NHL: Canada Swimming in Troubled Waters

No need to push the panic button but patrons and admirers of our specific Canadian brand of hockey have to be troubled at where we currently stand.

The state of Canadian hockey is in a state.

What we’re talking about here is the general ‘state’ of Canada’s seven National Hockey League teams. In a word – poor.

And further to that, who saw this one coming (and in such a rush of a turnaround): Arguably our country’s top two clubs are Ottawa and Montreal; arguably as well as statistically. The Senators and – more to the point – the Canadiens were push-and-shove to even make the playoffs last season. That after years of trial and error, and more error.

And further to even that, not many, if any, saw this one coming: Two of Canada’s most discombobulated and vexing teams are none other than the reigning Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers and the sure-thing-for-a-playoff-rung Toronto Maple Leafs.

Go figure.

So, what the heck is going on?

Well, for one: parity. That has been discussed at length so far this season in this corner of your page. We have just passed the quarter mark on the year and the separation between top and bottom and the middling clubs is minimal. Any kind of losing skid gets amplified in today’s NHL. You can literally jump – or plummet – nine or 10 slots in the standings if encountering a two or three game losing streak. This applies to everyone but the Nashville Predators who are so godawful that last place overall is seemingly a certainty. You can also exclude the Colorado Avalanche; the other end of the rainbow. The Avs have but one regulation loss in their first 22 games and are stunningly dominant in 2025, sitting five ahead of the Dallas Stars for first overall.

Everyone else though? It’s a day-by-day, game-by-game event.

But parity does not quite cover it, particularly where our Canadian teams figure in.

The Senators and Canadiens were destined to improve. Young, talented teams do that. Both still have chinks in the armour, but the evidence is there that the turnover in Canadian ‘power’ is altering.

Even with that the stats-pack is worrisome for Canada. The Senators lead the way with an 11-7-4 record and that’s only good enough for 14^th league-wide. The Habs are just one point in arrears (and here’s where that ‘parity’ appears again) but currently rest in 18^th.

The Oilers have played 25 games, and most have been nightmarish. Edmonton is at .500 and sits 23^rd, one point up on the Winnipeg Jets who’ve skated in four less games.

So, how tight are things in hockey?

Ottawa, with 26 points, is two ticks up on the Jets’ 24 and yet is 10 spots ahead in the overall standings (14th to 24th).

Wild.

The lesson then in this season is pretty simple – change can happen in a hurry, and that can be good change or bad change.

This is what the Maple Leafs are pledging this morning as the team heads out on a five-game road slog. Travels through Columbus, Washington, Pittsburgh, Florida and Carolina lie ahead during the next week and a bit.

Toronto fans and their coach are glued to the optimistic idea that lengthy road trips build team unity and chemistry. All for one, one for all, right?

But there is nothing that has been revealed through the opening 22 games that indicates Toronto is in for a turnaround. Quite the opposite. The Leafs play disinterested, passionless hockey and in the early going it certainly looks like head coach Craig Berube has ‘lost the room.’

Injuries have skated in as well but that registers as unsurprising given the team’s average age and given the league’s ridiculously compressed schedule during this Olympic year. Simply put, we don’t see the Leafs morphing back into Canada’s team anytime soon.

Ditto for the surprisingly poor Oilers. For all their firepower and superstardom up front, Edmonton’s brain trust has done nothing to rectify the goaltending situation . . . Again. The Oil sport the circuit’s worst goals-allowed record and by a significant margin.

The make-up of the blueline is fragile. Led by the mistake-prone Evan Bouchard, the defence is thin and exploitable.

As for our remaining two Canadian teams, both Vancouver and Calgary appear headed for full rebuild mode. Playoffs won’t be in the cards in 2025-26.

The Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens lead the way in the north. Unfortunately, that’s not something to get overly charged up over.

OTTAWA SENATORS WEEK AHEAD:

Wednesday, Nov. 26: Ottawa at Vegas (10 pm)

Friday, Nov. 28: Ottawa at St. Louis (4 pm)

Sunday, Nov. 30: Ottawa at Dallas (6 pm)

Tuesday, Dec. 2: Ottawa at Montreal (7 pm)

thegrossgame@yahoo.com

Photo: Courtesy Yahoo Sports