No Canadian club has hoisted the Stanley
Cup around an NHL rink since the Montreal Canadiens won the silverware back in
the 1992/93 season. That winless streak will now last for at least another year
as all seven Canadian-based teams have officially been knocked out of the
playoff race. This is the first time the postseason will face off without at
least one Canadian side since the 1969-70 campaign and it means an American
franchise will win the cup for the 22nd straight year.
The last Canadian team with any hope of
reaching the postseason was the Ottawa Senators. But even though they managed
to down the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on March 30th they were knocked out of
contention when the Philadelphia Flyers erased a 1-0 deficit to Washington with
five minutes to play to beat them 2-1 in a shootout. Five Canadian clubs skated
in the playoffs last season with the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs being
the only two that missed out. The 2013/14 campaign wasn’t one to write home
about either though as Montreal was the only team to play more than 82 games.
And let’s not forget, there were only two Canadian sides in the 2010/11 and
2011/12 postseasons.
The NHL consisted of just 12 clubs back in 1969/70 when all playoff teams were
from American cities, but there were just two Canadian teams, Montreal and
Toronto. There are now seven Canadian squads in the 30-team league with 16 of
those clubs making the playoffs. When Montreal failed to reach the postseason back
then it was considered big news since it was the first time in 22 years they
had fallen short. Also, they had won 10 Stanley Cups during that 22-year
period.
The Habs still had a shot at the postseason
when taking to the ice for their season finale though. The New York Rangers had
already beaten the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 9-5 earlier that day with
New York needing at last five goals to keep their chances alive. The final
score infuriated Canadiens’ fans since Detroit had already made the playoffs
and they felt the Wings had thrown the game. This meant Montreal could still
reach the postseason with a win or tie in Chicago. In fact, they could even
afford to lose as long as they scored five goals.
Needless to say, the Habs failed in their
quest, but did give it a determined effort. Chicago had a 3-2 lead entering the
third period, but extended it to 5-2 with just over nine minutes remaining in
the game. Montreal coach Claude Ruel figured a win or tie were out of the
question so decided to pull goalie Rogatien Vachon as often as he could for the
remainder of the contest in order to score three more goals. That didn’t work
either though as the Hawks skated away with a 10-2 victory courtesy of five
empty-net goals. The Rangers advanced to the playoffs that season as they tied
Montreal for fourth place on points, but scored more goals than the Habs.
There will still be plenty of Canadian
players for hardcore fans north of the border to cheer for this postseason on
the 16 American teams. The Canadian franchises will take a hit to the wallet
though since they’ll be missing out on revenue such as ticket, merchandise, and
concession-stand sales. Canadian television broadcasters will also be sweating
especially Rogers Sportsnet, who have a multi-billion dollar deal in place to
show the NHL playoffs. The postseason will go as usual, but it may be a bit
difficult to pull in high ratings at least seven of Canada’s major cities this
year.
Labels: Ian Palmer