Leafs and 6 Other Canadian Teams Being Dismissed Before Season Even Begins

After the last 2 post-seasons, one topic of conversation has ruled social media as hockey fans from around the world discuss and debate whether or not the Stanley Cup will return to Canada.

The last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, you'd have to go back to 1993 when the Montreal Canadiens ousted the Los Angeles Kings. Since then, Canadian teams have lost in the finals 8 times, including the last 2 years with the Edmonton Oilers taking home the honours.

The Winnipeg Jets won the President's Trophy as the regular season's best team, the Toronto Maple Leafs won the gruelling Atlantic Division, and rising teams in Ottawa and Montreal saw post-season action last year with Calgary missing out on a tiebreaker.

However, despite that level of success, don't expect much from the Canadian clubs in 2025-26 and beyond, at least according to NHL analyst Mike Rupp from the NHL Network.

Based on his comments that would then put the Maple Leafs Stanley Cup drought to at least 83 years once we reach 2050.

Edmonton is expected to have some regression after a lot of changes were made this off-season, same is expected in Toronto, question marks lie with Vancouver and Winnipeg after quiet summers, and Calgary, Ottawa, and Montreal are expected to minimally improve on their 2024-25 campaigns.

The American teams, who have a 25-7 edge in total teams, are expected to continue to dominate the NHL landscape and with teams like Florida, Tampa Bay, Colorado, and Carolina in the mix, it's hard to disagree.

It will be interesting to see how many Canadian teams qualify for the playoffs this year after we saw 5 make it in 2024-25. However, don't expect much from them when they do qualify, at least according to Rupp and the NHL Network.