Cream of the Canadian crop

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/01/2025 (311 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets are firmly entrenched in a playoff spot. So, too, are the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers. Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens are all sniffing around spring hockey as well.

All of which begs the question: Could Lord Stanley soon be trading a zip code for a postal code for the first since in 32 years?

“It is great for Canada,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said Monday when asked for his take on the current state of the NHL north of the border, where the passion flows like maple syrup and fierce hockey debates are as common as potholes.

“Everybody is improving. The teams have stayed competitive and as much as nobody wants to use the word rebuild, nobody has really done that. It is kind of restocking the shelves and up and running again. That is one thing Trump can’t take from us: we’ve got good Canadian teams.”

Zing!

You don’t need to remind fans around these parts that Montreal was the last Canadian club to win it all in 1993. Seven squads, most recently Edmonton last year, have made it to the Stanley Cup Final since, only to come up short.

A few things have changed during that long championship drought. The NHL has grown from 24 teams to its present state of 32. Minnesota’s team was still called the North Stars, having not yet relocated to Dallas. The Anaheim Ducks and Florida Panthers didn’t exist yet. The Hartford Whalers and Quebec Nordiques did. And Winnipeg, of course, had yet to experience the agony of losing its team.

Now? A real sense of coast-to-coast optimism with every team in the mix. Since the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg in 2011, there’s never been a season when all seven Canadian outfits made the playoffs. Nor has there been one with six.

The closest to date is five, last accomplished in 2016-17 (Winnipeg and Vancouver were the two who missed) and also in 2014-15 (Toronto and Edmonton were on the outside looking in). There have been four teams make it three times, three make it four times, two make it twice, one make it once and the ugly 2015-16 season in which none made it.

Since the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg in 2011, there’s never been a season when all seven Canadian outfits made the playoffs.

If the playoffs started today (using points percentage as the barometer because of uneven games played), Winnipeg, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa would all be in. Vancouver would be ninth in the Western Conference aka the best non-playoff team, while Montreal would be in the exact same spot in the Eastern Conference.

No doubt executives over at Rogers, who own the national broadcasting rights with Sportsnet, are salivating at the possibilities.

The Jets will see one of their northern neighbours on Tuesday as the Canucks come to town. After facing Seattle on Thursday, Winnipeg will close out its season-long eight-game homestand against 20-14-7 Calgary in another one-anthem game on Saturday night.

These meetings may not have the same “four-point” bite that they did a few years ago when everyone was grouped together in the all-Canadian division due to the global pandemic — Montreal ultimately stood tall that year before losing to Tampa Bay in the final — but there’s still plenty at stake including bragging rights among passionate fan-bases.

Right now, Winnipeg (29-12-3) can lay claim to being the cream of the 2024-25 regular-season Canadian crop as they trail only Vegas and Washington for best record in the NHL.

The Jets are 5-1-0 so far in games against Canadian rivals this year (wins over Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, and the lone loss against the Maple Leafs). They have nine more head-to-head battles remaining in the regular season, including the two this week.

“When I look at their team as a whole, when they’re healthy they have great depth up front,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said of the Canucks, who are 19-13-10.

“(Elias) Pettersson, (J.T) Miller, adding (Jake) DeBrusk, and then Quinn Hughes on the back end. An elite defender, he can move, he plays half the game. It feels like the puck’s always on his stick. Similar to how (Cale) Makar plays, he’s up in the rush. He’s creating on the blue line.”

Vancouver is coming off an impressive 3-0 win on Saturday night in Toronto and are true road warriors, with a 12-5-4 mark in enemy territory that is second-best in the NHL. In addition to trying to build some momentum off a big win, they could also be back to full health (Pettersson just returned, while defenceman Filip Hronek is now healthy, too).

“They are still a good hockey team over there. They have some good players over there, and like any opponent you have to be at your best,” Arniel said following his team’s practice.

“They are not going to always hand you things, you have got to take it from them.”

As always, the Jets spoke Monday of keeping the internal focus on their own game. They are 2-1-2 so far on this homestand, including a tidy 3-0 triumph on Saturday over Colorado which was one of the best efforts of the year — the kind that makes you think the sky could really be the limit for this team.

“It’s a very mature group now. I think a lot of guys have bought into that system,” said goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.

“We’re all having fun winning, and we all realizing winning is how you have fun in this league. It’s not the hard days, it’s not the battle days, it’s when you win you enjoy it. And you make sure you enjoy it. Everyone in this locker room is starting to learn what their personal game looks like, and how they succeed is how this team succeeds.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg