You’d be arduous pressed to search out something innately funnier than Canada’s incapacity to win a Stanley Cup over the past three many years. The nation that gave us the game of hockey, nurtured its tradition, and gives over 40% of gamers within the league hasn’t had a group hoist the cup since 1993, when the Montreal Canadiens beat Wayne Gretzky and the L.A. Kings.
In that point we’ve seen groups from Florida win the cup 4 instances, Carolina win as soon as — even Las Vegas and Dallas have had their time within the solar. The Toronto Raptors have an NBA championship, the Blue Jays received a World Sequence, all whereas Canada’s collective hockey drought continued.
2025 may very well be the 12 months that adjustments all that. Eight groups are left within the playoffs, three are from Canada. Winnipeg was the very best statistical group within the NHL this season, the Maple Leafs confirmed main grit in beating the defending champions in Sport 1, and Edmonton proved within the west that their top-line expertise may overcome Vegas’ depth on Tuesday evening.
Now comes the massive check. Toronto takes the ice on Wednesday evening to attempt to go up 2-0, and the Jets want to point out they belong towards Dallas following a sequence towards St. Louis that was far too shut for consolation. It’s time to dig into the three Canadian groups left and see whether or not they have what it takes to go all the best way this 12 months, and why they’ve struggled a lot for the reason that Canadiens win in 1993.
Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers will perpetually be inexorably linked to Wayne Gretzky’s legacy, and now they’ve the closest participant to observe in his footsteps. Connor McDavid is such a phenom that Edmonton has largely been capable of make the playoffs solely on the stick of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and it’s been that means for years.
The difficulty, because it perpetually has been, is that the Oilers lack protection and goaltending must make deep runs within the playoffs. They’re very a lot constructed to be an unbelievable common season group that lacks the depth wanted to win a cup. For some time it appeared like there was an opportunity to alter this, however the entrance workplace made the choice to maintain McDavid and Draisaitl collectively — paying two monumental ahead salaries, reasonably than letting Draisaitl stroll and spending the cash elsewhere.
This group has the potential to attain in bunches and power groups into deep waters. It may be tough to dig out, particularly if the protection is on level. Sadly too typically it’s not. It could be superb to get McDavid a cup, but it surely’s iffy to financial institution on them towards the sphere.
What’s gone mistaken over time?
Shedding Gretzky was one factor, however the Oilers had a protracted, painful loss of life after that which noticed them slowly worsen and worse. The nadir actually got here after shedding the 2006 Stanley Cup to Carolina, which led to a number of the worst seasons in franchise historical past in fast succession.
This did enable the Oilers to land some phenomenal expertise like Taylor Corridor, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and the aforementioned McDavid — however the group over-invested in ahead play on the expense of the remainder of their group. They’re a perennial playoff group now. They’ve the primary line expertise to make the Stanley Cup, however whether or not or not they’ll win is one other story.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Yearly there’s hope in the case of the Leafs, and yearly they discover a option to blow it. The NHL’s equal of the Dallas Cowboys, Toronto is perpetually a group that appears good on paper, but finds methods to squander their expertise when video games matter essentially the most.
This 2024-25 iteration of the Leafs is way from good. They’re slightly too top-heavy of their traces and their penalty kill is middling, at finest. Nonetheless, there’s no denying that one thing feels completely different about this Toronto group to previous iterations.
It begins with the ludicrous expertise up entrance. Solely Edmonton can boast the same degree of star energy. The primary line Toronto has been utilizing of Matthew Knies/Auston Matthews/Mitch Marner is a killer group, and having the ability to boast Max Pacioretty/John Tavares/Williams Nylander as a second line is simply absurd.
Relating to projecting their cup-winning potential it’s going to come back down to 2 issues:
- Can the Maple Leafs be robust sufficient on the forecheck to take stress off their protection?
- Will Anthony Stolarz have the ability to maintain up in web?
If Toronto could make it previous Florida by proving No. 1, then they’ll should content material with both the Capitals or Canes to show No. 2. If these each occur there’s a really actual probability they might beat whoever comes out of the west.
What’s gone mistaken over time?
How a lot time do you’ve got? Reality be advised, it’s been a brutal 5 many years for the reason that Leafs final received the Stanley Cup in 1967. Over that point they’ve made the playoffs 36 instances and did not even return to the Stanley Cup Finals. This is a corporation that has made the playoffs in every of the final 9 seasons, and by no means made it additional than the second spherical.
An absence of star energy has been the most important drawback. It is a franchise that has been so persistently good that they haven’t ever been fairly unhealthy sufficient to land celebrity expertise, at the least till 2016 when the Leafs managed to draft Auston Matthews with the No. 1 decide. Matthews and Mitch Marner characterize the very best 1-2 punch this group has had in many years, and will in the end be what places them excessive.
Winnipeg Jets
The Jets had been completely phenomenal through the 2024-25 common season. Combining environment friendly offensive play with stellar protection allowed them to play an old-school recreation within the trendy period. The kings of selecting their pictures, there was little or no wasted momentum from the Jets all season lengthy, and with the stellar Connor Hellebuyck in objective in allowed them to soar.
The issue has been these playoffs. Seemingly suddenly the group has become a pumpkin. Predicting a simple Spherical 1 sweep towards St. Louis appeared like a secure wager after their common season dominance, however they had been takent to seven video games and had been on the point of elimination.
Defensively the group collapsed, Hellebuyck had huge points discovering the puck, and too typically the Jets had been pushed off their marks defensively, which opened up screens. Now they should face Dallas, who’re a favourite to win the cup after their commerce deadline acquisition of Mikko Rantanen. It appears like their story may finish on this sequence.
What’s gone mistaken over time?
Winnipeg was a sufferer of small market bias. The primary iteration of the group had phenomenal success, however got here simply as NHL enlargement was on the league’s thoughts. This led to their relocation to Arizona, abandoning the fanbase till 2011.
When the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to present Winnipeg a group it was a tough slog for some time, however the group constructed slowly right into a contender. Now it appears they’ve all of the components wanted to win a cup, as long as they’ll discover their type once more. The 2024-25 group is the results of years of labor, and this is perhaps the closest they’ll get for an additional decade.
