Why every Canadian team is currently out of the NHL playoffs

As of today, no Canadian team currently occupies a playoff spot in the National Hockey League. In fact, four of those teams are a mere two points away from being tied for last in the league. What’s happened to the Canadian teams, especially when over half of them made the playoffs in 2015?

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks are currently five points out of a playoff spot in the Pacific Division, but Anaheim’s games in hand make it unlikely for the Canucks to overcome this deficit. Their aging core and shallow depth has been somewhat masked by Jacob Markstrom’s and Ryan Miller’s strong performances. Although the Canucks have been trying to supplement their older core with younger prospects that have fallen out of favour with their prior organizations such as Sven Baertschi, Emerson Etem, and Andrey Pedan, but their return to prominence will likely depend on how Bo Horvat, Jake Virtanen, and Ben Hutton develop.

Ottawa Senators

It’s hard to imagine the Senators aren’t in the playoffs when Erik Karlsson is having a Paul Coffey-like season. Karlsson is currently tied for third in league scoring with 55 points, and you’d think with him playing 30 minutes a game the Senators would be well on their way to securing a playoff spot. However, it’s their depth after their top players that’s hurting them. Players like Cody Ceci and Mark Borowiecki aren’t providing enough in support roles and with Craig Anderson and Andrew Hammond not playing up to the levels of previous years, the Senators are wasting a historic season from their top defencemen.

Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens are having their own sort-of historic season, but not in a good way. No team has missed the playoffs after accumulating 41 points through their first 26 games, but the Canadiens are on track to make history after only accumulating 11 points in the following 26 games after their hot start. Of course, Carey Price’s injury doesn’t help, but this collapse shows the Canadiens’ over-reliance on elite goaltending and has exposed their lack of scoring up front.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Of all the Canadian teams to be sitting outside the playoff picture, the Leafs are probably the least surprising. Their entire season screamed tank for Auston Matthews more than anything, and they would certainly be last place if it weren’t for James Reimer being among the league leaders for save percentage. The Leafs seem set on getting a top draft pick this season, and they should achieve that after purging their roster before the trade deadline.

Calgary Flames

The Flames seemed prime to continue where they left off last season with the additions of Michael Frolik and Dougie Hamilton, but they are one of the worst puck-possession teams in the league and are close to last in the league in the standings. It doesn’t help that neither Karri Ramo or Jonas Hiller have a save percentage above .911. With their goaltending and possession numbers doing them no favours, it’s becoming more difficult for Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan to out-score the team’s mistakes.

Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers might be in a different spot if they had a healthy lineup this season. They were always a long-shot for the playoffs considering their shaky defence and unproven goaltending, but are currently leading the league in man-games lost to injury with a whopping 219 so far this year, and it’s been their most impactful players going down, most notably Connor McDavid missing 37 games with a broken collarbone. Cam Talbot has performed extremely well the last two months, but a poor start and crucial injuries leave the Oilers in a familiar spot at the bottom of the standings.

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets came into this season looking to rebound after a disappointing first round exit against the the Anaheim Ducks last year, but have done just about everything except that. They’re a good even-strength team, but are tied for the most minor penalties taken, and currently sit 27th in the league in penalty kill percentage. Their undisciplined play has led to them being far outside the playoffs and unable to take advantage of rookie goaltender Connor Hellebuyck’s outstanding play.