Canada’s teams keep running into the same old problem, and it has nothing to do with the salary cap for once. The tax issue is becoming one of those quiet front-office headaches that everyone inside the league knows about but nobody wants to turn into a full-blown public brawl. It affects how clubs build, retain, and sell their pitch to players, which is the part fans rarely see until a roster starts leaking talent.

Connor McDavid is listed day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and that is enough to make every Oilers fan reach for the stress ball. In this league, “day-to-day” can mean anything from a minor nuisance to a situation that quietly reshapes a series or a week of planning. Edmonton has to manage the line between caution and urgency, because nobody in the room needs a reminder of what happens when the best player in the sport is even a little compromised.