Even with the distribution challenges Versus faces, the best news for the NHL is that it still has a great game and can draw talent from around the world to play in its league. Countries in the northern hemisphere will continue to churn out great hockey players and the infrastructure for high school and collegiate teams is still growing in America, even in the south after the success of the Carolina Hurricanes. Older than both the NFL and the NBA, hockey isn’t going to disappear without a fight. ~Michael Brendan Dougherty

It takes a bold man to write an article on the fortunes of professional hockey.  Fortunately, we have just such a courageous and intrepid fellow in Michael.  He gives the NHL fair treatment, probably more than it deserves, and takes us on a nostalgic trip to the salad days of hockey when the Canadiens were still respectable, there were teams called Whalers, Nordiques and Jets and there was no hockey in the bizarre setting of Arizona.