So, headlining the docket when NHL owners assemble in the Windy City are possible expansion destinations and the league's wacky schedule format.
While some limited headway could be made on the train wreck that is the schedule, the old boys club could correct a glaring wrong on the expansion front before boarding their flights out of Chicago.
To make the league stronger, the most pressing need is fixing the bridge it burned with Jim Balsillie.
Namely, laying the groundwork that would vault Balsillie to the top of the list should the league choose to expand.
Yes, you read that right.
Snubbed in his bids to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators at inflated market prices, the league stiff-armed the RIM magnate with a shrug of its shoulders.
It says here Balsillie should be the poster boy for a new franchise. If, and it's a big if, Balsillie comes knocking again, the NHL should throw open the door and lay down a patch of red carpet.
It shouldn't matter that he ruffled a few feathers with his impromptu ticket drive in Hamilton. Fact is, Balsillie made a loud statement that, yes, southern Ontario could support another franchise. Not exactly news.
But he proved a point that the NHL didn't want made.
If the Leafs and Sabres are worried about another team invading their turf, the NHL's relocation bylaw, as flawed as it may be, should be their safety net.
Some believe Balsillie and his legion of lawyers found a loophole in the fine print. Had the sale of the Predators gone through, the moving vans could have been headed to Steeltown quicker than ever imagined.
And there would be a lot of egg to wipe off the collective face of the comfy little clique that is NHL ownership.
Jim Balsillie, a man with passion, a plan and money to see it through, wants, or at least wanted, to play in the NHL sandbox. The fat cats told him to stay at home.
In Chicago, owners have a chance to find some common ground and at least initiate talks that could eventually mend those fences.
Jim Balsillie doesn't need the NHL.
The NHL, on the other hand, needs him.