One unexpected event that has happened recently was the Great Lakes hierarchy being temporarily shuffled with the Toronto North Stars making the playoffs in S58 after not making the playoffs since at least S53, which is as far as the index goes back, but they were pretty bad in S53 so I am guessing it was at least a few season before then that they even made the playoffs. Chicago were the unlucky souls to be bounced out of their comfortable playoff position as Toronto started becoming a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately for Toronto, this season they found themselves back on the outside looking in, even though they finished the season with 93 points, which would have had them finish 2nd in the division last season (which is where they finished). However the team is still improving and so I think it should not be as much of a surprise next season if they end up bumping one of the 3 other great lakes teams out of a playoff spot. And with the upcoming expansion and playoff format change this last point might be made moot.