The number of Canadian NHL teams in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs has jumped up to 4 instead of the recent trend of 3 teams. Toronto and Edmonton have done this for awhile. Winnipeg is back for the second year in a row and Vancouver is now back in the NHL playoffs.
Montréal and Ottawa seemed out really early. Winnipeg eliminated Calgary, which somehow seem fitting.
Les Habs is the last Canadian team to reach the Stanley Cup finals in 2021. The 4 teams in for 2024 want to surpass that goal.
You could be feeling deja vu with the Toronto Maple Leafs playing Boston and the Edmonton Oilers hosting Los Angeles. The Oilers and Kings meet in the first round for the third year in a row.
Division winner Vancouver draws Nashville in the opening round. Winnipeg will have home ice advantage against Colorado in the first round.
The yearly reminder: 1993 Last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup (Montréal).
NHL Network, TNT, and ESPN/ESPN+ games in 2024 season analysis
2024 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs scoreboard
Auston Matthews had a personal chase to get to 70 goals but fell one short. Matthews is likely more concerned about postseason success than individual goals. Nothing wrong with getting both. The Maple Leafs did win a playoff series last year but didn't last long in the second round.
Vancouver being without Thatcher Demko down the stretch allowed other teams to catch up. Edmonton came close but a key loss to Vancouver on the last Hockey Night in Canada session meant the Oilers would likely end up in second, which happened.
Going into the final day of the season, the Oilers seemed destined for a new first-round playoff opponent: Gary Bettman's only and favourite desert team. That team lost to Anaheim while Chicago made the Los Angeles path more troublesome in the final period of regulation. The Kings won in overtime. Once again, the Kings are the only California playoff team for the third 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. Winnipeg now made playoffs 6 of the last 7 seasons (not 2022).
This is only the 3rd time Vancouver has made the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2013. The Canucks lost to Calgary in the first round in 2015. In 2020, Vancouver won the qualifying round (Minnesota) and first round (St. Louis) before losing in the second round (Las Vegas).
Toronto was 0-4 with Boston in the regular season.
November 2 @ Boston 3, Toronto 2
December 2 Boston 4, @ Toronto 3 (OT)
March 4 Boston 4, @ Toronto 1
March 7 @ Boston 4, Toronto 1
Edmonton went 3-1 with Los Angeles in the regular season.
December 30 Edmonton 3, @ Los Angeles 2 (SO)
February 10 @ Los Angeles 4, Edmonton 0
February 26 @ Edmonton 4, Los Angeles 2
March 28 @ Edmonton 4, Los Angeles 1
Winnipeg swept 3-0 against Colorado this season.
December 7 Winnipeg 4, @ Colorado 2
December 16 @ Winnipeg 6, Colorado 2
April 13 Winnipeg 7, @ Colorado 0
Vancouver went 3-0 with Nashville in the regular season.
October 24 Vancouver 3, @ Nashville 2
October 31 @ Vancouver 5, Nashville 2
December 19 Vancouver 5, @ Nashville 2
Rogers Sportsnet previewed the upcoming series for the 4 Canadian teams:
Toronto Edmonton Vancouver Winnipeg
VANCOUVER TAKES IT 👑
— NHL (@NHL) April 17, 2024
The @Canucks finish atop the Pacific Division! 🐳 pic.twitter.com/QtWQGrCuCX
The Vancouver Canucks, division winners for the first time since 2013, were smart on transactions this season. Acquiring defenseman Nikita Zadorov from Calgary back in November was a stroke of genius. The 2 teams also combined in a Elias Lindholm trade for the centre where the Canucks gave up a lot, including Andrei Kuzmenko.
As we noted at the time of the trade, Lindholm had a long goalless drought. Well, the numbers have been worse for Lindholm since arriving in Vancouver while Kuzmenko has done way better for Calgary in that time. NHL trades are often one-sided usually in favour of the contending team.
Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet has a different take. “This is why we acquired him (Lindholm), for this part of the season,” Tocchet said before Tuesday's 4-1 home win over the Flames.
We wondered if Vancouver made a mistake in trading Kuzmenko at the time of the trade. If Lindholm can play at a high level AND Vancouver goes far in the playoffs, how Kuzmenko will do in Calgary may not matter. Otherwise, the trade is not looking good in Vancouver.
⚠️ WARNING ⚠️
— sdpn (@sdpnsports) December 24, 2023
Leafs fans, this video will absolutely ruin your holidays. #SDP pic.twitter.com/YFQY5wooep
Toronto deserves a medal and free health care if the team can get past the first 2 rounds. The "Patrick" opponent may seem like child's play by comparison.
The Ottawa Senators won 2 series in the same postseason some time back, when Erik Karlsson was on the squad.
Edmonton and Winnipeg have played in the conference final in recent times. Montréal won 3 series in 2021.
The objective is win 4 series in the same postseason, if the NHL allows that to happen.
NHL notebook: Wrapping up the end of the 2024 regular season
The Rogers Sportsnet pattern is 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) handle the Edmonton Oilers series. John Shorthouse and Dave Tomlinson (Dan Murphy) cover the Vancouver series. John Bartlett and Garry Galley (Scott Oake) go west to cover the Winnipeg Jets series.
Rogers is not sending a crew to cover U.S. games in the East for CBC. That is too bad.
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. Sportsnet games can be streamed in Canada via Sportsnet+.
