And more to the point, how about that James "Don't Call Me Jamie" Neal and his OT game-winning goal? As colleague Mike Heika points out in today’s SportsDay story, home ice really did heat up just in time in Dallas Stars' 4-3 overtime win.

Per usual, I go to Heika for my local puck knowledge. As he points out, the lowly “Leafs (1-7-2) were coming off their first victory of the season and playing with purpose and poise.”

Thanks, Mike. But when it comes to getting the pulse of hockey nation — Canada — I go to my Aunt Jeanie. The Cranbrook, B.C., resident says the Leafs — a storied organ-I-zation — is in such bad shape that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is “threatening” to cancel broadcasting Toronto’s games on “Hockey Night in Canada” unless Toronto management rights the ship.

Yeaaaaa-right. To put this into perspective, this would be on par with NBC deciding to not air Dallas Cowboys games on its lucrative “Sunday Night Football.” So basically it’s just a bunch of talk. Just consider the absurd ratings and gaudy price for advertising during a Cowboys game. (You telling me a broadcaster is gonna say bye-bye to those numbers?!?!)

The standings don’t matter. The product on the field doesn’t matter. When the losses outnumber the wins, the tabloid write-ups matter. The off-field issues matter.The GM’s crazy personnel moves matter. The talk radio yappers matter. The Leafs, like the ’boys, are popular win-lose-or-draw (in the case of hockey, win-lose-or-shootout loss). But for how long will this be the case?