Oh Canada! When will the Stanley Cup drought finally end?
It sure has been a long time since the Stanley Cup was brought to Canada. 22 years in fact.
Since the Canadiens beat the Kings to win it in 1993, the world’s home to hockey has been starved from the coveted 34.5 pound piece of sterling silver, and given the Habs’ Game 6 loss to the Lightning on Tuesday, Canada will remain Cup-less for at least another year.
So the question remains, which Canadian team will end the drought?
The Winnipeg Jets, and Vancouver Canucks have never won it, and you would need to travel back nearly a century to 1927 to find the last time the Ottawa Senators reigned victorious. The Maple Leafs’ drought is nearing the half-century mark with their last Cup coming 48 years ago, while the Oilers’ and the Flames’ droughts sit at 25, and 26 years respectively.
The worst part? The majority of Canada’s seven teams don’t show many signs of being able to legitimately contend for a Cup anytime soon.
The Maple Leafs are officially entering a re-build period coming off one of the most demoralizing seasons in franchise history, and for the sake of Canada’s sanity, let’s hope they aren’t the ones to break the slump; that would probably take a while.
The Canucks likely won’t be the ones to do it either. Their core of Henrik and Daniel Sedin, along with goaltender Ryan Miller is growing old, and it will be just a couple more years before they slip in behind the Leafs on the list of likely Cup contenders from Canada.
The Flames could be a candidate to break through somewhat soon though. They have a great foundation set in place with the emergence of young stars Sam Bennett (18), Sean Monahan (20), and Johnny Gaudreau (21), and if they can continue to build around these core guys, we could see them become a mainstay in the postseason for the foreseeable future.
Ottawa is a team on the rise as well. Their stellar goaltending was on display this season during their unlikely playoff run, and with the way they’re able to develop talent consistently, don’t be surprised if the Senators are able to build a team that can contend for a Stanley Cup in the next few years.
Things are looking way up for Edmonton as well. The Oilers received the number 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, so with the impending arrival of Connor McDavid―the alleged next superstar of the NHL, and the hiring of former Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli, the Oilers have seemingly parted with their self-destructive ways that we’ve become so accustomed to.
The Canadiens continue to be the perennial Canadian favorite to hoist the Cup at season’s end, and they’ve come close recently by reaching the Conference Finals, and Conference Semi-finals the last two seasons. But head coach Michel Therrien has come under scrutiny as of late, and at some point, coming ‘close’ just isn’t going to cut it anymore for the hockey-crazed city of Montreal.
That leaves us with the Winnipeg Jets, the team that was sent away to die in the Arizona desert in 1996 before being re-born when the Thrashers moved north of the border from Atlanta. Interestingly enough, the largely forgotten child of Canadian hockey had quite the resurgence this year by making an unlikely playoff run, and should be one of the favorites to break the Canadian cup drought.
They possess everything.
Head coach Paul Maurice has proven to be a huge asset behind the bench, and their surprisingly solid core brought a rather unexpected variety of speed, skill and strength to the Jets’ game this season. Additionally, the pool of prospects they possess, (namely Nicolaj Ehlers, Josh Morrissey, and Nic Petan) have shown high levels of promise in the minors, and Alexander Burmistrov (drafted 8th overall in 2010) apparently “wants back in North America” and could prove to be an attractive trade piece down the road according to Kevin McGran of thestar.com’s breakaway blog.
So let the waiting game begin, and let’s hope this 22-year drought is nearing its end.
