Who else is sick of the blathering on about junior superstar John Tavares possibly signing a minor-league contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs?
Besides yours truly, I mean.
You can put your hands down now. By my count everyone but the blindly-loyal Leaf Nation is weary of what amounts to a non-story.
There is one aspect to the Tavares-Leafs story — maybe a tangent actually — that I think needs to be addressed by the NHL.
And the Tavares camp, already lobbying for their meal ticket to be granted early entry into the NHL draft, isn't going to like it.
Here it is: The NHL should go back to a 19-year-old draft, as it was prior to 1980.
Sure, that would mean Tavares, and other highly-talented prospects, would be required to play an extra season of junior hockey. And maybe, just maybe, put off buying that Escalade for another year.
In my mind, it makes perfect sense.
From a purely moralistic point of view, forcing players to wait until they are 19 would allow them another year to grow up. Some teenagers mature quicker than others, even those who can skate like the wind or shoot the puck 100 miles per hour. This would be a win-win situation.
More importantly, it would give junior hockey teams some stability. Yes, I know. NHL teams could care less that the London Knights would have been vastly superior if Patrick Kane and Sam Gagner had been sent back to junior.
But how about the Knights? Would they have approached last season differently knowing their stud forwards were one-year wonders? Do they mortgage the future to take advantage of Kane and Gagner's presence?
The Guelph Storm is in a similar bind because of the current NHL draft set-up. Defenceman Drew Doughty might go number one — he has competition from Steven Stamkos and Alex Pietrangelo for that honor — and wind up playing in the NHL next fall.
Under that scenario, all that work that has done to point the Storm towards a championship run in 2008-09 will be down the crapper. Losing Doughty to the NHL would be devastating.
So listen up, NHL. Scrap the 18-year-old draft and let the fans have another year to marvel at the skills of the best young juniors.
And make Tavares suffer through another year with his peers.