It's difficult to measure success for Canadian NHL teams when the bar is set so high.
If hope springs eternal, why is it that Canada's always tardy leap into spring seems to be covered with blankets of gray clouds and chilling forecasts not just in terms of weather, but of playoff doom and gloom?
Toronto not being involved can't be the reason. This is the fourth consecutive spring the Leafs haven't qualified for the postseason (barely competed for it if you prefer the harsh truth) so there's nothing new there.
Edmonton has dashed hopes as well, but when was the last time you truly expected the Oilers to power their way into the playoffs and then do something once they got there? This is a franchise that in recent seasons seems more encumbered by its once glorious past not enhanced or inspired by it. Except for that one wondrous 2006 run to the final and a competitive loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, the results of the past decade -- usually either a non-qualifying season or one of those almost annual match-ups with the Dallas Stars -- tended to go badly. Another postseason miss hardly qualifies as major news.
Is Ottawa the problem? Well you could make the case given the Senators are just two seasons removed from the Stanley Cup final and now are out of the playoff hunt, but come on, let's have at least one dose of reality here. We said in this space at the start of the season that the Senators were going to miss the postseason. It's no crime; they were in for 11 straight seasons. Not only is that a great run, but it's also to be expected that a decline was in order. Losses to free agency have taken their toll. Never quite getting the goaltending needed was also a factor. Some falloff from the elite players, and a lack of mid-level talent was to be expected. It's easier to shutdown an elite player when you don't have to concentrate on also stopping timely scoring from the second and third lines. The Sens are what they are and at this stage of their run that was to be expected.
That leaves just Montreal in the East and Calgary and Vancouver in the West and already we have predictions that the end is at hand even before the playoffs get started.
Simple question: why?
I'm interested in your comments and if history is a guide you will deliver within a day after this column is posted, but here's mine: Canada is far too often a victim of unreasonable expectations.
Now before you get your Kelley-Hates-Canada boards re-organized, stop and read me out for a moment.
The three teams I've already mentioned -- Toronto, Edmonton and Ottawa -- this season were never to be thought of as Stanley Cup contenders even if they somehow managed to find the postseason.
Montreal, even before the loss of two of their top four defencemen on Monday, was a team more about hype than reality. Vancouver and Calgary we'll get to a little farther down.
The Canadiens have unproven goaltending, a largely undersized lineup that was never especially good down the middle and their once-vaunted power play has suffered greatly from continual losses in the free agent market. It is, at times, a nice team given its speed and occasional bursts of offence, but in the crucial areas were championships are built; goaltending, defence and one or two unstoppable offensive players, the Canadiens this season were noticeably short.
To borrow words from former NFL coach Dennis Green the Canadiens were: "who we thought they were. Now if you want to crown their d*** a**, go ahead, but they are who we thought they were."
And really, no one should have thought they were anything other than a team that might get hot at the right moment and get on a roll not unlike the Oilers did when they ran to the final against Carolina or the Calgary Flames were when they had their almost triumphant run that ended in a seven-game loss to Tampa Bay.
And there lies the point.
Of the three Canadian teams that should line up for a playoff game this spring (and the Canadiens are still at a bit of risk in that regard), each is expected to carry the hopes not just of their city or region but an entire nation.
Why?
The Canadiens, if they get in, should be happy to have accomplished that and play accordingly; that would be loose to the point of devil may care. Chances of that happening in Montreal: zero.
Out west the Canucks and the Flames have stumbled a bit down the stretch, but if they were looked at objectively the Canucks would be viewed as a team that has experienced an enormous growth spurt and is going in the right direction. The Flames should be viewed as a team with some flaws, but with real strengths that could make them a team you wouldn't want to meet in the first or second round.
Do they have those distinctions? Not even close.
Instead of being viewed as teams that have had very good regular season success, they are this week being portrayed as teams that have hit the wall and can't possibly get over it. Vancouver is a team that is young at almost all of the key positions (including goaltending if you measure it by playoff experience). The Canucks have been to the postseason only once since 2004 yet they aren't being lauded for their dramatic leap forward or even the fact that since February it has been one of the best in the NHL. Instead they see a steady stream of reports centered on a late-season collapse and allegations of having blown the Northwest Division title.
Kudos to Vancouver Province hockey writer Ed Willes who after seeing an admitted week of failure that was capped off by an ugly loss to the lowly Colorado Avalanche had the good sense to point out that before the recent stumble the Canucks had gone 20-6-2 in a 28-game stretch that identified the team as something more than being on a hot streak.
In other words, the Canucks are a good young team that has played that way over huge portions of the season. Sure they have weaknesses, especially in the areas of confidence and experience, but instead of being viewed as what they are, a good young team on the rise, they are being vilified for what all the world appears to be a stumble rather than a complete collapse.
Instead of heading toward the playoffs as one of those teams starting to put it all together, a time in any young team's existence that is truly a joy to watch, they are being portrayed as a team that can't keep their stuff together when it matters most.
Why? Who back in September decided the 2008-09 Canucks were on a path to win the Cup this spring?
If the Canucks were based in, say Phoenix, the season would be a cause for dancing in the streets, stories in the papers about what the playoffs are all about in the NHL and how the team might do some damage in them. Why there might even be a few stories explaining the history of the Stanley Cup and how it has come to be one of the most cherished trophies in all of sport, largely because of the fact that it is so difficult to win it.
Canadian teams never seem to get that ode to hockey joy, just ask the Flames.
Most of you know where I stand with the Flames. I think they are something less than what they are often portrayed. It could be in part because they never seem to get the chemistry just right or because they don't have enough separation (10 goals at this writing) between their offence and defence. They also have too much hope invested in one player -- goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff -- and they have a tendency to simply wear out near the end, the result of pushing too hard with too few for too long.
But that hardly qualifies them as failures even though that's how they've been portrayed after they found themselves challenged for the division lead by the Canucks.
Using Green's words again, the Flames "are what we thought they were" and they've played accordingly. Overall, they appear better than they were (at least in terms of depth) than last season's team, but does that make them Stanley Cup favorites?
Nowhere but across the prairies and, given the state of markets elsewhere, in Toronto, Ottawa and most everywhere else.
The fact that the Flames have a showdown game for the division crown Tuesday in most places would be viewed with joyful anticipation. The fact that they didn't have to go to the last minute of the last game of the regular season to earn a playoff spot should offer a sense of relief.
Instead it's hockey angst and a sense of déjà' vu all over again. Oh and did we mention a merciless criticism of the power play among fans who also dubbed the Flames "chokers" for not staving off Vancouver's relentless drive toward the top?
This is the way it goes every season in Canada. Given the constant heat it's understandable if workers at General Motors are a more confident bunch.
The simple truth is this: There are six teams in Canada and half of them appear to have qualified for the postseason. That's not bad and of the three that are likely to be there, all have played mostly entertaining hockey and two of them -- Vancouver and Calgary -- have not only clinched their spots with room to spare but are competing for a division title, still a noteworthy accomplishment in the NHL.
Hockey writers, me included, tend to point out bad news over good, that's the nature of the news business, but Canadian fans seem to take it even farther than that.
One can't help but wonder it that doesn't make the quest for a championship not just more difficult but darn near impossible.
