WEBVTT

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Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We are jumping

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into a topic today that serves as the ultimate

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dividing line. Yeah, a massive shift. Right.

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The dividing line between an old school sports

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landscape and the highly optimized leagues you

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watch today. Whether you are a diehard hockey

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fan or just someone fascinated by pivotal moments

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in sports history, today's topic is a total goldmine

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for you. It really is. And our single comprehensive

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source for today is the Wikipedia article on

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the 1993 -94 NHL season. The mission for this

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deep dive is to isolate why this specific 84

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-game stretch was a monumental turning point

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for the National Hockey League. A season that

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completely changed the geography, the physical

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rulebook, and really the underlying style of

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the game. Exactly. Okay, let's unpack this. Because

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on paper, this was simply the 77th regular season.

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Right. But it felt like year one of a modern

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era. To properly contextualize that shift for

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you, we have to look straight at the top of the

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league hierarchy. The big picture here is that

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the league expanded to 26 teams. Huge growth.

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Yeah, and a massive geographical and structural

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realignment took place under the guidance of

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the new commissioner, Gary Bettman. He had just

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come over from the NBA. And he brought a completely

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different philosophy with him, didn't he? He

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did. He brought a modernizing, heavily commercial

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philosophy. He wanted to transform this traditional

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winter sport into a streamlined North American

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entertainment product. Which required dismantling

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some of the most ingrained traditions in the

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sport's history, starting with the blueprint

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itself, the actual map of the league. The realignment

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was staggering. It really was. Out went the deeply

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historical old school names. The Campbell and

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Wales conferences were retired. The Smythe, Norris,

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Adams, and Patrick divisions, names that practically

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defined the identity of the league for decades,

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gone. Swiped off the board. In their place, they

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introduced these clean, easily digestible geographic

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names. The Eastern and Western conferences subdivided

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into the Atlantic, Northeast, Central, and Pacific

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divisions. And if you have ever tried to get

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into a new sport and felt totally alienated by

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its insider jargon, you will appreciate why this

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matters. Yeah, the barrier to entry. Exactly.

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Bettman realized that to grow the game for non

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-traditional fans, the structure had to be intuitive.

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It had to mirror other major North American sports.

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You don't need a hockey history lesson to understand

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what the Pacific Division is. Right, it's an

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immediate geographic anchor. But... Did stripping

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away names like Norris and Smythe risk alienating

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the hardcore fan base, you know, the people who

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built the sport? It absolutely caused friction.

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But the league was making a calculated gamble

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that the push for new viewers was worth it. And

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that push wasn't just in name changes. It was

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physical franchise shifts. Like the Minnesota

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North Stars? Right. They packed up and moved

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south to Texas to become the Dallas Stars. Which

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is wild because Minnesota is a traditional hockey

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hotbed. And the source notes that this was the

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very first franchise relocation since the Rockies

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became the Devils way back in the 82 -83 season.

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A huge marker for this era. No market was safe

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if the economics didn't make sense. And while

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Minnesota lost its team, we got two shiny new

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expansion teams hitting the ice in completely

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non -traditional markets. The mighty decks of

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Anaheim and the Florida Panthers. The Sunbelt

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expansion. Which required a lot of new talent.

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Definitely. That brings us to the 1993 entry

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draft. Alexander Daigle went first overall to

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the Ottawa Senators. He was viewed as this franchise

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-altering talent. But beyond the new players,

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they also tweaked the actual rules on the ice.

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The high -sticking rules, right? Yeah, this is

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crucial. The rule was amended to allow goals

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hit by a stick below the crossbar. rather than

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the player's shoulders. So dropping that threshold

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to the four -foot height of the crossbar... It

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subtly altered how players attack the net. It

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opened up a new vertical dimension for tip -ins

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and deflections, rewarding hand -eye coordination.

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Here's where it gets really interesting. You

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have all these corporate changes, rule tweaks,

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new markets, but the product on the ice defied

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every historical expectation. Let's look at Anaheim

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and Florida. The expansion teams. Yeah. Usually

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first -year expansion teams are miserable. You're

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drafting unprotected cast -offs. Sacrificial

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lambs. Exactly. But Anaheim and Florida both

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completely shocked the hockey world. They finished

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with 33 wins each. It was unprecedented. They

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broke the inaugural season record of 31 wins

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held by the Flyers and Kings since 1967 -68.

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And the Panthers even set a new inaugural points

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record with 83 points. It's incredible. And connecting

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the dots here, this level of expansion success

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wouldn't be topped until the Vegas Golden Knights

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shattered these records. decades later in 2017

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-18. And Vegas had much better expansion draft

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rules. Florida and Anaheim pulled this off with

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rosters that had no business being that competitive.

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They played incredibly disciplined. Defense first

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systems. It was a preview of the trap heavy hockey

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that was coming. Right. And while those two teams

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were cementing their homes, the NHL was running

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this totally bizarre experiment on the side.

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The neutral site rude show. Oh, this is fascinating.

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Source details that the league played 26 regular

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season neutral site games in places entirely

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without an NHL franchise. Testing future markets,

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places like Sacramento, Phoenix, Halifax. They

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were playing meaningful two point games in these

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cities to map out. future expansion. But taking

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a heavily structured league and turning it into

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a barnstorming tour guarantees a certain level

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of chaos. And the logistics were a nightmare.

