WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.720 Welcome back to the deep dive. You know, before 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:04.660 we started recording today, I was actually trying 00:00:04.660 --> 00:00:06.700 to come up with the perfect title and description 00:00:06.700 --> 00:00:09.400 to summarize this deep dive for our Apple feed. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:12.070 Oh, yeah. What did you land on? Well, I wanted 00:00:12.070 --> 00:00:14.150 to make sure we hit the right SEO keyword so 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:16.030 people actually find it. So I was thinking something 00:00:16.030 --> 00:00:20.609 like the wild west of the NHL season 1992 -94. 00:00:20.949 --> 00:00:23.050 Okay, I like that. It sets the scene perfectly. 00:00:23.269 --> 00:00:25.329 Right. And for the description, I mean, you have 00:00:25.329 --> 00:00:27.589 to highlight the biggest stories. So it would 00:00:27.589 --> 00:00:30.649 definitely focus on Mario Lemieux and his unbelievable 00:00:30.649 --> 00:00:34.130 scoring run. And, of course, the 100th anniversary 00:00:34.130 --> 00:00:36.509 of the Stanley Cup. Oh, absolutely. You really 00:00:36.509 --> 00:00:38.829 can't talk about this era without hitting those 00:00:38.829 --> 00:00:42.229 milestones. Exactly. So that is precisely what 00:00:42.229 --> 00:00:44.509 we're zeroing in on today for you guys listening. 00:00:44.630 --> 00:00:48.210 We are putting a truly legendary transition period 00:00:48.210 --> 00:00:51.630 under the microscope, specifically that historic 00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:55.729 92 to 93 campaign. It really is a fascinating 00:00:55.729 --> 00:00:58.469 pivot point for the sport. It is the fulcrum. 00:00:58.570 --> 00:01:01.429 If you look at the timeline of professional hockey, 00:01:01.590 --> 00:01:04.590 this is the year that bridges the old school, 00:01:04.730 --> 00:01:08.629 regionally focused game and the modern multinational 00:01:08.629 --> 00:01:10.790 juggernaut we know today. Yeah, when you dig 00:01:10.790 --> 00:01:13.310 into the mechanics of this specific season, it 00:01:13.310 --> 00:01:15.650 reads like a blueprint for modern sports business. 00:01:16.859 --> 00:01:19.760 but executed with this chaotic energy of the 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:22.939 early 90s. Chaotic is the perfect word for it. 00:01:23.019 --> 00:01:26.280 You have the introduction of entirely new franchises, 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:29.439 which diluted the talent pool. You have labor 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:31.439 disputes that completely altered the schedule. 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:34.879 Right. And this massive clash of cultures, traditionalists 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:36.560 who wanted to keep the game regional, fighting 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:39.540 against visionaries who, you know, just wanted 00:01:39.540 --> 00:01:41.840 that national television money. It's an incredible 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:44.200 case study in how a sport physically rebuilds 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:46.560 itself on the fly. So let's start with that physical 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:49.219 rebuild, because the actual map of the league 00:01:49.219 --> 00:01:52.060 changed drastically. We saw two brand new clubs 00:01:52.060 --> 00:01:54.659 join, bringing the total up to 24 teams. The 00:01:54.659 --> 00:01:56.459 Ottawa Senators and the Tampa Bay Lightning. 00:01:56.599 --> 00:01:59.040 Right. Now, bringing a team back to Ottawa makes 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:02.200 traditional hockey sense. But putting a franchise 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:06.540 in Tampa Bay in 1992, that felt like a massive 00:02:06.540 --> 00:02:09.400 gamble on a non -traditional market. Was that... 00:02:09.580 --> 00:02:12.400 just pure hubris from the league? Or did they 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:14.879 actually have a concrete strategy for putting 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:17.139 ice in a place that didn't even have a hockey 00:02:17.139 --> 00:02:19.240 culture yet? Well, it was a calculated risk. 