MONDAY COMMENTARY – LET IT GO

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98, Rock 98.5 FM & LTD Radio)

And the drought continues.

The Edmonton Oilers represented Canada’s best, and last, hope to end our country’s Stanley Cup drought which stretches back to 1993. But that went up in smoke Sunday night with the Oilers’ 5-2 home loss to Vegas in Game 6 and now the Golden Knights are moving onto Round 3.

They await the winner of Dallas/Seattle in the Western Conference Final, and those two are going to a Game 7 tonight.

All that talk about an Edmonton/Toronto Stanley Cup Final turned out to be such a huge waste of time. But I still think it would’ve been the best thing for the NHL.

Do you?

If the Stars win at home tonight, that means the NHL Final Four would be all Southern-based, Sunbelt teams: Dallas, Vegas, Carolina and Florida.

Is that a good or bad thing for the NHL? We’ll be debating that lustily today on the 1,000th episode of The RP Show with some big name NHL guests; by name, Rich Sutter and Blue Jackets Voice Jeff Rimer.

In truth, I’m torn. Which is rare because I’ve made a career of picking a side and staying there, which I’m quite proud of.

But I truly can’t decide what’s best! The historian and purist in me wants this drought to end ASAP and longs for an all-Canadian Stanley Cup Final like 1989, or ’86.

However the forward-thinking, visionary in me loves being able to go to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in shorts and sandals. Who’s kidding who; the older, *softer* version of me likes this the most.

But please don’t start that there’s a Gary Bettman-led conspiracy for this all to happen, nor that the Commissioner conspired for Chicago to win the Connor Bedard Lottery.

These are good teams who deserve to have come this far, Vegas was better, and Chicago did a good enough job of tanking to get #1

That’s a story for another time.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV, WQEE & Streaming)