NHL Playoffs to Feature No Canadian Team for First Time in 46 Years

The 2015-2016 National Hockey League season will mark the first time in 46 years that postseason will not feature a team from the land to the north.

All seven of the Canadian based teams were officially eliminated on Wednesday night, when the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the President’s Trophy winning Washing Capitals in shootouts. The Flyers 2-1 victory, put the final nail in the coffin of the last Canadian team standing, the Ottawa Senators, with 11 days left in the regular season.  

The last time that no Canadian team reached the NHL playoffs was in the 1969-1970 season. Back then, there were only 12 teams in the league and only the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens represented the Canadian markets in the NHL. 

With no Canadian market in this season’s playoffs, Commissioner Gary Bettman will presenting the silver chalice, known as the Stanley Cup, to the captain of a U.S. based team for the 22^nd straight year. Last season five Canadian market teams skated fro the chance to hoist the Cup, which was an improvement from 2013-2014, when only the Canadiens made it to the postseason. 

Not only is this the first time since the 1970 postseason without a team from Canada, it is also the second time in the history of the NHL that it has happened. In that season the New York Rangers won tiebreaker over the Canadiens on the final day of the season. 

The last time a Canadian market team hoisted the cup was in the 1992-1993 season when the Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings four games to one. The Vancouver Canuks came close in the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but fell to the Boston Bruins four games to three.

While the teams that play their home games North of the Border may not be there in the playoffs, there are still many Canadian stars playing for teams on the US based teams to give hockey fans in Canada something to look forward to.