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:21.960 It was spearheaded by Phil and Tony Esposito, 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:25.379 but really it was the league testing the waters 00:02:25.379 --> 00:02:27.460 for a much larger strategy. What kind of strategy? 00:02:27.780 --> 00:02:29.319 They wanted to see if they could manufacture 00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:32.319 a market entirely from scratch. Look, the NHL 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:34.340 had been watching the NBA and the NFL secure 00:02:34.340 --> 00:02:37.360 these massive, multimillion -dollar national 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:40.180 television contracts. The big money. Exactly. 00:02:40.340 --> 00:02:42.560 And the NHL realized that to get that kind of 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:44.759 money, they couldn't just be a regional Northeast 00:02:44.759 --> 00:02:46.639 and Canadian sport anymore. Right. They needed 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:48.080 a bigger footprint. They needed the American 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:50.430 South. Tampa was the beachhead for that entire 00:02:50.430 --> 00:02:52.610 philosophy. And to fill out those new rosters, 00:02:52.610 --> 00:02:55.330 you have the expansion draft, which we know always 00:02:55.330 --> 00:02:58.009 strips depth from the existing teams. But what 00:02:58.009 --> 00:03:00.409 I find even more chaotic than the expansion is 00:03:00.409 --> 00:03:02.650 the schedule itself. Oh, the schedule was a mess. 00:03:02.849 --> 00:03:05.250 Following that 10 -day player strike in April 00:03:05.250 --> 00:03:08.550 of 92, they bumped the schedule up to 84 games. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:11.539 And they didn't just add standard home and away 00:03:11.539 --> 00:03:14.740 games. They took these high stakes regular season 00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:17.120 games and dropped them into neutral sites. Yeah, 00:03:17.180 --> 00:03:19.539 that was wild. Just dropping a regular season 00:03:19.539 --> 00:03:22.780 game in Miami or Dallas in 92. Was that seen 00:03:22.780 --> 00:03:25.539 as visionary at the time or did the traditionalists 00:03:25.539 --> 00:03:28.180 just think it was a total gimmick? Oh, the traditionalists 00:03:28.180 --> 00:03:30.259 absolutely loathed it. You really have to remember 00:03:30.259 --> 00:03:33.219 the culture of the sport at the time. Coaches 00:03:33.219 --> 00:03:35.580 hated it because the logistics were just a nightmare. 00:03:35.819 --> 00:03:37.740 I bet. The league partnered with a marketing 00:03:37.740 --> 00:03:40.319 firm to host. these games in 15 different cities 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:43.199 that didn't have their own franchises. So suddenly 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:45.319 you have teams flying into places like Peoria, 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:49.680 Illinois or Sacramento or Halifax. And they're 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:52.599 playing on ice surfaces that were, frankly, not 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:54.780 always up to professional standards. I can only 00:03:54.780 --> 00:03:57.080 imagine the complaints from the goaltenders trying 00:03:57.080 --> 00:03:59.479 to track a puck on soft ice in a random arena 00:03:59.479 --> 00:04:01.780 in the middle of a Florida heat wave. Exactly. