It’s my Parting Shot for some Weekend Short Shots…..

As much as T-S-N hockey insider and writer for The Athletic sports newspaper Pierre LeBrun appears to be arrogant and stuck up when not speaking on camera, I am in full agreement of some things he would do if he were N-H-L Commissioner. One – Stanley Cup awarded by May 31. The amount of time between games in the playoffs is ridiculous, but it’s man-dated by the Players Association that teams play no more than three games in a week! Two – shorten camp and pre-season, drop puck on regular season around September 15. Great, that way the N-H-L starts before Major Junior, whose teams get their star N-H-L draft picks before the regular-season starts! Three – no more all star games ever. An absolute waste of time! Four – move draft earlier in June as a result of season ending earlier. Five – move opening of free agency to within 48 hours of draft ending in June. The last two would allow for the N-H-L and the sport of hockey to breathe a bit! As it is, the off-season is barely six weeks long!!

For those of you who are down in the dumps about the Edmonton Oilers losing in the Stanley Cup final to Florida for a second straight year – and upset with me because I’m thrilled to pieces by the result and feel I’m unpatriotic for not wanting a Canadian-based team to win the Stanley Cup – that’s not entirely true! I do want a Canadian team to win the N-H-L title, and soon. In order, those Canadian teams that I would want, or be okay, with coming through are the Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames. I will always cheer against the teams I despise – in order, the Montreal Canadiens, the Oilers and Ottawa Senators!!

I wonder how Ka’Deem Carey feels about being left off the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ playing roster for tonight’s game in Toronto against the team that Carey rushed for over one thousand yards for last year and helped win a Grey Cup?! Actually, at age 32, I think Carey won’t be as upset and is more understanding of the Green and White’s Canadian-American ratio situation, than if he was a younger, less experienced American running back!

That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!