Tough one… they had plenty of chances.
Oh, no, Canada… 
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The drought continues. A Canadian team still hasn’t won the cup in 3 decades. Hard to believe.
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Just kidding. I don’t believe in the conspiracy, but a lot of Canadians on the hockey board I’m a member of do.
IMO, it’s not hard to believe at all. Couple the huge infusion of European talent in the last 30 years plus the huge addition of American teams, has robbed the Canadian teams of many talented players they would have drafted, who are now playing for Americaan teams. See Las Vegas, Tampa Bay, Nashville, Carolina, and now the Florida Panthers. All Cup Winners.
Diffusion of talented players, bigger overall talent pool,plus public pressure via Canadian Hockey “sportswriters”, living off distant memories have greatly contributed to conditions inside players heads, who play in Canada (Toronto No.1), that many Canadian-born players prefer playing in the US vs. Canada. Besides,it gets awful cold in Edmonton & Calgary, and Florida is TAX FREE !!!
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I love the rat/octopus thing. Too bad they were the ones to crush Canada’s soul, but I guess someone had to do it.
It was odd for me investing in a team playing a sport other than football. It’s not that there’s no interest in other sports, but they just don’t matter to me like football does. That has been coming for a long time, and the Lions and Wolverines sudden successes accelerated that transition.
I guess I’ve transitioned and I’m ready to talk about it. 
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Yeah, the Oilers were hellbent on using point shots to get the puck in the slot for rebounds, or sneak one through. At a certain point they needed to take a chance and let their defenseman move in closer for a quality scoring chance. But they were content to play pinball all night long.
They might have double-shifted McDavid in the third and one line had him play the point on offense, he has the skills to move in from there in spades. Oh well.
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I wonder if Bobby Layne has something to do with Canada’s Stanley Cup drought?
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A couple of years ago a Montreal news station mocked the Lightning after they won the Stanley Cup. They were there 2 hours later and the area around the arena didn’t look any different than any other night. It was rather pathetic. I imagine this wouldn’t be much different.
Bobby once got wasted in Windsor, refused to cooperate with authorities, knocked out a police officer and swam back to Detroit. While he was swimming he yelled “and you suck at hockey”
@Sofatso it appears your suspicion is indeed correct.
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After the last Cup win by a Canadian team, he Americanized the NHL by getting rid of the Campbell and Wales Conferences and doing away with the Norris, Smythe, Adams and Patrick Divisions.
While true, there is still a draft and a salary cap. You’d think 1 of the 7 Canadian teams might have won it in 30 years. 7 teams x 30 years … that’s 210 seasons of hockey with no cup. Wow
Timeframe is relevant…
Oilers won 4 or 5 Cups after the Great Billy Smith Islanders got old in the early 80’s. Followed by the Calgary Flames (Al McGinnis/Inginla) team, then the Habs (Roy), then zilch going forward.
Quebec/Ottawa fold/moved, Vancouver has never gotten over the hump…Leafs had their run in the 60’s (Bower, Keon, Baun), , robbed the Wings of at least 1 Cup. Now, they are cursed, succumbing to the writers/fan base in Toronto. Good. LOL
I always preferred the Habs, classy organization, benefiting for decades from a Special Rule from the NHL, giving the Habs 1st dibs on any junior player from French-speaking hockey hotbed Quebec. Sooooooo many great French Players ALL played for Montreal. I have a Montreal Hockey jersey for years…Token American was D Larry Robinson , maybe G Ken Dryden, too.
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Nah….Crosby and Ovechkin got him beat
Those are good names. I’ve always associated the true greats by how much they can get their teammates overrated. I don’t think any of Bouchard, Hyman, or even Draisaitl are as good as people think they are. McDavid’s skating game isn’t the best for playoff hockey though and he hasn’t really shown any other kind of game. I like Crosby because he can play a grind game along the boards but he was never as dynamic a playmaker as McDavid. Ovechkin was a great goal scorer. Have to say I was disappointed in McDavid’s game 7. Not a great way to end it.
I’ve always said that Gretzky got voted into the hall of fame 3 times.
The first time it was as Gretzky.
The 2nd time he got in as Glenn Anderson.
And the 3rd time as Kevin Lowe.
I did not know about that Special Rule. That’s like the Falcons or Dolphins getting first dibs on Georgia or Florida talent.
I don’t follow hockey much at all, but my brother does and I’ll test the breadth of his hockey knowledge next time we talk.
Crosby was the ultimate playmaker….dude scored goals on his knees. Ovechkin, a great player, never really made his teammates better. But he is still an all-time great. McDavid is very on those two level….but I still rate them above CMac