Quote:
Originally Posted by thenoflyzone
The Canadian division is weak, save for Toronto and the Oil.
Ottawa and the Habs look promising next year. The Jets are blahh....The flames and Canucks are garbage.
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Yeah, you gotta feel sorry for Calgary fans. Between 2009 and 2017 they missed the play-offs 7 out of 9 seasons, which should have meant lots of good young talent being drafted. While they did draft some good players, they have only managed to build a team strong enough to make the play-offs, but lose in the 1st round, with the peak being 18/19 when they finished with 107 points. They still have decent line-up despite this once in a lifetime season, but it's a team that isn't deep enough to win a SC.
Montreal is in the same boat. They may have a few good seasons, but they haven't done a deep enough of a rebuild to get them to elite status. Weber is 35, Petry is 33, Gallagher is 29, so is Toffoli. They may have enough talent to get into the play-offs for a few years, but that's about it, then they will have to start the long process of a rebuild all over again.
The 2 teams with the best young talent going forward are Ottawa and Vancouver, and are in a better position to become elite teams with a real shot at winning the SC, though Ottawa still has a few tough years ahead with the team still maturing.
The Canucks have added elite talent in the likes of Pettersson and Hughes, along with Boeser and Demko. And they are still adding talent with Hoglander already a top 6 player, and 6th in rookie scoring (where most ahead of him are 2 to 4 years older), and Podkolzin, who led his KHL team in play-off scoring this year.
If Toronto or Edmonton can't pull it off, Vancouver is the next best chance for a Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup in a a couple of years.