NHL North Division Gives Reason for Excitement in Canada

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The NHL postseason has become a source of great consternation in Canada over the nearly three decades since a team from the Great White North has captured the Stanley Cup.

It’s not just that Canadian teams have had very little success in the playoffs – it’s that they’ve struggled to just qualify for the postseason in the first place.

That’s been rough for both fans and those who rely on fans’ engagement; Namely, Rogers Communications, which is just halfway through a 12-year deal costing $5.232 billion for the Canadian NHL broadcast rights.

This is why the NHL’s realignment for its condensed 2020-21 regular season has been so warmly received in the cold Canadian winter.

There will be three eight-team divisions (East, Central, and West) and one seven-team division; the North, comprised entirely of the NHL’s Canadian clubs. Four teams from each division will qualify for the playoffs, where the first two rounds will be intradivisional play with the subsequent division winners advancing to the semi-finals.

That structure guarantees four Canadian teams in the playoffs, two in the second round, and one in the semis.

While that might not seem like a lot, consider this: it has been nine seasons since the return of the Winnipeg Jets brought the total of NHL teams in Canada to seven, and during that span, a total of just 24 (27 if the 2020 play-in round is included) have qualified for the playoffs, eight have reached the second round, three have reached the conference finals, and none have advanced to play for the Stanley Cup.

Quinn Hughes Vancouver Canucks
Quinn Hughes and the Vancouver Canucks knocked off the defending champion St. Louis Blues in the 2020 NHL Playoffs. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

There was even one year, 2016, when not a single Canadian team was in the postseason dance: Ratings tanked. This past summer, six Canadian teams were part of the play-in round, three played in the first round, and Vancouver made an inspired run to Game 7 of the second round, but viewership plummeted once they were sent packing from the Edmonton bubble. (from ‘Traikos: Ratings showed that few of you watched the Stanley Cup,’ Toronto Sun, 09/30/2020)

So in 2021, Canadian fans know they will have a team to follow through at least three-quarters of the post-season, perhaps longer. Who that will be is anyone’s guess; nearly every Canadian team has a reason for optimism, and – to borrow a phrase from baseball – everyone’s in first place on opening day (Jan. 13, in this case). In the meantime, it’s fun to look back over the last nine seasons and see what would have been if there had been an all-Canadian division with four teams qualifying for the playoffs.

2011-12

  • Actual Canadian teams in playoffs: Vancouver (eliminated first round)
  • Teams that would have qualified from North Division: 1) Vancouver 2) Ottawa 3) Montreal 4) Winnipeg
  • Difference: first round +3, second round +2, conference final +1

2012-13

  • Actual Canadian teams in playoffs: Ottawa (eliminated second round), Montreal (eliminated first round), Toronto (eliminated first round), Vancouver (eliminated first round)
  • Teams that would have qualified from North Division: 1) Montreal 2) Vancouver 3) Toronto 4) Ottawa
  • Difference: first round n/c, second round +1, conference final +1

2013-14

  • Actual Canadian teams in playoffs: Montreal (eliminated conference finals)
  • Teams that would have qualified from North Division: 1) Montreal 2) Ottawa 3) Winnipeg 4) Toronto
  • Difference: first round +3, second round +1, conference final n/c

2014-15

  • Actual Canadian teams in playoffs: Calgary (eliminated second round), Montreal (eliminated second round), Ottawa (eliminated first round), Vancouver (eliminated first round), Winnipeg (eliminated first round)
  • Teams that would have qualified from North Division: 1) Montreal 2) Vancouver 3) Ottawa 4) Winnipeg
  • Difference: first round -1, second round n/c, conference final +1

2015-16

  • Actual Canadian teams in playoffs: none
  • Teams that would have qualified from North Division: 1) Ottawa 2) Montreal 3) Winnipeg 4) Calgary
  • Difference: first round +4, second round +2, conference final +1

2016-17

  • Actual Canadian teams in playoffs: Ottawa (eliminated conference finals), Edmonton (eliminated second round), Calgary (eliminated first round), Montreal (eliminated first round), Toronto (eliminated first round)
  • Teams that would have qualified from North Division: 1) Montreal 2) Ottawa 3) Edmonton 4) Toronto
  • Difference: first round -1, second round n/c, conference final n/c

2017-18

  • Actual Canadian teams in playoffs: Winnipeg (eliminated conference finals), Toronto (eliminated first round)
  • Teams that would have qualified from North Division: 1) Winnipeg 2) Toronto 3) Calgary 4) Edmonton
  • Difference: first round +2, second round +1, conference final n/c

2018-19

  • Actual Canadian teams in playoffs: Calgary (eliminated first round), Toronto (eliminated first round), Winnipeg (eliminated first round)
  • Teams that would have qualified from North Division: 1) Calgary 2) Toronto 3) Winnipeg 4) Montreal
  • Difference: first round +1, second round +2, conference final +1

2019-20

  • Actual Canadian teams in playoffs: Vancouver (eliminated second round), Calgary (eliminated first round), Montreal (eliminated first round), Edmonton (eliminated play-in round), Toronto (eliminated play-in round), Winnipeg (eliminated play-in round)
  • Teams that would have qualified from North Division: 1) Edmonton 2) Toronto 3) Vancouver 4) Calgary *standings based on points percentage
  • Difference: first round +1, second round +1, conference final +1
Carey Price Montreal Canadiens
If the North Division had existed, Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens would have qualified for the playoffs seven times since 2011-12. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

In this alternative reality, there would have been a greater number of Canadian teams in the first round of the playoffs in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Only in 2015 and 2017, when five Canadian teams made the playoffs, would it have been less. Over those nine years, Montreal would have made the postseason seven times; Ottawa, Toronto, and Winnipeg six times; Calgary and Vancouver four times; and Edmonton three times.

The North Division promises to be a huge hit, and not just in the playoffs; a regular-season schedule with East teams like Montreal and Western squads such as Vancouver meeting on a much more frequent basis already has the hockey world buzzing. There is no indication it will last any longer than this season, so Canadian fans – and the execs at Sportsnet – will surely savor this time.