from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

As a group, Canada’s NHL clubs sport a disgraceful competitive record. No Canadian team has won the Cup since Montreal won in 1993. Not a single Canadian team has even managed to get to the Cup final since Vancouver made it and lost to Boston in 2011.

Since then, 12 of the 24 U.S. teams have made it to a Cup final, including the Vegas Golden Knights in that team’s first year. Four teams — St. Louis, Washington, San Jose and Nashville — qualified for their first Cup final since the last Canadian team made an appearance.

Every year, Canada’s teams seem to be on the outside looking in with a couple of exceptions. This seems to have become generally accepted north of the border. Television ratings are good everywhere and attendance is usually terrific, with Ottawa the lone exception these days as Eugene Melnyk and Pierre Dorion mimic the Rogers/Mark Shapiro Blue Jays model of turning a winner into a loser faster than you can say Johnny Bower.

Certainly none of the Canadian teams seem to be suffering unduly from their lack of competitiveness.

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