Still means nothing to me though.
The ULTIMATE issue here is League Politics. To the league office, in New York, by the way, is perception of the league's image to those hockey fans in the U.S.
Gary Bettman doesn't care about those who cheer Canada's NHL clubs, and he does NOT EVER want either VAN, CGY, EDM, WPG, TOR, OTT, or MTL to EVER AGAIN win the title, and especially not on NBC.
To him, it's not okay for Canada to ever celebrate anything on an American TV network, or for any Canadian city to be discussed on NBC at length, cause heaven forbid the U.S. loses tourist dollars to, what is to them, a backwater city that doesn't appeal to the American mainstream.
A Canadian NHL club, who would win the title, would unseat the American commissioner who is running Canada's National Sport, and, hopefully, a Canadian(maybe me), would take over, and end the 'Great American Hockey Experiment' dead in it's tracks.
And, last I checked, Canada's NHL fans pay the bills for the league, not the ones in the U.S. CBC's TV revenues are far higher than NBC's, therefore, CBC should be doing the schedule for the playoffs, not NBC or the league head office.
The NHL is Canada's cultural and financial investment to the world. Not the United States. Which means, to me, Canada should govern the sport everywhere, not any other country.
And with this Lost 2 Decades that Canada's NHL clubs have had to suffer, I'm fed up to the top of my head with no championship return on MY investment.
No title will come back to Canada, as long as Americans keep being in political command of the NHL.