Admittedly, this is unusual. Normally, I don't even do any NHL playoff updates anymore. These days, generally speaking, I choose to ignore the NHL, even during Stanley Cup Playoff time.
Why?
Because I never really recovered from my disappointment in the NHL, once it began to systematically undermine northern markets.. Yes, the NHL seemed so intent on trying to make ice hockey popular in cities and regions where it was never popular before, that they seemed not just willing, but almost eager in abandoning their traditional and often loyal northern markets.
This seemed particularly true north of the border, in the country where the sport was invented, Canada. At some point, it seemed that every Canadian team was in danger of relocating south of the border. The Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets actually did relocate in the mid-nineties.
Ironically, it did not begin in Canada, surprisingly enough. The first northern franchise to leave for greener pastures in the fairly recent trend of sacrificing northern teams in favor of new, southern one in non-traditional hockey markets actually were the Minnesota North Stars, who became Dallas Stars in 1993. They won the Stanley Cup in 1999.
Quebec fans lost their team following the 1994-95 season. For years, even decades, Quebec fans remained loyal to their beloved Nordiques. Then, the franchise abandoned Quebec just as they were getting good. That 94-95 team was loaded with talent and were the number one overall seed in the Eastern Conference, although they unfortunately ran up against a determined and capable New York Rangers squad. The Rangers were the defending Stanley Cup champions, and played like it, eliminating Quebec in six in the first round. That was it for Quebec, the extent to which they were able to enjoy their team finally having become elites. They lost the team during the off-season, and saw them not only become the Colorado Avalanche, but hoist the Stanley Cup the very next season, in their first year in Denver. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.
That same year, fans of New Jersey nearly lost the Devils. But the Devils were really good, and had made a long playoff run the year before. They did it again in 1995, even while rumors of the inevitability of a move to Nashville ran rampant. Once the team managed to win the Cup, all of that talk went away, as the prospect of a newly crowned champion relocating was considered too embarrassing even for the NHL. So that probably saved the New Jersey Devils.
Then after the very next season, the Winnipeg Jets also went to greener pastures south of the border and became the Phoenix Coyotes, now known as the Arizona Coyotes. That has proven not to be a success story, as that franchise has struggled ever since, and I'm not just talking about the "product" on the ice. They had all sorts of difficulties. Yet somehow, league officials never seemed to seriously consider the possibility of relocating that franchise, despite serious financial difficulties and embarrassingly low attendance at times. At least not until recently, when they finally decided to give up on ice hockey in the Arizona desert, and instead will be moving to Utah, which has wanted an NHL franchise for a long time now.
The next year in 1997, fans of the Hartford Whalers in Connecticut lost their franchise. They became the Carolina Hurricanes. By 2002, they were in the Stanley Cup Finals. By 2006, they won the Cup. I would have been happy for the franchise if they were still the Hartford Whalers. But frankly, I don't give a damn about the Carolina Hurricanes. If it were not for the presence of the Edmonton Oilers in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, I would not have tuned in for a single game had it been some other, less interesting team playing the Hurricanes.
Since then, number of other NHL franchises in northern markets also ran into trouble and were almost relocated. That included the Buffalo Sabres, who seemed close to relocating there for a while in the early 2000's. They were not alone. Indeed, the Edmonton Oilers nearly relocated to Houston. The Canucks almost to Seattle. And there were constant questions whether city of Calgary could afford to keep an NHL team. Ditto with the Ottawa Senators.
Are you noticing a frankly clear and obvious pattern?
Just as a side not, for a little while some years ago, the Pittsburgh Penguins almost moved to Kansas City, which hardly seems to make sense. I had always assumed that the Penguins, one of the most successful and seemingly stable franchises in the league, with five Stanley Cup championships since 1991 (the most of any NHL franchise during that time period), would make such a move.
