A year after a ‘Canadian crisis,’ five teams begin their quest

FEARS OF AN EXTENDED PLAYOFF DROUGHT QUICKLY ERASED

TORON TO • The Great Canadian Hockey Crisis was, it turned out, rather short-lived.

Perhaps years from now, when the wounds aren’t still so raw, we will speak of it in hushed, reverential tones: that time, in the spring of 2016, when not one of Canada’s seven NHL franchises made the post-season. Arenas were empty, hockey pools lacked their usual run of hilariously biased homer picks, Rogers executives made their scotch a double, no ice, for there was no one on this country’s ice for the first time since the Trudeau years. No, not that one, the other one, with much less lustrous hair.

We managed to muddle through the dark times. A nation rose to the challenge, and now, just a year later, five Canadian teams are back in the playoffs. They don’t even have to play each other in the first round this time. Canada is back, or maybe we never actually left.

This is not to say that there wasn’t some merit to the introspection and investigation that took place in the wake of the playoff bagel that Canada’s teams put up last season. It’s true that there are some challenges unique to this market, if we can call a whole country with as much disparity as this one a single market. Some Canadian outposts operate at a free-agency disadvantage because their climate is cold and their taxes are high, at least when compared to certain U.S. states where they tend to bankrupt school boards before they ask for a tax increase, unless it is to fund a stadium. Other Canadian markets have a similar recruiting disadvantage, but for a different reason: because the NHL is king, and players perform under remarkable scrutiny. The relative anonymity of a life in Nashville or Anaheim, not to mention the weather, undoubtedly has its appeal. But the pressure thing, on the evidence of this past season, can only be taken as an excuse so far.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs had every reason to wilt down the closing stretch, and instead they played their best hockey right up until a late wobble that they still managed to overcome (barely). The Calgary Flames survived an injury to Johnny Gaudreau and the early-season benching of Brian Elliott, the guy they brought in to be their No. 1 goaltender. The Ottawa Senators made the postseason despite losing starting goalie Craig Anderson for a stretch while he dealt with his wife’s illness. The Montreal Canadiens traded their best player who was not Carey Price, and still coaches. And Toronto had an absurd injection of new young talent, keyed by the arrival of Auston Matthews, who scored four goals on opening night and his 40th in the Leafs’ playoff clincher.

It ’s not that Canada’s teams found a way to overcome innate challenges, it’s that they had better players, or better coaching, or better management, or better luck. The Maple Leafs, for one, have had some of the first three in recent years, but they wouldn’t be in the playoffs today if the draft lottery hadn’t broken their way last June.

But, why they made the playoffs this year doesn’t matter at this point nearly as much as the fact they did.

It is time for Canada’s teams — sorry, Vancouver and Winnipeg — to again sample the tasty thrill, with a dash of fear and a jigger of agony, that is NHL playoff hockey.

For the Canadiens, it ’s time to see if they can manage a deep playoff run that would go some way to soothing the sting of losing P.K. Subban, and allow them to capitalize on the services of an all-world goaltender in his prime.

For the Flames and Senators, it’s time to draw on the experience of their 2015 playoffs, as they will each face a team with a whole lot more post-season experience than that.

And for the Maple Leafs and Oilers, it’s time for their fabulous youngsters to get a sampling of the playoff crucible. Both teams come in with no pressure, having taken huge leaps forward already, and yet both fan bases will say they are just happy to have some playoff hockey while secretly hoping they have a lot of it.

And then, when the games start, and the first overtime is reached, and the first would-be gamewinner clangs off the iron, Canadian fans will recall the one upside of not being in the playoffs: it is a lot less stressful.