Monday's FTB: On the bright side, there is no Leafs game tonight

Happy Monday.

I am so tired of the Leafs, the Leafs discourse, the list of injured Leafs, the probabilities, the percentages the whole damn thing.

Can we not agree that the Leafs are bad and should feel bad? Because they are.

We don't know right now how Jake McCabe is after taking a puck in the face. Otherwise, maybe Auston Matthews and Matt Knies might be ready for the next game. That game is Wednesday, so who cares. That's days from now.

In other news, the Blues terminated the contract of Alex Texier – this was an obviously mutual arrangement – and then the Habs signed him for $1 million. Wait 'til they find out he speaks that other French. Boy, will they be mad.

Texier had one interesting year that got him a stats darling rep at a time when Columbus had Oliver Bjorkstand and Alex Wennberg as well. they had good defensive results and people bought in. Bjorkstrand seems like the real deal, and Texier has been a fourth liner or worse ever since. It's not like the Habs deeply overpaid. He's a good shooter, and that's what they need, so whatever.

In similar news, the Sabres have waived Alexandar Georgiev for the purposes of contract termination, and he's got a gig waiting in the KHL. He was also good once, and hasn't been since.

It's an epidemic of contract terminations.

Okay, so if I have this right, Mikko Rantanen creamed this guy:

Islanders’ Romanov to have shoulder surgery; to miss 5-to-6 months

New York Islanders defenceman Alexander Romanov requires shoulder surgery and is expected to miss 5-to-6 months, the team announced on Sunday.

TSNThe Associated Press

Got no supplementary discipline, but his former coach (did Patrick Roy ever actually coach him or just leave him in the AHL – you look it up) flipped out big time, and then when he trucked a guy in his next game, he got a one-game suspension that was automatic, no Player Safety [sic] involvement:

Stars F Rantanen suspended one game after second game-misconduct penalty of the season

Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen has been automatically suspended one game by the NHL’s department of player safety on Sunday for violating NHL rule 23.6 (Physical Infractions).

TSNTSN.ca Staff

Are the Stars maybe having issues? Is that what this is? Are they all emo too?

Is hockey boring this season? Change a meaningless rule:

Sunday Overreactions: Stagnant 3-on-3 OT must be changed

Does the 3-on-3 overtime format need a refresh? Are the Jets in trouble without Connor Hellebuyck? Michael Amato gives his take on both questions and more in the Sunday Overreactions.

Sportsnet.caMichael Amato

Speaking of boring, someone said something about "Gary's" parity yesterday, so I'm going to stop looking for news about other teams and talk about this.

First, yes Gary Bettman likes the idea of more parity in the NHL. So do a lot of other people in the NHL. He doesn't like tanking because trying to be bad makes for bad hockey. If you can remember all the way back to 2015, you likely remember this. I did not watch all the games of the 2015-2016 season, so I don't believe you did either.

Parity also makes teams that have smaller markets more interesting as investment opportunities and to potential fans.

And yes, you hate it, because anything the NHL does is bad, and Gary is out to get the Leafs by stopping them from buying a Cup. No one considers how the Rangers feel about this, though.

The more money the NHL makes, the higher the cap, the better off wealthy teams are. The more money the NHL makes, the more elite athletes choose hockey. The more money the NHL makes the more stable the teams are, and the more likely they are to not need relocation. All of which helps them to make more money. The more money the NHL makes, the more people love the game, which is what it's all about.

This is all good stuff.

Now as for this buying a cup, and why back in 19-aught-eight, the Toronto team could just truck every opponent, and yadda, yadda, non-traditional markets are bad, etc. This is a sad thing to wish for. You want Toronto to win. So do I! But I want them to have to walk through fire to do it. We live in a world where cheating is becoming the norm, where fake is easier than the truth, where you never play the game without the mod or the cheat code that makes it easy so you don't need to try too hard.

That is not good stuff.

Now, having said all that, I don't think what we're seeing in the NHL this year is just the result of the NHL deciding maybe tanking teams that can't sell tickets are a bad thing. I think it's a confluence of causes, and one of them is the unforeseen impact of a rapidly rising cap – no one is trading players, they just resign them. I saw this described as cowardly GMs who only like their own players. Which is... an interesting way to look at it. I think the Avs should have just paid the man in Mikko Rantanen, but they seem to be doing okay without him. Not every team who lost a player can make that claim, however. But roster churn is not in and of itself a good thing, and teams playing short rosters to fit under a tight cap was also bad in many ways.

I think some of the current league situation is the Leafs fault. And the Oilers too. That because both teams have not won the Cup with their first-overall picks that they got by being bad, this obviously is a bad method. The NHL is very much a "no sample is too small to imitate" league. Don't ask how long Florida was terrible or what the Avs were like in 2015.

No matter who you blame for the Leafs not being the one and only good team guaranteed to win, the situation is what it is, and how the team now handles this reality is what matters. And is, frankly, the only interesting thing about them right now. Show us who you are, guys.

So I guess we might find out today how Jake McCabe is. I sure hope he's okay because the alternative is a little concerning. But enough of that.

Happy Monday, try not to even think about the colour blue, far less leaves of any kind.