Good morning, Edmonton

Good morning, again, Western Canada, and good morning, Insiders.

I can confirm that the Kings are in fact in Edmonton, and not on Kepler-70b, an exoplanet that closely orbits its Subdwarf B host, Kepler-70. (This east-facing room got awfully bright at six in the morning.) But say we _were_ on Kepler-70b. The 5.76-hour orbit would be only marginally longer than the length of time it takes to arrive downtown from Edmonton International Airport, give or take.

The drive from the airport is not a picturesque drive. It is not I-70 through the Rocky Mountains. It’s mostly an arterial road that bisects hotels and motels, mini malls, chain eateries, car dealerships and the such before it crosses the North Saskatchewan River and climbs the hill toward downtown. Unless you’re overlooking the river, Edmonton is not overwhelmingly picturesque, but while it’s not, say, Seattle at sunset, it surpasses all other cities in the amount of focus and appreciation its NHL team draws as an indicator of civic pride. Edmonton and hockey are intertwined, and the fans in this city are among the most loyal and knowledgable as there are across the NHL. Self-proclaiming labels have affixed “Hockeytown” to Detroit and “State of Hockey” to Minnesota, but let’s face it, there’s one actual hockey town that surpasses all the rest. (Hint: It’s not Gatlinburg, Tennessee.)

Our spaceship descended upon Kepler-70b in the late afternoon on Monday, and it was quite a bit cooler than the five-digit temperatures generally associated with planets that orbit only 150,000 miles from their hosts.

That’s it for now, Insiders. More to come from Rogers Place, where the Kings will hold their morning skate at a half past 11. Let’s talk soon. Enjoy your Tuesday, friends.