Once again, we have 3 Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs, 2023 edition. Toronto and Edmonton are return teams with Winnipeg replacing Calgary. The Flames would be in if the team halved its OT/shootout losses into wins.
Montréal and Ottawa seemed out early though the Senators lasted a lot longer in the playoff hunt. Vancouver replaced coaches (again), got better but not by enough.
Les Habs is the last Canadian team to reach the Stanley Cup finals in 2021. The 3 teams in for 2023 want to surpass that goal.
You could be feeling deja vu with the Toronto Maple Leafs hosting Tampa Bay and the Edmonton Oilers hosting Los Angeles. Edmonton would be hosting Winnipeg, a rematch of the 2021 playoffs in the Canadian Division if Seattle had beaten Las Vegas in regulation on Thursday. Winnipeg will be in Las Vegas, a rematch of the 2018 Western Conference final.
The yearly reminder: 1993 Last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup (Montréal).
NHL Network, TNT, and ESPN/ESPN+ games in 2023 season analysis
2023 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs scoreboard
Once again, Dave Randorf gets to spend some time back on Canadian soil as the Tampa Bay TV voice. The Lightning are good but a boring team to watch. Then again, playoff hockey means boring and violent. Speaking of violent, Boston likely awaits Toronto if the Maple Leafs finally win a series.
Edmonton went 14-0-1 down the stretch, the Oilers winning their last 9 games. Connor McDavid finished with 153 points. Leon Draisaitl finished with 32 power play goals. Not 32 goals, but 32 of them with the man advantage. Ryan Nugent Hopkins made it 3 Oilers players with over 100 points.
The 2022-23 Edmonton Oilers had the greatest power play in NHL history. Well, recorded history since the NHL started tracking the stat in 1977-1978. The Oilers 32.4% mark surpassed the 1977-1978 Montréal Canadiens. That team finished at 31.9%.
The Oilers had a slim chance of facing Seattle or Winnipeg yet ended up with Los Angeles as the first round opponent. California was shut out of the 2020 and 2021 playoffs. The Kings are the only California playoff team for the second year in a row.
The Winnipeg Jets looked great early in the hunt for the "Norris" division crown. The second half was a lot of not scoring and wondering if the team would hold onto a playoff spot. The Jets beat Nashville down the stretch and then saw Calgary lose to Nashville a couple of days later. The Flames almost played Nashville in last year's first-round series. Winnipeg now made playoffs 5 of the last 6 seasons (not 2022).
Winnipeg went 0-2-1 against Las Vegas this season.
October 20 @ Las Vegas 5, Winnipeg 2
October 30 @ Las Vegas 2, Winnipeg 1 (OT)
December 13 Las Vegas 6, @ Winnipeg 5
Toronto was 2-0-1 with Tampa Bay in the regular season.
December 3 @ Tampa Bay 4, Toronto 3 (OT)
December 20 @ Toronto 4, Tampa Bay 1
April 11 Toronto 4, @ Tampa Bay 3
Edmonton split 2-2 with Los Angeles in the regular season.
November 16 Los Angeles 3, @ Edmonton 1
January 9 @ Los Angeles 6, Edmonton 3
March 30 @ Edmonton 2, Los Angeles 0
April 4 Edmonton 3, @ Los Angeles 1
Rogers Sportsnet previewed the upcoming series for the 3 Canadian teams: Toronto, Edmonton, and Winnipeg.
This Rogers Sportsnet graphic is not new yet very relevant. We will run this every year until the Toronto Maple Leafs win a playoff series.
Every Canadian NHL team has won several playoff series since the Maple Leafs won one. The Ottawa Senators won 2 series in the same postseason not that long ago, when Erik Karlsson was on the squad.
Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Montréal have played for the Stanley Cup since Toronto won a playoff series. Montréal played for a Stanley Cup in 2021. Winnipeg played for a conference title in 2018.
Auston Matthews was 6 the last time Toronto won a playoff series. Matthews is a year older as we all are.
Regular season is nice but postseason is what matters.
Sorry, Leafs fans. Win a series. We will be thrilled when you prove us wrong.
NHL notebook: Wrapping up the end of the 2023 regular season
The Rogers Sportsnet pattern is pretty much set for the opening round. Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson (Kyle Bukauskas) will have the Maple Leafs series.
Harnarayan Singh and Louie DeBrusk (Scott Oake) will cover the Edmonton Oilers series.
John Bartlett and Garry Galley (Sean Reynolds) will be on the Winnipeg Jets series.
The Vancouver duo of John Shorthouse and John Garrett (Caroline Cameron) will cover U.S. games in the East for CBC, mostly Boston-Florida. Perhaps a send-off with John Garrett cutting back on his analysis work.
Sportsnet will pick up simsubs from local feeds or U.S. national feeds but must produce games that air on CBC. Ice level reporters are in parentheses. Games on Sportsnet can be streamed in Canada via SNnow.ca.
We should give an award to the best Canadian NHL team each season
Here is the CBC schedule for the Canadians and those in the States with a CBC feed. This schedule will be updated as needed in the opening round. Games on CBC can be streamed in Canada via cbcsports.ca.
