this series is going from madhouse to madhouse.
Perfect.
“Getting traded here, you could feel the negative energy from fans and outside sources of how the season was going to go,” said Josh Doan, traded from Utah to Buffalo in the off-season.
“There wasn’t a lot of confidence because the team hadn’t produced in a long time, and then the first couple of games obviously didn’t go the way they wanted, and you could feel that weight even more.
“Even throughout the year, when we were winning, there was even some hesitation of ‘How good are they actually?’ But since we won a playoff round, you could feel that weight come off the shoulders, and now we’re playing free and having fun.”
No kidding.
These are two of the absolute best ‘fun’ teams to watch. Both play with pace and talent, but as relatively new-to-the-dance partners, both are prone to mistakes.
And that makes for high entertainment.
“I think someone said river hockey is the style we play,” said the Sabres Sam Carrick.
Bring it on.
And here’s hoping this one goes the full seven games.
thegrossgame@yahoo.com
Image: Courtesy Toronto Star
