Munich – Canada is considered the homeland of ice hockey. Nothing is more important than sports. Canada has won the men’s Olympic gold nine times and 29 times at the world championships. No nation has done this more times.
The best players in history – whether they are Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Marc Messier or the active Sidney Crosby and Conor McDavid – almost all come from Canada.
Nowhere is there more excitement than in the country, which is home to seven NHL teams: the Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, Montreal Canadiens, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.
What is curious, however, is that Canadian teams often lag behind US teams in the NHL (live every Sunday at 6:45 pm on ProSieben MAXX and ran.de) in terms of play.
The Montreal Canadiens were Canada’s last Stanley Cup winners.
It’s been 29 years since a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings in the 1993 final. After that, the Stanley Cup moved year after year to an American city.
Since then, a Canadian team has made it to the final only six times. Most recently, it was the Canadiens, who lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning last year. In the last nine years, the finalists were all-American.
But what are the reasons for Canada’s plight in the NHL? The fact that there are only seven teams from Canada and 25 teams from the United States is an important reason, but certainly not the only one.
“There’s no logical answer to this question. In sports, especially ice hockey, everything could have been different,” says run specialist Rick Goldman. But there are some aspects that may play a role.
Strong US Dollar Is A Loss For Canadian Teams
One factor is financial: “Especially when the Canadian dollar was so bad, it was difficult for Canadian teams to pay players properly. Not long ago Canadian clubs were the richest clubs.”
There is still an imbalance. At the current exchange rate, one US dollar is equal to 1.27 Canadian dollars.
The problem from the Canadian team’s point of view: player salaries and many other expenses, such as fees, have to be paid in US dollars. However, local revenue is logically generated in Canadian dollars – a clear competitive disadvantage.
The rock bottom for Canadian ice hockey teams came in 2016 when not a single Canadian team could qualify for the playoffs. Last season there were at least four teams. The fact that these teams met and eliminated each other in the first round was an unfortunate fate from Canada’s point of view.
Most recently eight teams were founded in the United States.
Overall, the NHL’s expansion strategy appears to be aimed at the United States. Eight new teams have been added to the league since 1993. It was always an American team.
These include the Anaheim Ducks and Florida Panthers (1993), Nashville Predators (1998), Atlanta Thrashers (1999), Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild (2000), Las Vegas Golden Knights (2016) and Seattle Kraken. This is likely due, among other things, to the high purchasing power in the United States. Only the Thrashers later moved to Canada and are now known as the Winnipeg Jets.
German national player David Wolf, who once played for the Calgary Flames and is now active in the DEL for Adler Mannheim, has further explanations for the American dominance. “Besides the fact that there are quite a few American teams, living conditions certainly play a role,” he assesses.
“Top players can choose which team they play for. And in cities like Anaheim, where it’s 30 degrees every day, there are palm trees everywhere and the players can be right on the beach, with your family. Live a good life. Thoughts play a big part in team selection and play in the hands of American teams.”
Goldman sees it this way: “Many players, including Canadian players, choose to play in the United States. It makes a difference whether you’re in the snow all the time in the winter, to exaggerate it, or you’re in Florida or California. live or not.”
In general, life should be more enjoyable for ice hockey stars in the United States. Not only because of the high temperature, but also because of the anonymity. While the top stars in ice hockey bastions in Canada may hardly leave their home unnoticed, in big cities like New York or Los Angeles they are somewhat influenced by stars from the NFL or NBA.
There’s more competition in the US, there’s media pressure in Canada
However, it also has a downside, as Goldman points out. “In the United States there is often a team from the NBA, NFL or MLB in the city. Teams have to perform to motivate people. There is no such competitive situation in most Canadian cities.”
The only exception is Toronto, which is home to not only the NHL’s Maple Leafs, but also the NBA (basketball)’s Toronto Raptors and the MLB (baseball) Toronto Blue Jays. On the other hand, the other six Canadian teams are almost unmatched in their city. Whether they succeed or not, they certainly attract public interest.
However, this is not the only advantage. “There is more press pressure in Canada than anywhere else,” says Goldman, “you have to deal with it first.”
Obviously, many Canadian teams haven’t done this very well in the past.
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