LEAFS, JETS CANADA’S ONLY PLAYOFF HOPES?
NO MORE THAN THREE TEAMS FROM NORTH OF THE BORDER WILL MAKE PLAYOFFS
Oh no, Canada. Not again. It was two years ago when Postmedia News embarked on a six- part series — No Canada: How we lost our game — that tried to explain why Canadian teams had not only gone more than two decades without winning a Stanley Cup, but had also failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 1970.
We looked at everything, from the sagging Canadian dollar and players’ aversion to the media fishbowl to general mismanagement and a failure to draft and develop players. Everything got blamed. As a country, we seemed to be a mess for the NHL brand.
And then we suddenly weren’t. When five of the seven Canadian teams qualified for the playoffs the following season, with Ottawa coming within an overtime goal of the Stanley Cup final, it appeared as though we might have overreacted.
But 12 months later the teams were back at square one.
With three- quarters of the season complete, only Winnipeg and Toronto are currently locked into playoff spots. Calgary, which is a point out of the wild card in the West, could make it three. But overall the standings aren’t pretty: four of the six worst teams in the NHL ( Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal and Edmonton) are once again based in Canada. Once again, it’s easy to see why. Mismanagement — not a failure to attract free agents — is the reason why Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal and Edmonton have become punch lines.
In a season when Vegas can enter the league and build a roster from scratch, it’s inexcusable that a team with the best defenceman ( Ottawa), the best goalie ( Montreal) and the best player (Edmonton) cannot even sneak into the playoffs.
The question is whether any of them will be able to turn things around for next season — or whether that’s even the right move.
Rebuilds are needed in Ottawa and Montreal, both of which appear to be heading that way after dangling Erik Karlsson and Max Pacioretty, respectively, at the trade deadline. Edmonton needs to shuffle its Rubik’s cube of a roster that still doesn’t look right. And Vancouver has to stop re-tooling and go all- in with their kids, even if it means not bringing back the Sedin twins and buying out a bad contract.
In other words, more pain could be coming.
Will this be the year Canada ends its championship drought? That’s likely up to Winnipeg to decide. While Toronto has the goalie and the young legs to make some noise and surprise some teams, the Leafs will probably have to go through Boston and Tampa Bay just to get to the conference final. If the season ended today, the Jets would play the Wild.
If Mike Smith’s injury is the reason why the Flames miss the playoffs, fingers will ( and should) point at GM Brad Treliving, who failed to pick up a veteran goalie such as Cam Ward, Robin Lehner or Antti Raanta at the trade deadline. The team is 3-4-1 since he got hurt on Feb. 11.
St. Louis players were obviously unhappy that management traded Paul Stastny at the deadline and on Tuesday they showed it in an 8- 3 loss to the Wild that looked more like a protest. Afterwards, head coach Mike Yeo practically threatened to bench the entire team. “The lack of respect that we have for our goaltenders and for the game of hockey, that’s ridiculous,” he told reporters.
It’s somewhat surprising that it took Los Angeles Kings goalie Jack Campbell, who was drafted 11th overall in 2010 and won a world junior championship for the U.S., eight years to pick up his first NHL win. But it’s a great lesson as well. Like Jeff Glass, who took 13 years before making his debut, not everyone’s road to the NHL is straightforward. Nice to see that Campbell never gave up.
Eric Staal, who tied Connor McDavid with a February- best 13 goals and 21 points in 13 games this month, is having a throwback type of season. The 33- year- old is tied for fourth in the Rocket Richard Trophy race with 33 goals and is on pace for 83 points — his best offensive season in nearly a decade.
Somewhat lost in the Calder Trophy talk is that Nico Hischier is tied for fifth in rookie scoring with 13 goals and 41 points in 63 games. He’s one of only two players drafted in 2017 that is still playing in the league this year. Nothing against Mathew Barzal or Brock Boeser, but they were both drafted in 2015 — the same year as Connor McDavid.
I understand that Vegas was in a position to go for it, but nothing about the Tomas Tatar trade makes sense. Why would a young and emerging team waste a first-, a second- and a third- round pick on a 27- year- old who has scored 16 goals and 28 points this season? After all, it’s not like he’s cheap. With three years remaining on a US$ 5.3- million cap hit, he’s now the Golden Knights’ highest- paid forward.
Now that the trade deadline has passed, the focus turns to college free agency where teams are trying to unearth the next Tyler Bozak or Jimmy Vesey. The player on the top of most lists is Princeton forward Max Veronneau, a 22-year-old Ottawa native who was nominated for the Hobey Baker Award after scoring 13 goals and 44 points in 29 games.