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:05.120 But from a business perspective, it was a brilliant 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:07.719 piece of market research. A bit messy, sure, 00:04:07.860 --> 00:04:11.120 but brilliant. How so? It was effectively a massive 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:14.580 litmus test for future expansion. They were dropping 00:04:14.580 --> 00:04:17.740 the best players in the world into Phoenix, Atlanta, 00:04:18.100 --> 00:04:21.180 Dallas, and Miami, and then just measuring the 00:04:21.180 --> 00:04:23.899 gate receipts and local television ratings. Ah, 00:04:24.100 --> 00:04:26.600 so they were scouting locations. Precisely. And 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:28.399 it's no coincidence that all four of those cities 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:30.439 eventually became the sites of NHL expansion 00:04:30.439 --> 00:04:33.699 or relocation. But, you know, it did add an incredible 00:04:33.699 --> 00:04:36.839 layer of physical exhaustion to an already grueling 00:04:36.839 --> 00:04:39.420 84 -game schedule. And structurally, this was 00:04:39.420 --> 00:04:42.000 the grand finale of an era, too. It was the final 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:43.980 season of the Wales and Campbell conferences. 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:47.259 Yes. The very last time we'd see the Adams, Patrick, 00:04:47.459 --> 00:04:50.600 Norris, and Smythe divisions. Which is a crucial 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:52.980 cultural shift. Yeah. The old division names 00:04:52.980 --> 00:04:55.139 honored the history and the builders of the sport. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:58.379 Right. But television executives hate insider 00:04:58.379 --> 00:05:00.860 jargon. That makes sense. If you're trying to 00:05:00.860 --> 00:05:03.620 sell the game to a casual fan in Texas, explaining 00:05:03.620 --> 00:05:06.060 what a Smythe division is, it's just a hurdle. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:08.180 Yeah, you lose them. Moving to the Eastern and 00:05:08.180 --> 00:05:10.620 Western conferences, with Atlantic and Central 00:05:10.620 --> 00:05:14.100 divisions, it was a deliberate sanitization of 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:16.779 the league's history to make it more digestible 00:05:16.779 --> 00:05:19.439 for a mainstream American audience. It's just 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:22.110 wild to think about. While the league was experimenting 00:05:22.110 --> 00:05:24.490 with all these corporate logistics off the ice, 00:05:24.670 --> 00:05:27.189 the actual product on the ice was completely 00:05:27.189 --> 00:05:29.610 unhinged. Oh, it was a totally different game. 00:05:29.730 --> 00:05:31.610 The goal horns were basically melting this year. 00:05:31.709 --> 00:05:36.490 The 92 -93 season averaged 7 .25 goals per game. 00:05:36.629 --> 00:05:38.910 Let that sink in. Yeah. Yeah, to put that into 00:05:38.910 --> 00:05:40.569 perspective for anyone listening who watches 00:05:40.569 --> 00:05:43.250 today's game, where a 4 -3 finish feels like 00:05:43.250 --> 00:05:48.160 a barn burner. 7 .25 goals is pure fantasy. We 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:50.839 saw 21 players reach the 100 -point plateau. 00:05:51.100 --> 00:05:54.139 Incredible. 14 players scored 50 or more goals. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:58.360 Why was the scoring so profoundly elevated this 00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:00.680 specific year? It was really a perfect storm 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:03.000 of systemic factors. First, as you mentioned 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:05.100 earlier, the expansion draft. Right. When you 00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:09.139 add two new teams, you are pulling 40 -plus professional 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:14.069 players out of the existing ecosystem. The top 00:06:14.069 --> 00:06:18.269 -tier talent, your Gretzky's, Lemieux, Weissermann's, 00:06:18.269 --> 00:06:21.129 they don't get exposed in the draft. You're protected. 00:06:21.449 --> 00:06:23.949 Exactly. The guys who get drafted are the third 00:06:23.949 --> 00:06:26.410 -pairing defensemen and the backup goaltenders. 00:06:26.649 --> 00:06:29.250 So the defensive depth across the entire league 00:06:29.250 --> 00:06:31.810 is instantly diluted. Instantly. You essentially 00:06:31.810 --> 00:06:34.649 had American Hockey League level defensemen suddenly 00:06:34.649 --> 00:06:36.949 tasked with shutting down Hall of Fame forwards 00:06:36.949 --> 00:06:39.410 every single night. That is a recipe for disaster. 