You are partially right Shamu.. Montreal & Toronto did have exclusive rights to their respective area's, but so did he rest of the original 6. Unfortunately most of the great players came from Canadian cities. As for the praries, that was incorrect. It was open season for any team that could afford to recruit that far. As for the dollar advantage. The league compensated the Canadian teams so there was no advantage. The only advantage over 10 years ago was there was no salary cap and large markets like Detroit, New York and Toronto could spend as much as they wanted. The game is slot more competitive but the old dynasties of the Canadians, Oilers and Islanders are long gone now.