But in the modern day NHL, it's really not all that surprising. New markets for ice hockey are enthusiastically promoted by the NHL. For a while there in the early to mid-2000's, the NHL had commercials showing wild enthusiasm during playoff time for some of their mostly new southern franchises, particularly in Tampa Bay and Carolina. It feels like they are still trying to do the same with the Vegas Golden Knights, who despite a very short existence, have somehow managed to grate on my nerves enough to likely rank as my least favorite NHL franchise.
So I am writing this, because one Canadian team - the Edmonton Oilers - have qualified for the Western Conference Finals. They managed this by first having defeated the Los Angeles Kings in the first round (I actually reviewed one game of that series, having attended Game 4 in LA) and then having just survived a tough Game 7 against the Canucks in Vancouver. Yes, they faced another Canadian team, which might just explain how a Canadian team managed to make it this far.
It is the Edmonton Oilers I am pulling for. I hope that they win, that they beat Dallas and then win the Stanley Cup Finals, to end a championship drought for Canadian franchises that now has stretched to a previously unthinkable 30+ years. In the East, I hope that the New York Rangers, one of the Original Six franchises, beats the Florida Panthers. It would have been unthinkable for me back in the 1980's or 1990's to root for the Rangers, but times have changed. I prefer Canadian teams, yes, but I also like the Original Six franchises, because I feel tradition and history should count for something.
That said, I don't hold out a lot of hope. My guess is that someone other than the Edmonton fans will be celebrating a Cup championship at season's end. In fact, I would predict that it will be the Florida Panthers who win it all. Hopefully, I am wrong, but that's just what I suspect will happen.
And if it does, you can bet that NHL officials will tout this as a huge accomplishment and still more proof of the success story narrative that they have been pushing for decades now regarding new, non-traditional NHL markets. Maybe they will convince some fans, too. I know some fans who really like the new franchises, in fact.
Yet for me, the NHL lost me a long time ago with this push for new markets at the expense of older, more traditional ones. I suspect that I'm not alone, either.
For now, I am half paying attention. I will pull for the Edmonton Oilers (although I don't really dislike the Dallas Stars, unlike the NHL franchises in Carolina, Tampa Bay, Anaheim, and especially Vegas, for some reason) as well as the New York Rangers. But having witnessed the trends in the NHL, which not only includes numerous northern market cities having lost their beloved NHL franchises, but also having robbed one Canadian team, the 2004 Calgary Flames, of a Stanley Cup victory. Remember, the Flames were winning that series 3 games to 2, and had just scored the apparently Cup-clinching goal at home late during Game 6. Then there was a long delay, during which time league officials deliberated. The seemingly championship-clinching goal was taken away from Calgary, and this took the air out of the Flames. The Tampa Bay Lightning then won it in overtime, and won Game 7 in Tampa Bay. Then the NHL had commercials showing the wild and enthusiastic fan support in that long established ice hockey market of Tampa, Florida.
Right.
So no, I am not optimistic that the Oilers will win the Cup. Even if they prove good enough, it is not a sure thing. I suspect that league officials are not above preventing it from happening, if they see the chance to prevent it from happening, as I feel they did in 2004. As I feel they have done in overseeing the move and near relocations of northern market teams, and particularly Canadian franchises, since the nineties. And it also feels that the talent has been watered down in just such a way that, somehow, the Canadian franchises have suffered the most. My guess is that because the NHL's bottom line is money, money, money, and they feel that Canada just doesn't pay.
That is why I just don't dare hold up much hope that what I want to happen will actually happen.
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https://fullpresshockey.com/2024/03/13/nhl-rumors-atlanta-expansion-senators-sabres/
Ottawa owner talks moving Senators: ‘If it becomes a disaster, yes’ Eugene Melnyk says Senators could move if team becomes a “disaster” Play Video Play Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 5:15 Fullscreen Eugene Melnyk talks with reporters about the Ottawa Senators needing a new arena and what would need to happen for the team to leave the city. Luke Fox December 15, 2017, 8:19 PM
https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/ottawa-owner-talks-moving-senators-becomes-disaster-yes/