00:06:39.769 --> 00:06:42.250 The talent disparity between the top six forwards 00:06:42.250 --> 00:06:44.550 and the bottom six defensemen had never been 00:06:44.550 --> 00:06:47.069 wider. And the goaltending equipment wasn't exactly 00:06:47.069 --> 00:06:49.449 what it is today either. Not at all. Goalies 00:06:49.449 --> 00:06:52.410 in 93 were still wearing relatively small pads 00:06:52.410 --> 00:06:54.930 compared to the massive hyper -engineered gear 00:06:54.930 --> 00:06:57.490 we see today. Right. And furthermore, the tactical 00:06:57.490 --> 00:06:59.410 evolution of the game hadn't caught up to the 00:06:59.410 --> 00:07:02.209 skill of the players yet. Coaches hadn't adopted 00:07:02.209 --> 00:07:04.529 that suffocating neutral zone trap that would 00:07:04.529 --> 00:07:06.670 ultimately strangle the game in the late 90s. 00:07:06.709 --> 00:07:09.610 So the ice was just wide open. Incredibly open. 00:07:09.649 --> 00:07:12.310 It was run and gun, high risk, high reward hockey. 00:07:13.310 --> 00:07:15.230 Goaltenders were essentially facing a firing 00:07:15.230 --> 00:07:17.629 squad every night because the defensive systems 00:07:17.629 --> 00:07:19.629 to protect them just hadn't been invented yet. 00:07:19.790 --> 00:07:22.389 And feasting on that open ice was Mario Lemieux. 00:07:22.910 --> 00:07:25.029 You look at his start to that season and he's 00:07:25.029 --> 00:07:28.029 not just playing well. He is on pace to challenge 00:07:28.029 --> 00:07:31.329 Wayne Gretzky's mythical record of 92 goals in 00:07:31.329 --> 00:07:33.490 a season. It's untouchable. Operating on a totally 00:07:33.490 --> 00:07:36.589 different plane of existence. But then right 00:07:36.589 --> 00:07:39.029 in the middle of this historic run, you have 00:07:39.029 --> 00:07:41.709 a storyline that completely transcends the sport. 00:07:42.110 --> 00:07:44.509 Lemieux is diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. 00:07:44.649 --> 00:07:47.250 It is one of the most remarkable and frankly 00:07:47.250 --> 00:07:49.750 sobering moments in sports history. Yeah. You 00:07:49.750 --> 00:07:52.790 have a player at the... absolute apex of his 00:07:52.790 --> 00:07:55.670 physical ability, dominating the hardest, fastest 00:07:55.670 --> 00:07:58.709 team sport on Earth. And suddenly he's pulled 00:07:58.709 --> 00:08:00.829 off the ice to face a life -threatening illness. 00:08:01.069 --> 00:08:02.769 We really need to pause on the gravity of that 00:08:02.769 --> 00:08:05.990 for a second. To go from chasing Gretzky to undergoing 00:08:05.990 --> 00:08:08.370 aggressive radiation treatments, it's devastating. 00:08:08.490 --> 00:08:11.870 He misses 24 games. And the physical toll of 00:08:11.870 --> 00:08:14.310 radiation is an exhaustion that most of us can't 00:08:14.310 --> 00:08:17.509 even fathom. And yet, not only does he come back 00:08:17.509 --> 00:08:20.709 that same season, but he goes on a tear. That 00:08:20.709 --> 00:08:23.430 defies medical logic. Defies logic is right. 00:08:24.209 --> 00:08:27.670 He didn't just come back. He completely dismantled 00:08:27.670 --> 00:08:29.850 the league upon his return. Let's just look at 00:08:29.850 --> 00:08:31.790 the pure math of what he accomplished. Okay. 00:08:32.009 --> 00:08:34.950 When you finish the season with 69 goals and 00:08:34.950 --> 00:08:39.029 91 assists for 160 points. Wow. And he did that 00:08:39.029 --> 00:08:42.169 in just 60 games. To give that context, every 00:08:42.169 --> 00:08:44.029 other player in the top five and Lee scoring 00:08:44.029 --> 00:08:46.879 legends like. Pat LaFontaine, Ada Boats, Steve 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:50.379 Iserman. They played a full, grueling 84 -game 00:08:50.379 --> 00:08:52.519 schedule to get their points. So he basically 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:54.480 spotted the rest of the league a two -month head 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:57.039 start while undergoing cancer treatment and still 00:08:57.039 --> 00:08:59.679 beat them all for the Art Ross Trophy. Yes. It 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:02.100 remains the third highest point -per -game average 00:09:02.100 --> 00:09:04.559 in a season in league history. That is absurd. 