Handy Handicap of NHL’s Canadian Clubs

From the ‘Did You Know?’ files: Here we sit, roughly one-third of the way through the 2025-26 season and there is just one Canadian team in a playoff position.

Any guesses?

Edmonton?

Nope.

Toronto?

No.

Ottawa?

No to that one too.

The Montreal Canadiens are the lone team from up-north clinging to a post-season rung.

The good news for Canadian fans is that – given the league’s tight, tight, tight standings – many of the teams they cherish could hop on in with a win or two. Maybe even a single-point overtime loss.

With that in mind as we struggle through the early frigid days of winter let’s play handicapper and give an (educated?) guess as to how the seven canuck clubs measure up (top to bottom).

OTTAWA SENATORS: We have Ottawa at the top as far as odds not because everyone at TSN has a case of the rah-rah’s-siss-boom-bah’s every time the team is mentioned. No, it’s because it just makes sense given the makeup of the club.

The Senators are intriguing. For years (under D.J. Smith and folks before him), Ottawa favoured a run-and-gun style which showcased high octane offence at the expense of any care for protecting the goal. Under Travis Green, the team’s done a 180. Green has Ottawa playing a heavy system with a particular emphasis on positioning and smart defensive play.

Unfortunately for the Senators, that defensive front has seen the offence dry up.

Ottawa does not have a single player among the top-50 in scoring. Drake Batherson and Tim Stutzle are tied for 54^th overall.

What gives the fans hope is this – Brady Tkachuk missed, almost, the entire first part of the year. Fact is, Tkachuk’s still catching up physically to the pace just a few games into his return.

And this is where GM Steve Staios also comes in. For as reluctant he is to make a splash, now’s the time to (you got it) make a splash.

The Senators need a top-6 winger. This will be hard to manoeuvre given how thin the organization is prospect-wise but it’s really a necessity. We’ve known this since last season.

An influx of offence and the team is a cinch to claim a playoff spot.

Everything else seems to be in place. They’re young, talented and for the most part, play smart hockey.

THE ODDS SAY: 80 per cent in.

EDMONTON OILERS: There’s just no universe I know of where a team featuring Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl does not enter the post-season.

Bad goaltending?

Sure, the Oilers are champs there.

Costly giveaways?

Hello, Evan Bouchard.

But when you have two of the best creature features scaring the crap out of the rest of the circuit, odds are they’re likely in.

THE ODDS SAY: 75 per cent in.

MONTREAL CANADIENS: What a year in Montreal.

This is a team that defines up-and-down hockey and up-and-down fortunes. One minute the Habs look like not only the best team in Canada but like one of the best league-wide as well.

But when they stumble, they truly stumble.

For the Habs to clinch and qualify they’ll need Sam Montembeault to be a whole lot better than that .861 save percentage. Back-up Jakub Dobes hasn’t been any better.

If the Canadiens can muster some consistency in their game, we like their chances.

THE ODDS SAY: 70 per cent in.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: This old dog refuses to die (with apologies to dog owners).

The idea that 35-year-old warhorse John Tavares would be one of your best and carry this team on his back for much of the first third would be laughed at in September and early October.

But that’s been the case.

Willy Nylander’s been terrific as well as has bull-in-a-china-shop Matthew Knies.

Auston Matthews has dipped as has the defence. Injuries to their top two netminders are troublesome to say the least. Injuries to their entire roster? Yup – troublesome as well.

THE ODDS SAY: 50 per cent in.

WINNIPEG JETS: From being in the conversation as a Stanley Cup contender the previous two years to being almost forgotten this time around . . . are the Jets.

The loss of Nik Ehlers to Carolina’s been tough.

Winnipeg’s here in Ottawa next week. Come see for yourself and then decide.

But for now.

THE ODDS SAY: 40 per cent in.

CALGARY FLAMES: It’s not so much a rebuild year in Calgary as a restructure.

The Flames are saying the right things as far as holding onto character guys like Nazem Kadri (they want to keep him) but in reality, come trade deadline day, Calgary will likely get picked over.

THE ODDS SAY: 10 per cent in.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS: How can a team boasting Quinn Hughes, Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson and Thatcher Demko be this poor?

The Canucks are last in the league.

Can you spell Fire Sale?

THE ODDS SAY: 5 per cent in.

OTTAWA SENATORS WEEK AHEAD:

Saturday, Dec. 6: St. Louis at Ottawa (7 pm)

Tuesday, Dec. 9: New Jersey at Ottawa (7 pm)

Thursday, Dec. 11: Ottawa at Columbus (7 pm)

Saturday, Dec. 13: Ottawa at Minnesota (2 pm)

thegrossgame@yahoo.com

Photo: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images