A special shoutout to Caroline Cameron, whom you won't see on Sportsnet for awhile since she is going on maternity leave. Best of luck.
Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph will be on-site for the Leafs' road playoff games 👏 pic.twitter.com/cTNTWlS9X4
— TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) April 14, 2024
What is it about Toronto sports teams and their owners being too cheap to send out radio crews in the regular season? The Blue Jays (MLB) situation is bad enough with 162 games and a team that reaches the postseason. Radio coverage is considerably better when announcers are on site.
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.
This will be the lightest CBC schedule in the modern era. On the original schedule, there were no Sunday games. There are only series with Canadian teams. CBC is carrying 10 (8 in the original announcement) of the first 16 games involving a Canadian team. Some of the lack of games stems from overlap, such as the April 26 games.
Rogers' lame attempts at satisfying CBC are definitely gone. Don't worry, Maple Leafs fans have all their games on CBC. Ugh.
April 20 Toronto @ Boston, 8p
April 21 Colorado @ Winnipeg, 7p
April 21 Nashville @ Vancouver 10p
April 22 Toronto @ Boston, 7p
April 22 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p
April 23 Colorado @ Winnipeg, 9:30p
April 24 Boston @ Toronto, 7p
April 24 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p
April 26 Winnipeg @ Colorado, 10p
April 27 Boston @ Toronto, 8p
April 30 Toronto @ Boston, 7p
April 30 Colorado @ Winnipeg, 9:30p
May 1 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p
May 2 Boston @ Toronto, 8p
May 3 Vancouver @ Nashville, 7p
May 4 Toronto @ Boston, 8p
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 carried an all-U.S. matchup last spring. There are very few Americans who can retrieve a Citytv signal.
Our guide to the NHL Canadian teams coverage
We love a Gord Miller playoff sighting but the timing isn't good. ESPN would love to have his services. Cassie Campbell-Pascall could be used for Canadian teams on ESPN like she was Tuesday in Vancouver. Miller and Mike Johnson will work the 2024 IIHF World Championship on May 10-26 in Prague and Ostrava in Czechia (aka the Czech Republic).
ESPN and TNT split the first round based on nights and availability. In other words, the network covers the NHL on nights when not covering the NBA.
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 have been sources 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, will be available since their teams are not in the playoffs, not that Faust has a team (boo, LA Kings). We would love to see Ken Daniels (Detroit TV) and Dean Brown (Ottawa radio) in the mix. Rick Ball (Sportsnet) even got a game last year on TBS; Rick Ball and John Garrett are available and know the Winnipeg Jets pretty well.
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 might also try @announcerskeds on Twitter.
This schedule will be updated for all opening round games.
April 20 Toronto @ Boston, 8p Kenny Albert/Eddie Olczyk/Brian Boucher TBS
April 21 Colorado @ Winnipeg, 7p John Buccigross/Cassie Campbell-Pascall ESPN2
April 21 Nashville @ Vancouver 10p Mike Monaco/AJ Mleczko ESPN
April 22 Toronto @ Boston, 7p Sean McDonough/Ray Ferraro/Emily Kaplan ESPN
April 22 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p Mike Monaco/AJ Mleczko ESPN2
April 23 Colorado @ Winnipeg, 9:30p John Buccigross/AJ Mleczko/Leah Hextall ESPN
April 23 Nashville @ Vancouver, 10p Mike Monaco/Cassie Campbell-Pascall ESPN2
April 24 Boston @ Toronto, 7p Sean McDonough/Ray Ferraro/Emily Kaplan ESPN
April 24 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p Steve Mears/Colby Armstrong/Meaghan Mikkelson TBS
April 26 Vancouver @ Nashville, 7:30p Brendan Burke/Darren Pang/Kathryn Tappen TBS
April 26 Winnipeg @ Colorado, 10p John Forslund/Eddie Olczyk/Shane Hnidy TNT
April 26 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10:30p Randy Hahn/Bret Hedican/Aly Lozoff TBS
April 27 Boston @ Toronto, 8p Jim Jackson/Jody Shelley/Jackie Redmond TBS
April 28 Winnipeg @ Colorado, 2:30p John Forslund/Eddie Olczyk/Brian Boucher/Steve Mears TNT
April 28 Vancouver @ Nashville, 5p Brendan Burke/Darren Pang/Kathryn Tappen TBS
April 28 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10:30p Randy Hahn/Bret Hedican/Aly Lozoff TBS
April 30 Toronto @ Boston, 7p Sean McDonough/Ray Ferraro/Emily Kaplan ESPN
April 30 Colorado @ Winnipeg, 9:30p Mike Monaco/AJ Mleczko/Leah Hextall ESPN
April 30 Nashville @ Vancouver, 10p Steve Mears/Colby Armstrong/Nabil Karim TBS
May 1 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p Mike Monaco/AJ Mleczko/Leah Hextall ESPN
May 2 Boston @ Toronto, 8p Kenny Albert/Brian Boucher/Jackie Redmond TBS
May 3 Vancouver @ Nashville, 7p Brendan Burke/Darren Pang/Nabil Karim TNT
May 4 Toronto @ Boston, 8p Sean McDonough/Ray Ferraro/Emily Kaplan ABC
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" in the past. 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 Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers. 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
Twitter captures: @NHL; @sdpnsports; @TLNdc
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