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:07.720 And you have to contrast Lemieux's elegant, seemingly 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:10.820 effortless playing style with the brutal, grinding 00:09:10.820 --> 00:09:13.080 physical nature of the sport at that time. Lots 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:15.379 of clutching and grabbing. He was constantly 00:09:15.379 --> 00:09:18.000 targeted, constantly slashed, and yet he still 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.840 dominated. He understandably won the Hart Trophy 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:24.039 as MVP, the Pearson Award from his peers, and 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:26.720 the Masterton Trophy for perseverance. I would 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:28.919 argue it remains the single greatest individual 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:31.399 season in the history of professional team sports. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:34.039 It really makes you wonder what his final numbers 00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:37.009 would have been if he had played. all 84 games. 00:09:37.129 --> 00:09:39.269 You might have actually caught Gretzky. He really 00:09:39.269 --> 00:09:41.649 might have. And speaking of Gretzky, there is 00:09:41.649 --> 00:09:43.470 a real changing of the guard happening here, 00:09:43.529 --> 00:09:46.289 too. For the first time in his career, Gretzky 00:09:46.289 --> 00:09:48.750 didn't finish in the top three in scoring due 00:09:48.750 --> 00:09:51.450 to a severe back injury. Right. And while the 00:09:51.450 --> 00:09:53.409 established stars were dealing with health issues, 00:09:53.690 --> 00:09:56.090 you had rookies doing things we will likely never 00:09:56.090 --> 00:10:00.750 see again. Timu Salam, the finish flash. debuts 00:10:00.750 --> 00:10:03.690 for the winnipeg jets salan's rookie season is 00:10:03.690 --> 00:10:06.570 just an untouchable artifact of this era he scored 00:10:06.570 --> 00:10:11.330 76 goals and tallied 132 points 76 goals for 00:10:11.330 --> 00:10:13.409 a rookie it's a mark that no one has even come 00:10:13.409 --> 00:10:16.370 close to touching in over 30 years and they likely 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:18.830 never will given how defensive the modern game 00:10:18.830 --> 00:10:21.789 is what made him so unstoppable what made salan 00:10:21.789 --> 00:10:25.259 so lethal was his explosive skating In an era 00:10:25.259 --> 00:10:28.000 where defensemen were big, slow, and relied on 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.120 hooking and holding, Salam could just blow past 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:34.500 them. It was a complete paradigm shift in how 00:10:34.500 --> 00:10:37.179 speed could be weaponized in the NHL. This was 00:10:37.179 --> 00:10:39.460 also the year Eric Lindros finally made his debut 00:10:39.460 --> 00:10:42.620 in Philly, right? After that massive summer standoff 00:10:42.620 --> 00:10:45.500 with Quebec. Yes, exactly. That trade completely 00:10:45.500 --> 00:10:47.899 shifted the power dynamics of the league for 00:10:47.899 --> 00:10:50.309 the next decade, didn't it? Absolutely. Lindros, 00:10:50.429 --> 00:10:52.789 refusing to play for the team that drafted him, 00:10:52.850 --> 00:10:55.789 was a massive moment of player empowerment, which 00:10:55.789 --> 00:10:58.129 was incredibly rare in the NHL at the time. Right. 00:10:58.210 --> 00:11:00.309 Guys just didn't do that. Quebec essentially 00:11:00.309 --> 00:11:03.009 held him for ransom and walked away with Peter 00:11:03.009 --> 00:11:06.809 Forsberg, Ron Hextall, Mike Ricci, multiple draft 00:11:06.809 --> 00:11:10.570 picks, and $15 million in cash. A king's ransom. 