Leafs and Jets to carry Canada’s post-season torch

nucleus of Blake Wheeler, Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers, among others.

The Vancouver Canucks weren’t expected to reach the playoffs after consecutive springs of discontent in a rebuild that never fully took hold, but with a new head coach there was renewed optimism of at least being in the conversation when the calendar flipped to March.

So how did it get to this point where only the Jets and Leafs remain standing?

Perhaps it shouldn’t come in, but entering Tuesday had the league’s worst record since.

Their spectacular fall could be blamed on a number of factors, including a team playing above its head in 2016-17, Erik Karlsson’s slow return from foot surgery, sub-par goaltending, the handling of Kyle Turris’s exit, and owner Eugene Melnyk’s sparring match with fans — one that included a threat to move the franchise on the eve of an anticipated outdoor game against Montreal.

Like the Oilers, the Canadiens had a poor start, but rebounded in November only to fall off a cliff as injuries and a roster devoid of enough difference makers struggled to create offence.

A crowded sick bay damaged any chance the Canucks had of staying relevant.

And then there’s the Flames, who were second in their division on Feb 8. and owned a Western Conference wild-card spot as late as Feb. 25 only to go into the ditch with a 3-10-1 run accented by that disastrous six-game losing streak to seal their fate.

Speaking at the NHL’s general manager meetings in Florida last week with his team’s chances already on life support, Calgary’s Brad Treliving said he wasn’t going to look at what went wrong until after the season.

“We’ve underperformed, no question,” Treliving said. “But I’m not ready to sit here and give last rites and do a post-mortem.”

That time is now just around the corner for Treliving and the GMs of four other Canadian teams.