Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau stops by TSN's NHL trade deadline show to talk pucks

There is debate simmering in the bowels of The Loop's usually affable Slack channel. The divide is at once simple and complex, logical and emotional—a fiery chasm that threatens to split our staff apart and turn us into brother soldiers on opposite sides of a bloody civil war. So what is the fulcrum? What is the point at which this potentially disastrous schism tips?

As it turns out, hockey.

Some among us believe it to be a peasant's sport, policing colleagues with #TMP (Too Many Pucks) every time an ice-borne story piques their interest. Others are compromised by the thrum of the boards beating ceaselessly in their hearts. No matter what side we choose in the battles to come, however, today, NHL Trade Deadline Day, antagonist and acolyte alike have found ceasefire in perhaps the most gloriously Canadian thing in the history of Canada itself: Canadian prime minister and international heartthrob Justin Trudeau stopping by TSN's trade deadline special to break down all the movers and shakers in the weird, wild world of pucks.

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Now just imagine a dystopian, bombed-out near-future where golf is Neo America's new favorite pastime and Supreme Chancellor Donald Trump has joined the Morning Drive crew to dissect another dominant DJ display, and that's the level of crazy collective commitment we're talking about here. Canada and China are currently in embroiled in a game of foreign policy chicken, and Trudeau still finds time to stop by and shoot the shoot (Canadians don't swear) with Tradecentre. Meanwhile, the only thing his constituency wants to know is what the heck is going on with Mark Stone. Heaven truly is a place on earth.

Perhaps this is the show of togetherness that The Loop (and America in general) need to heal our wounds and begin the long, slow process of rebuilding trust. Or maybe it's just the rubber-nuck spectacle of watching a grizzly bear eat day-old maple donuts out of a Tim Horton's dumpster while Rush blares in the background that has us feeling inspired. Only time, and tomorrow's Slack channel, will tell.