00:11:10.830 --> 00:11:13.289 That single transaction laid the foundation for 00:11:13.289 --> 00:11:15.639 the Colorado Avalanche dynasty. It showed that 00:11:15.639 --> 00:11:17.759 one generational talent could essentially finance 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:20.139 an entire franchise's rebuild if they leveraged 00:11:20.139 --> 00:11:23.220 it correctly. It's just nonstop volatility everywhere 00:11:23.220 --> 00:11:25.200 you look. You check the team standings that year. 00:11:25.340 --> 00:11:29.100 The Pittsburgh Penguins win 17 consecutive games, 00:11:29.259 --> 00:11:32.750 setting a record. Meanwhile, the San Jose Sharps 00:11:32.750 --> 00:11:34.649 tie the record for the longest losing streak 00:11:34.649 --> 00:11:38.850 at 17 games and set a record with 71 losses overall. 00:11:39.110 --> 00:11:41.690 The definition of haves and have -nots. Exactly. 00:11:41.789 --> 00:11:45.250 Extreme haves and extreme have -nots. And all 00:11:45.250 --> 00:11:48.289 of this chaos bleeds right into the 1993 Stanley 00:11:48.289 --> 00:11:50.809 Cup playoffs, which carried an immense amount 00:11:50.809 --> 00:11:53.230 of historical weight because it was the 100th 00:11:53.230 --> 00:11:55.669 anniversary of the Stanley Cup itself. The centennial 00:11:55.669 --> 00:11:57.870 anniversary brought an entirely new level of 00:11:57.870 --> 00:12:00.340 pressure to the postseason. Every player wore 00:12:00.340 --> 00:12:02.519 a commemorative patch. And the league finally 00:12:02.519 --> 00:12:04.740 managed to get the playoffs broadcast on American 00:12:04.740 --> 00:12:08.500 Network Television via ABC alongside ESPN. A 00:12:08.500 --> 00:12:10.700 huge deal for them. Massive. This was their big 00:12:10.700 --> 00:12:12.519 chance to showcase the sport to a much broader 00:12:12.519 --> 00:12:14.379 audience. And the tournament delivered. It was 00:12:14.379 --> 00:12:16.340 characterized by an incredible number of overtime 00:12:16.340 --> 00:12:19.679 games, 28 in total. Unbelievable drama. But when 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:22.120 you talk about pressure and overtime in 1993, 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:25.169 you are talking about one team. The Montreal 00:12:25.169 --> 00:12:27.570 Canadiens. Oh, yeah. They didn't just play in 00:12:27.570 --> 00:12:30.470 overtime. They won 10 overtime games. That is 00:12:30.470 --> 00:12:33.590 an NHL record. They string together 11 consecutive 00:12:33.590 --> 00:12:36.690 playoff wins and end up defeating a healthy Wayne 00:12:36.690 --> 00:12:39.529 Gretzky in the LA Kings in the finals. That run 00:12:39.529 --> 00:12:42.090 by Montreal is the stuff of hockey myth. And 00:12:42.090 --> 00:12:44.710 it really centers on one player. Their goaltender, 00:12:44.850 --> 00:12:47.970 Patrick Roy. The legend. We talked earlier about 00:12:47.970 --> 00:12:49.750 how goaltenders were struggling in this high 00:12:49.750 --> 00:12:52.799 -scoring era. Roy was the exception because he 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:55.539 was actively perfecting the butterfly style of 00:12:55.539 --> 00:12:57.759 goaltending. Right, he was revolutionizing the 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:00.039 position. While other goalies were still standing 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:02.740 up and trying to kick out their pads, Roy was 00:13:02.740 --> 00:13:04.720 aggressively taking away the lower half of the 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:07.600 net. During that 10 -game overtime winning streak, 00:13:07.779 --> 00:13:10.659 his psychological dominance over opposing shooters 00:13:10.659 --> 00:13:12.779 was just... palpable. He was in their heads. 00:13:12.919 --> 00:13:15.259 Totally in their heads. He won the Conn Smythe 00:13:15.259 --> 00:13:18.740 trophy as playoff MVP, and rightfully so. He 00:13:18.740 --> 00:13:21.240 had that famous wink at Thomas Sandstrom in the 00:13:21.240 --> 00:13:24.379 finals. Just the sheer swagger of it. But there's 00:13:24.379 --> 00:13:26.320 a statistic attached to this Montreal victory 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:29.220 that hangs over the sport even today. That was 00:13:29.220 --> 00:13:31.659 the Canadians' 24th Stanley Cup, which leads 00:13:31.659 --> 00:13:35.659 the league. But 1993 remains the very last time 00:13:35.659 --> 00:13:38.659 that any Canadian team has won the Cup. That's 00:13:38.659 --> 00:13:41.250 wild to think about. Over three decades later, 00:13:41.450 --> 00:13:44.429 the drought continues. It is a statistic that 00:13:44.429 --> 00:13:47.570 haunts Canadian hockey fans, but it also reflects 00:13:47.570 --> 00:13:49.409 the business realities we discussed earlier. 