April 17 Florida @ Boston, 7:30p
April 17 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p
April 18 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7:30p
April 19 Florida @ Boston, 7:30p
April 19 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p
April 20 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7p
April 20 Winnipeg @ Las Vegas, 10p
April 21 Boston @ Florida, 7:30p
April 21 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10p
April 22 Las Vegas @ Winnipeg, 4p
April 22 Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7p
April 23 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 9p
April 24 Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p
April 25 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 9:30p
April 26 Florida @ Boston, 7p
April 27 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7p
April 27 Winnipeg @ Las Vegas, 10p
April 28 Boston @ Florida, 7:30p
April 29 Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7p
April 29 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10p
April 30 Florida @ Boston, 6:30p
U.S. viewers in Detroit, Buffalo, Seattle, and other markets get a great option, even for select U.S. games. We update this story with CBC games in the opening round.
Citytv is scheduled to carry its first ever NHL Stanley Cup playoff game, albeit a U.S. matchup (New Jersey-NY Rangers Game 3) on April 22. There are very few Americans who can retrieve a Citytv signal and Rogers will carry a U.S. feed for that game. The game is opposite Game 3 of the Toronto Maple Leafs series.
Our guide to the NHL Canadian teams coverage
We had this picture up for last year's preview because Gord Miller (TSN) and Cassie Campbell-Pascall (Sportsnet and ESPN) worked together. They proved to be a top team for ESPN in its Stanley Cup playoffs coverage. The picture stems from this Sobey's Safeway ad in 2019 as part of our quest to showcase quirky Canadian advertising.
We are showing the picture again despite neither of them are on the ESPN call list in the first 4 days. This picture also amuses us. Miller's next TSN assignment is the 2023 IIHF World Championship on May 12-28 in Tampere, Finland and Riga, Latvia.
ESPN and TNT split the first round based on nights and availability. In other words, the network not covering the NBA that night covers the NHL.
ESPN2 and TBS also carry Stanley Cup playoff games. We don't consider whether a game is on ESPN vs. ESPN2 or TNT vs. TBS to be anything more than a nuance. ESPNEWS and TruTV will be the source for overlapping starts. Miss the days of the NHL Network serving that role.
TNT/TBS will use a lot of freelancers in the first round. John Forslund and Alex Faust, among others, are limited since their local teams play in the first round. We would love to see Ken Daniels (Detroit TV) and Dean Brown (Ottawa radio) in the mix.
Though you could check out our guide to U.S. TV coverage, you can get ESPN/ESPN2 updates and TNT/TBS updates straight from their corporate PR departments. The Warner Bros. Discovery takeover has been terrible on multiple fronts, the least of which is accessing NHL press releases for TNT and TBS. You can filter the page with TNT Sports but they should hire someone to make a better mousetrap.
This schedule will be updated for all opening round games.
April 17 Los Angeles @ Edmonton 10p John Buccigross/Kevin Weekes/Ryan Callahan ESPN
April 18 Tampa Bay @ Toronto 7:30p Sean McDonough/Ray Ferraro/Emily Kaplan ESPN
April 18 Winnipeg @ Las Vegas 9:30p Roxy Bernstein/Kevin Weekes/Linda Cohn ESPN2
April 19 Los Angeles @ Edmonton 10p John Buccigross/Kevin Weekes/Linda Cohn ESPN
April 20 Tampa Bay @ Toronto 7p John Buccigross/Kevin Weekes/Ryan Callahan ESPN
April 20 Winnipeg @ Las Vegas 10p Alex Faust/Eddie Olczyk/Shane Hnidy TBS
April 21 Edmonton @ Los Angeles 10p John Forslund/Eddie Olczyk/Shane Hnidy TNT
April 22 Las Vegas @ Winnipeg 4p Rick Ball/Jennifer Botterill/Aly Lozoff TBS
April 22 Toronto @ Tampa Bay 7p Brendan Burke/Butch Goring/Darren Pang TBS
April 23 Edmonton @ Los Angeles 9p John Forslund/Eddie Olczyk/Shane Hnidy TBS
April 24 Toronto @ Tampa Bay 7:30p Brendan Burke/Jennifer Botterill/Darren Pang TBS
April 24 Las Vegas @ Winnipeg 9:30p Mike Monaco/Dom Moore/Leah Hextall ESPN
April 25 Los Angeles @ Edmonton 9:30p Mike Monaco/Dom Moore ESPN
April 27 Tampa Bay @ Toronto 7p Brendan Burke/Darren Pang/Tarik El-Bashir TBS
April 27 Winnipeg @ Las Vegas 10p Mike Monaco/Cassie Campbell-Pascall/Linda Cohn ESPN2
April 29 Toronto @ Tampa Bay 7p Brendan Burke/Darren Pang/Jackie Redmond TBS
April 29 Edmonton @ Los Angeles 10p John Forslund/Eddie Olczyk/Shane Hnidy TBS
2018 Stanley Cup notebook: Winnipeg Jets thrown off by Minnesota blizzard
Our favourite Stanley Cup playoffs moment off the ice in recent memory is Miller's journey to get to St. Paul for a Jets playoff game in 2018.
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
If you are relatively new to the NHL, playoff hockey is a very different sport than the hockey you see from October to April. Play is filled with lots of unnecessary violence since referees get strangely peculiar on when (if) penalties are called. Toronto Coach Sheldon Keefe used the phrase "borderline violent" last season to refer to the opening round series. We agree except for the borderline part.
Any strategy involving creative offence is useless in the playoffs. This is a disadvantage to teams such as the Maple Leafs. Teams that are fun to watch in the regular season suddenly aren't fun.
We cover hockey but we absolutely vehemently hate playoff hockey. Boring, stupid, and the opposite of interesting. There is a general bias against Canadian teams in penalties and cheap hits resulting in major injuries.
photo credits: NHL; Rogers Sportsnet; Sobey's/Safeway
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