How is this for a ringing endorsement of the NHL’s product?



The head coach of one of the teams involved on Saturday night, in a marquee divisional battle in Toronto, didn’t want to watch the end of the game. He couldn’t bear to invest the mental energy it would take to watch shooters take turns making elaborate dekes, with a point hanging in the balance.



He simply can’t stand the shootout that much.



“I never watch shootouts,” Ottawa Senators coach Guy Boucher said, after his team beat the Maple Leafs in a shootout. “I never have. Two reasons: One, I hate it. I think it’s a team game, and it should be decided by team play. But I understand that the game has got to end. The other thing, two, is I got into a habit of not looking. It makes no difference if I look or not so I let the guys do their thing. I used to get involved and talk to the guys, ‘Eh you could do this and that.’ Now I stay out of...