Max's Mewsings

Had a last minute deal been reached before the cancellation on Wednesday, the league would have seen a 28-game "regular season" in which each team would play each other team in their Conference twice followed by the usual eight-or-so weeks of playoffs. Presumably if a deal is reached now, the same plan would be implemented. So essentially what we are looking at is four month season (half of which would be the playoffs) in which the only chance of fans in half of the NHL cities of seeing the defending Stanley Cup Champions is if their team makes it to the Cup final this year.

Don't get me wrong, it would be an intense season. Every game would count; every winning streak would be a boon; every losing streak would be a catastrophe. Still, a quarter-length season that is roughly the same length as the playoffs doesn't seem worth it. The Oilers will never meet the Senators, and Habs fans in Vancouver won't get to see their Canadiens in action against the Canucks.

It seems to me (and I know this is blasphemous) the NHL and its players would be better to acknowledge they've squandered this season and replace it with a Stanley Cup Tournament. In my world, here's how that would look:

• A 16 game divisional round-robin tournament in which each team plays each other team in their division four times. Two teams from each division advance.


• The three third place teams in each Conference from the divisional round-robin play a four-game round-robin with the two top teams advancing.


• From there on, the playoffs would look as they do now, with successive best-of-seven series until the Stanley Cup is awarded.

Having said that, I am still not confident there will be any NHL hockey this year. While the meeting is a positive sign, I think both sides may be thinking ahead to next season and the damage they need to repair. After all, you cannot put the cancellation genie back in the bottle - the damage to the league and its players has been done. An Ipsos-Reid Poll shows most Canadian don't even care the season has been canceled.

The league and the players know they need a contract in order to start building back the trust and attention of fans. I suspect they are thinking long term - and that's the right approach.