#and the nhl cant do much to the leafs anyway lol theyre the second biggest franchise in the entire show

[jamesvanriemsdyk]

"the nhl hates the canes and i can tell you why" i'd love it if you did tell us why please! i've noticed it but idk the reason!

(ajr voice) here we go

basically its like, half tin hatting and half actual real evidence based theory, but the nhl hates the canes because the canes fuck up the nhl's entire image: this insane little "good canadian boy" "works hard, is humble" image that theyve bet every cent of money on being marketable. and it just.......isnt. its just not. new fans, young fans (who are queer, who are women, who are poc) dont give a shit about the old boys club that runs the nhl. gary bettman has no idea how to market to us and frankly he'd rather not, because if we focus on the Old Time Hockey brand, we dont have to jump into the 21st century with things like player safety and inclusion (and so, therefore, marketing).

the canes dont give a fuck about that. theyre fun, they love to win, theyre loud as fuck about it, and theyre TOO GOOD. itd be one thing if they were last in the league, the nhl and hockey culture in general wouldnt have a problem with storm surges etc if it was a last place team's effort to keep their spirits up. but the canes are a top three team in the ENTIRE LEAGUE, and them taking pride in their wins, their social media marketing to younger fans and being unapologetic about things like boosting pride nights - that shit is so far out of the realm of acceptable for bettman's nhl it makes me LAUGH.

i also need yall to think about the SAT line real quick. sebastian aho is exactly the kind of player that will move this game forward: smaller, faster, more skilled, smart smart SMART on the puck, a real genuine student of the game, and so he is a threat to Old Time Hockey. teravainen is too, in much the same way. andrei svechnikov is, for all it wouldnt seem just based on penalty stats this year, a very physical but very CLEAN player, who also happens to be a second overall pick and a damn hard worker and incredibly skilled player to boot. they are the canes' Big Boy Line, so to speak, and not one of them is canadian (and YES, that matters, the nhl is incredibly xenophobic - this is the culture that allowed don cherry to get on NATIONAL TELEVISION for forty years and spout the same racist, misogynistic, xenophobic bullshit before finally firing him after years of the fans calling for it. if you dont know what cherry's said about europeans and russians, look it up. or dont, because its bad and it will piss you off).

the canes also made homes for players dougie hamilton and brady skjei, who were both written off and at least implied they were unhappy in their former organizations. the canes also have a stunningly good head coach in brindamour - ive talked about this before, and if you watch the canes you see it, but yall, brindamour is THE carolina hurricane, and he loves his players and takes care of and stands up for them. hes measured and fair with them, and he is a good coach. that matters here because this sport's culture is rotten to its goddamn core, and nhl ownership doesnt quite know what to do with a locker room based in REAL trust and loyalty, from the coach to the staff to the players and back.

i guess all of this is to say that the canes and their entire culture - a (seemingly) healthy sports culture, i know, crazy - are the antithesis of everything the nhl's management and ownership want for the sport, and they represent the only survivable way forward, and the nhl hates them for it.