Today's oddly timed game will be the first of a trio of NHL games that will highlight the Hockey Day in Canada celebrations. The CBC will be broadcasting from Winkler, Manitoba and will feature stories on Joe Juneau and Matt Stairs.

The Leafs host the Detroit Red Wings in what is almost a worst versus first game. How good are these Wings? Here are Matt's baseball standings or you can check out David Johnson's alternate standings. Either way, the Red Wings are the class of the league by a mile. IwoCPO is your source for Red Wings' news since Christy at Winging It In Motown is out of town but we'll check in with her after the slaughter.

Here's something to consider while you're watching the game and wondering who will replace Cliff Fletcher on a full-time basis: Stanley Cup winners do not guarantee success. In fact, only 3 GMs have ever won a Stanley Cup with more than one team according to a study done by Glenn Rowe. He even pointed out that teams perform worse after coaching and GM changes which kind of goes against the accepted wisdom in the NHL or the reality of teams like Columbus and Washington and Atlanta. Then again, this line basically explains the value of the study:

a professor at the University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business.

Looks like the study lost it's value right there.

Anyway, remember to put your SPG guesses in the comments and let me know what you're planning to do to celebrate our country's game today.