Here's a simple solution to all of this: The NHL season should begin in the middle of summer — in the days immediately following the NBA Finals — and the league should crown its champion in the latest days of winter, sometime around the middle of March. If hockey's most important playoff games can be played during the warm months, then why can't its first couple of months of games. And doesn't it make more sense to cozy up to the fire while watching the Stanley Cup get hoisted than it does to make sure your kid changes out of his bathing suit before plopping down on the couch to do so?