McDavid’s surge, Caufield’s slump dominate Simmons’ rant

The power of the World Cup: You can hate soccer. You can care nothing or know nothing about the countries playing. And then it’s on your TV and you can’t take eyes off it … Carolina won two Stanley Cups in a 26-year period and went to the conference final four other times. To win the Cup, you need 16 playoff wins. In the time between Carolina’s two championships, the Maple Leafs have won seven games in the playoffs, once. So they’ve never even been

halfway to 16 wins … From the time William Karlsson went down in the Stanley Cup final, the Vegas Golden Knights never won another game, being outscored 6-1. In Karlsson’s 14 healthy games, the Knights were 10-4 and he was only scored on just five times at even strength in the entire playoffs … In trying to do too much, McDavid has been scored on 35 times in his past 28 playoff games … The Montreal Canadiens can’t be considered serious playoff contenders until Cole

Caufield becomes a serious playoff scorer. Caufield’s even-strength numbers in 19 playoff games this year: Five goals for, 13 against. By comparison, Taylor Hall was 22 goals for, eight against for the Hurricanes … The Toronto Tempo is worth watching and I wasn’t sure that would be the case. Marina Mabrey popped in a career-high 37 points Friday night against the Connecticut team that didn’t protect her in the expansion draft. That was something special to see … Did you remember that Mario Lemieux is

the most recent Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP to play for a team that didn’t make the playoffs? That happened with the Penguins in 1988 … If I were a betting service, I’d install the Oklahoma City Thunder as the favourite to win the NBA title next season. Still haven’t completely figured out how the Thunder lost to the San Antonio Spurs, who completely melted down against the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals … Bruce Boudreau has a career winning percentage of

.626 coaching four different NHL teams. How come he seems to be dealt out of the coaching game now? … So deserving: Chris Cuthbert will receive the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame, and Swedish writer Gunnar Nordstrom is getting the Hall’s Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award. The awards salute an outstanding broadcaster and journalist, respectively. Both choices were overdue. Also deserving: Hazel Mae is getting the media award from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. This had to be an easy

choice for those involved … Still don’t understand why Calgary baseball legend Russ Parker has been passed over year after year for the Canadian Baseball Hall … A personal anniversary that seems unusual to me: This is the first season in which I’ve written about the NHL and not covered a single Stanley Cup playoff game. My first playoff game was April 8, 1981. Calgary 4, Chicago 3. Among those playing for the Blackhawks that night: Tony Esposito was in goal; Doug Wilson on defence;

Denis Savard and the rookie Darryl Sutter up front … Happy birthday to Paul Beeston (81), Anne Murray (81), Scottie Scheffler (30), Garrett Crochet (26), Sam Bennett (30), Bob Bourne (72), Pascal Rheaume (53), Gary Varsho (65), Koko B. Ware (69), Ron Low (76), Rick Sutcliffe (70) and Oshae Brissett (28) … And hey, whatever became of Bob Lenarduzzi?

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