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To say the least. I have to bring up the Tampa

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Bay Lightning anecdote. It is Absurd. Due to

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a massive front office error, the Lightning thought

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a Martin Luther King Day neutral site game in

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Minneapolis was scheduled for 7 .35 p .m. Which

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is the standard evening poke drop. Right, but

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it was actually scheduled for 2 .05 p .m. in

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the afternoon. Oh, man. And they only found out

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two weeks prior. So because of this, they had

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to play an 8 .05 p .m. game in Winnipeg, fly

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to the U .S., and then play Detroit. just 18

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hours later. What's fascinating here is how wild

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the logistics of professional sports were at

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this time. Today, everything is optimized with

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sleep specialists and algorithms. But back then,

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a typo meant you played two countries in 18 hours

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on no sleep. And the Panthers had a similar oddity.

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They played a designated home game against the

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Toronto Maple Leafs in Hamilton, Ontario. Right

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in the middle of a playoff race. Exactly. Surrendering

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home ice advantage to play in a Canadian city

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packed with Leafs fans. It was so chaotic. It

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illustrates the growing pains perfectly. They

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wanted to be a modern entertainment product,

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but they were flying by the seat of their pants.

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Yeah. And you could see that tension on the ice,

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too. The ice literally shifted. The air of the

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goalie. Yes. The statistical drop -off in offense

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is jarring. Only three teams reached 300 goals

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that season, and only the Detroit Red Wings averaged

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more than four goals a game. And why? Because

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of Dominic Hasek. The dominator. He was unbelievable

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for the Buffalo Sabres. Hasek posted a microscopic

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1 .95 goals against average. Sub -two goals against

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average over an 84 -game season is insane. And

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a .930 save percentage. He really ushered in

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an era of goaltending dominance. His unorthodox

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style, plus the wider adoption of the butterfly

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technique, just suffocated shooters. And it was

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a league -wide thing. Goalies combined for 99

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shutouts during the season. Which obliterated

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the previous record of 85 setback in 1974 -75.

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So the goalies are completely taking over. But

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we have to balance this defensive narrative with

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an offensive historic moment. Because despite

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the trap hockey, Wayne Gretzky achieved the ultimate

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individual milestone. Playing for the Los Angeles

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Kings. Right. On March 23, 1994, he surpassed

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Gordie Howe's record of 801 goals to become the

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all -time goal -scoring leader. If we connect

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this to the bigger picture, Gordie Howe's record

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felt totally untouchable at the time. It was

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the summit of the sport. And Gretzky conquered

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it, though the source does note that Alexander

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Ovechkin would eventually break Gretzky's record

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in April 2025. But in 1994, it was monumental.

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It was a season where the ghosts of the past

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met the stars of the future. Gretzky waving to

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the crowd was kind of the closing ceremony for

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the 1980s offensive explosion. While Hasek's

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shutouts were the opening bell for the dead puck

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era. Which brings us to the awards season. Because

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you needed a new breed of player to survive this

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collision of eras. Someone like Sergei Fedorov

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of the Red Wing. He was an absolute force. He

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took home the Hart Trophy for MVP, the Lester

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B. Pearson Award, and the Frank J. Selk Trophy

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for the best defensive forward. Winning the Hart

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and the Selk in the same year is incredible.

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You had to play a heavy 200 -foot game now. You

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couldn't just rely on offense. And that 200 -foot

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game became even more crucial in the playoffs

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because Bettman introduced some playoff format

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innovations, too. Right. The NHL moved to a conference

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-based seeding, ranking teams 1 through 8. But

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the true innovation was reseeding in every single

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round. So the highest remaining seed always played

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the lowest remaining seed. Exactly. Heavily rewarding

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regular season dominance. And they also implemented

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a quirky one -year -only 2 -3 -2 format for Central

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versus Pacific matchups. To reduce West Coast

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travel fatigue over the Rocky Mountains. Yes.

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A fascinating experiment they abandoned right

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after. All this structural upheaval built the

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tension for the climax of the season. The Stanley

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Cup finals. You had the New York Rangers battling

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the Vancouver Canucks. And the psychological

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weight on the Rangers was immense. They hadn't

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won a Stanley Cup in 54 seasons since 1939 -40.

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Opposing fans literally chanted 1940 at them

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in every arena. Generations of New Yorkers had

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never seen them win. The pressure in that media

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market was suffocating. Even though the Rangers

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won the president's trophy with 112 points, the

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Canucks dragged them into an epic seven -game

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series. But in game seven, the Rangers finally

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broke the curse. Absolute delirium in New York.

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Brian Leach won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff

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MVP. It was a joyful fairy tale ending. It was

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the perfect culmination of Bettman's first full

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year, validating the new alignments, surviving

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the neutral site chaos, and getting a historic

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championship in the biggest media market. So

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what does this all mean? When you step back,

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this single year acted as a bridge. It had the

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old guard magic of Gretzky breaking records alongside

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the structural blueprints that define the modern

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NHL. Clean divisions, new markets, and defensive

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goal -tending clinics. The main takeaway for

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you as a listener is that whenever you see a

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perfectly polished, globally recognized sports

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league today, Remember how it was built. It was

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built on seasons of transition, experimentation,

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and logistical blunders. Like those 18 -hour

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turnaround flights. Exactly. The history is in

00:10:59.070 --> 00:11:01.549
those messy growing pains. Which leaves us with

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a final thought for you to mull over. When a

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sport changes its fundamental structure to appeal

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to new audiences, like renaming divisions or

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tweaking the rules to increase scoring, does

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it risk losing the very quirky, chaotic identity

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that made its original fans fall in love with

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it in the first place? Think about that. the

00:11:18.500 --> 00:11:20.320
next time you tune into a perfectly scheduled

00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:22.860
game. Thanks for taking this deep dive with us.

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We'll catch you next time.