As we all know by now, the NHL, to its detriment, has an obsession with fairness and parity that often comes at the cost of fun. The league’s overtime loser point prevents many in season comebacks (the 2018-19 St. Louis Blues notwithstanding), officials’ make up call penchant prevents dominant power plays from truly punishing undisciplined teams far too often, and the failure-first entry draft forces generational talents like Connor McDavid to slave away in the roster wasteland in the middle of an actual, geographic wasteland that is the Edmonton Oilers.
This year’s NHL schedule maker clearly has no such compunction.