Jack Todd: The PWHL gimmicks are down, but the league is already a winner

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It seemed like a great idea, allowing the team that finished first overall to pick their opponent for the first round of the PWHL playoffs by choosing between the teams that finished third and fourth.

He wasn't.

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Yes, Toronto had 24 hours to decide whether to play Minnesota or Boston after beating Ottawa on Sunday night. Of course, Toronto already knew which team to pick after removing Ottawa from the equation. They could have announced it on Sunday evening. They could have announced it on Monday morning.

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In the end, Toronto just had to go to Toronto, making the announcement by 7:30 p.m. Monday, 48 hours before the first round of the playoffs at Toronto's Coca-Cola Coliseum. This will surely mark the end of this gimmick for the PWHL.

On paper, Montreal and Toronto seem headed for a showdown in the finals. Montreal has the league's top blueliner in Erin Ambrose and the all-time leading scorer and leader in the legendary Marie-Philippe Poulin. Toronto has Natalie Spooner, who won the league scoring race with 20 goals.

But you don't play the game on paper. We'd be surprised if Toronto doesn't choose to play Minnesota, which leaves us with what Montreal hockey fans want to see in the spring: Montreal-Boston.

Montreal is favored whether the opponent is Boston or Minnesota, but its poor overtime performance this season could be a bad sign.

In a sense, the results are already in and we know the winner: this is the league itself, a spectacular and unexpected success from day one. The real success is seen in the playoff venues in Toronto and Montreal — the 8,000-seat Coca-Cola Coliseum, home of the Marlies, and the 10,000-seat Place Bell in Montreal's Laval.

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Remember, this is a league that didn't exist a year ago. The official announcement of the starting six didn't come until Aug. 29, a little more than eight months before the start of these playoffs. Marketing, sales, uniforms, rosters, coaches—everything had to be done at breakneck speed.

Not only was it done, it was done well, and to the applause of the crowd, an astonishing achievement.

Ladies and gentlemen, let your arguments begin: With the perennially suspect NHL lottery scheduled for Tuesday night, the Canadiens know where they'll be drafting. The rest is up to Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes and their scouting staff.

With Tej Iginla emerging as the straw that stirs the drink at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship, the Canadians will have a great crop of high-octane forwards to choose from depending on where they train: Maclin Celebrini and Ivan Demidov are likely. gone, but that leaves Kaden Lindstrom, Berkley Catton, Cole Eiserman and Iginla who could be available.

It's a long shot, but the Canadians have an 8.5 percent chance of winning the top pick, and Celebrini is good enough to re-examine everything they try to do. Demidov, on the other hand, may be the most skilled player in the draft.

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You'd expect Iginla to look long and hard, as he'd fit in perfectly with the actions of Gorton and Hughes.

If there's one thing that sets the Gorton/Hughes approach apart from the likes of Marc Bergevin and Trevor Timmins, it's the emphasis on class and smarts. They have to love the qualities Iginla has shown in the world – the competitive fire, the clutch, the ability to run the game.

This is not an argument in favor of doing the Iginla project. This is an attempt to predict what the Canadiens will do if Celebrini and Demidov are unavailable. In that case, I'll bet on Iginla. Then again, I wouldn't bet.

Captain Underpants Revealed Again: So the Leafs won two games without Auston Matthews, then lost Game 7 with him. I'll take it easy.

Mitch Marner has taken most of the heat for Toronto's annual spring failure (deservedly so), but when you're a big dog, when the entire Hogtown media machine is dedicated to singing your praises, you need to show up when it matters most.

Felix Le Chat: Félix Auger-Aliassime played some good tennis in Madrid, followed by the retirements of Jakub Mencic, Yannick Sinner and Jiri Lehecka as he reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final against world No. 8 Andrey Rublev.

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Auger-Aliassime took her to three sets before losing 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, but she seems to have bounced back in time for the biggest tournaments of the season.

Heroes: Marie-Philippe Poulin, Erin Ambrose, David Pastrnak, Jeremy Swayman, Artemi Panarin, Arthur Siloves, Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Rick Bowness, Andre De Grasse, Nigara Sahin, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Iga Svitecka, Arina Sabalien, Caitlin Clark, Paige Crozon, Adrian Newey, Jalen Brunson, Chris Kim &&&& last but not least, Alexander Pielieshanko, Olympic weightlifter and Ukrainian hero.

Zeros: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly, Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights, Alex Meruelo, Gary Bettman, John Cooper, Chad Kelly, Ryan Smith, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ryan Garcia, FanDuel, Nick Nurse, Deion Sanders, Sheder Sanders, Rob Manfred, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu, David Samson and&&& last but not least Jeffrey Loria.

Now and forever.

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