No, Canada: NHL Playoffs Canadian team free for 1st time since 1970

After the elimination of the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night, Canada won’t have any of its seven teams in the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

No Sens nor Flames nor Leafs. No Jets nor Habs nor Nucks.

(Some may say I failed to list the Oilers, but if the playoffs are happening, this is simply inferred.)

The last time this happened was 46 years ago in 1969-70, when the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs were two of four teams to miss the playoffs in a 12-team league. Looking back on it is sort of hilarious: The Canadiens would have been in first place in the West, and the Leafs would have been second. Instead, the Minnesota North Stars (.395 winning percentage) and the Oakland Seals (.382).

Luckily, the NHL realigned and added some expansion patsies to ensure they’d return to the postseason in 1971.

This time, Canadian teams had seven chances at securing one of 16 playoff spots, and failed epically. And these weren’t valiant efforts that just fell a point or two short of achieving postseason glory – these seasons were a bushel of moldy vegetables you may not even want to use for compost.

(Although it should be said that quietly bowing out with weeks to go in the regular season so the American teams can focus on each other is the epitome of Canadian politeness.)

The Montreal Canadiens lost goalie Carey Price to injury, and with him any semblance of confidence or teamwork. The Ottawa Senators inexplicably fell short of contention, and owner Eugene Melnyk is vowing to have a full forensic investigation. The Toronto Maple Leafs deserve credit for achieving their goals, which was to trade every veteran body, finish last in the division and have a roster that could be reasonably termed “expansion level.”

The Winnipeg Jets, a playoff team last season, couldn’t keep pace in the Division of  Death, huffing and wheezing like a chubby kid running a high-school mile. (Raises hand from experience.) The Calgary Flames, a playoff team last season, spent an entire season making their advanced stats critics look like the Stephen Hawkings of hockey. The Vancouver Canucks, also a playoff team last season, were stunned to discover that having your entire offensive game-plan as “give it to the Swedish twins in their mid-30s” is an indication that, yes, you might be a rebuilding team.

And the Edmonton Oilers lost prized rookie Connor McDavid for over half the season to injury but gained yet another year in the NHL’s basement. Huzzah.

As an American hockey fan, all of this was heartwarming.

At first.

For example, it guaranteed the Stanley Cup will remain with an American team, as it has every NHL season since 1993. This has become a part of U.S. pride, to the point where President Obama uses it to troll the Canadian Prime Minister.

It also eliminates any chance that the American and/or Canadian national anthem will be booed at any point during the playoffs, which is always a fairly thorny issue. Also, zero chance someone will goof up the words of “O Canada” by starting to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” instead.

And there’s also a perverse joy in seeing how the NHL reacts to not having any Canadian teams involved in their postseason, what with Canadian fan interest and Canadian media rights money being the lifeblood of the League.

Gary Bettman most recently went with "fifty percent of the players in this game are from Canada, so for people to suggest that there isn't still a Canadian-centric focus I think is a little misleading."

Can’t wait for those Sportsnet commercials on Canadian TV: “Watch Mississauga’s Robby Fabbri lead the St. Louis Blues against Regina’s Matt Dumba and the Minnesota Wild …”

But like I said: All of this was heartwarming at first.

The more I considered this “No, Canada” postseason, a Yukon chill fell over my American hockey soul.

Consider that the Oilers and Flames and Jets each have collections of young players of varying degrees of potential greatness. Consider that with the Leafs and Canucks nearly bottoming out, their fortunes shall reverse eventually. Montreal and Ottawa could, with a few tweaks, be back in the postseason next year.

This competitive nadir for the Canadian NHL teams could very well be the dawn of an era of dominance in which moribund franchises become the NHL’s elite, All-Canadian series suck the ratings out of American television and the Stanley Cup is wedged in a river of maple syrup for decades.

Enjoy this one while we can, fellow Americans. For while we’ve expunged the Canadians from our playoffs, they’ll be back. With a vengeance. And they’ll probably have American Auston Matthews with them, taken first overall in the NHL Draft with one of seven possible Canadian first overall picks.

(SPOILER ALERT!) There’s a nightmare sequence in the new “Batman v Superman” in which the Dark Knight envisions a world enslaved by Superman, who has shock troopers wearing his ‘S’ shield rounding up and murdering those on the side of good and light. (Because that movie has, like, a lot of murder.)

Now picture a Maple Leaf flag instead of a Kryptonian insignia, and Connor McDavid instead of Superman, and shudder.

For this could be our future. The Dawn of Just 'Ehs.'

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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