00:13:49.570 --> 00:13:52.529 The shift in focus. Exactly. The expansion into 00:13:52.529 --> 00:13:55.389 the American South, the shift in television revenues, 00:13:55.450 --> 00:13:58.029 the economic disadvantage of the Canadian dollar 00:13:58.029 --> 00:14:01.070 in the mid -90s. All of these factors began to 00:14:01.070 --> 00:14:03.450 tilt the competitive balance away from the traditional 00:14:03.450 --> 00:14:06.389 northern markets, which perfectly segues into 00:14:06.389 --> 00:14:08.649 the most consequential shift of the entire season. 00:14:08.769 --> 00:14:11.230 Right, because it is fascinating that while guys 00:14:11.230 --> 00:14:13.450 like Roy and Lemieux are putting up these magical, 00:14:13.610 --> 00:14:16.210 untouchable performances on the ice, the owners 00:14:16.210 --> 00:14:18.210 in the boardroom were actually terrified about 00:14:18.210 --> 00:14:20.649 the financial stability of the league. Terrified 00:14:20.649 --> 00:14:23.029 is an understatement. That tension is exactly 00:14:23.029 --> 00:14:25.649 what led to the summer of 92 and the eventual 00:14:25.649 --> 00:14:28.750 boardroom coup. The players strike. in April 00:14:28.750 --> 00:14:31.789 of 1992, even though it only lasted 10 days, 00:14:31.950 --> 00:14:35.389 deeply spooked the ownership. The owners looked 00:14:35.389 --> 00:14:37.590 at the rising player salaries, driven partly 00:14:37.590 --> 00:14:40.230 by that Lindros mega deal and some free agency 00:14:40.230 --> 00:14:42.870 tweaks, and they looked at their relatively weak 00:14:42.870 --> 00:14:45.230 television contracts compared to the NBA and 00:14:45.230 --> 00:14:48.120 NFL. And they panicked. They realized they were 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:50.340 falling behind. They realized the NHL was still 00:14:50.340 --> 00:14:53.720 operating like a gate driven regional boys club. 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:56.259 So they decide they need a wartime consigliere. 00:14:56.460 --> 00:14:58.779 They replaced John Ziegler, who had been the 00:14:58.779 --> 00:15:01.419 NHL president for 15 years and was seen as too 00:15:01.419 --> 00:15:03.740 cozy with the players union. Right. They bring 00:15:03.740 --> 00:15:06.720 in Gil Stein on an interim basis. But the tectonic 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:10.559 shift happens on February 1st, 1993. Enter Gary 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:13.639 Bettman. Yes. The owners poached Gary Bettman 00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:16.679 directly from the NBA. David Stearns, right -hand 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:19.659 man over there, and a key architect of the NBA's 00:15:19.659 --> 00:15:22.279 salary cap. A numbers guy. Exactly. And they 00:15:22.279 --> 00:15:24.240 named him the first ever NHL commissioner. But 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.320 did the owners really think hiring an NBA guy, 00:15:26.379 --> 00:15:28.000 someone who didn't come up through the traditional 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:30.259 hockey ranks, was going to go over well with 00:15:30.259 --> 00:15:32.860 a deeply entrenched traditionalist hockey culture? 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:34.919 They didn't care about the hockey culture. Wow. 00:15:35.220 --> 00:15:37.379 They cared about the bottom line. Bittman's mandate 00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:42.070 was explicitly clear. achieve labor peace, institute 00:15:42.070 --> 00:15:45.690 a salary cap to control escalating costs, and 00:15:45.690 --> 00:15:48.190 secure a massive national television deal in 00:15:48.190 --> 00:15:50.370 the United States. The holy trinity for owners. 00:15:50.590 --> 00:15:54.169 Exactly. He was hired to drag the NHL into the 00:15:54.169 --> 00:15:56.309 modern corporate sports landscape, kicking and 00:15:56.309 --> 00:15:58.789 screaming if necessary. And the irony of being 00:15:58.789 --> 00:16:01.190 hired to achieve, quote unquote, labor peace 00:16:01.190 --> 00:16:03.909 is that his tenure would go on to be defined 00:16:03.909 --> 00:16:07.789 by multiple devastating labor lockouts, including 00:16:07.789 --> 00:16:10.090 the cancellation of an entire season a decade 00:16:10.090 --> 00:16:12.809 later. It's the ultimate paradox of his administration. 00:16:13.470 --> 00:16:15.789 He achieved the financial growth the owners desperately 00:16:15.789 --> 00:16:18.789 wanted. Franchise valuation skyrocketed, the 00:16:18.789 --> 00:16:20.870 footprint of the game expanded globally, and 00:16:20.870 --> 00:16:22.950 the television money eventually flowed. But at 00:16:22.950 --> 00:16:25.649 what cost? The cost of that growth was fundamentally 00:16:25.649 --> 00:16:27.629 altering the relationship between the players 00:16:27.629 --> 00:16:29.990 and the league and transitioning the sport into 00:16:29.990 --> 00:16:32.809 a heavily structured corporate entity. It's just 00:16:32.809 --> 00:16:35.950 incredible how many firsts and lasts were packed 00:16:35.950 --> 00:16:38.769 into this single calendar year. You have the 00:16:38.769 --> 00:16:41.070 last Canadian Cup win, the first commissioner. 00:16:41.899 --> 00:16:44.519 The transition from the Smythe and Norris divisions 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:48.139 to the Eastern and Western conferences. You even 00:16:48.139 --> 00:16:50.740 have the last games for four of the five remaining 00:16:50.740 --> 00:16:53.019 players who were still grandfathered in to play 00:16:53.019 --> 00:16:55.840 without helmets. Guys like Randy Carlisle and 00:16:55.840 --> 00:16:58.980 Rod Langway. It was the definitive end of the 00:16:58.980 --> 00:17:02.460 game's Wild West era. From the rule changes trying 00:17:02.460 --> 00:17:05.319 to curb bench clearing brawls by introducing 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:08.569 the instigator penalty. to the sheer volume of 00:17:08.569 --> 00:17:11.009 points being scored before defensive systems 00:17:11.009 --> 00:17:13.630 suffocated the ice. It really was a singular 00:17:13.630 --> 00:17:16.089 moment in time. It was a season where the pure, 00:17:16.170 --> 00:17:18.650 unbridled skill of the players collided with 00:17:18.650 --> 00:17:21.009 the sudden, harsh realities of modern sports 00:17:21.009 --> 00:17:23.490 economics. You look at the standing, the stats, 00:17:23.630 --> 00:17:26.089 the boardroom drama, it is a perfect hockey time 00:17:26.089 --> 00:17:28.529 capsule. Which brings us to a final thought for 00:17:28.529 --> 00:17:30.640 you to chew on today. As we look back at the 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:33.759 raw scoring frenzy of the 92 -93 season where 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.160 21 guys hit 100 points and goalies were left 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.440 out to dry, you can't help but wonder about the 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:40.539 evolution of the sport. It's a great question. 00:17:40.740 --> 00:17:43.579 Are the heavily coached, trap -style defensive 00:17:43.579 --> 00:17:46.079 strategies and shot -blocking systems of modern 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:49.660 hockey stifling the raw offensive talent we witnessed 00:17:49.660 --> 00:17:52.880 back then? Or are today's players simply more 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:55.680 well -rounded, making it impossible for any single 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:58.299 player to dominate the way Lemieux or Salan did? 00:17:58.500 --> 00:18:00.779 It's tough to say. What would it actually take 00:18:00.779 --> 00:18:03.299 structurally in today's NHL to see another season 00:18:03.299 --> 00:18:05.480 with 21 players hitting the 100 -point mark? 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:07.279 It's something to mull over the next time you're 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:09.920 watching a tight, heavily structured 2 -1 game. 00:18:10.500 --> 00:18:12.519 Thanks for joining us on this deep dive, and 00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:13.700 keep asking the big questions.