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What happened to the NHL's playoff-less Canadian teams?
For the first time in decades, no Canadian NHL teams will make the postseason, including the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers. Codie McLachlan/Getty Images

What happened to the NHL's playoff-less Canadian teams?

What was feared a couple months ago has now come to fruition: There will be no Canadian teams participating in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, making for the first All-American playoffs since the 1969-70 season.

How exactly did this happen? We take a look at what ailments plagued each team this season.

Calgary Flames

Record through March 30: 32-38-6, fifth in Pacific Division

What happened this season: The Flames did almost a complete 180 from their surprising 2014-15 campaign. Despite some inspiring efforts down the stretch, Calgary’s season became a disappointing affair highlighted by goaltending struggles — they surrender a league-leading average 3.12 goals a game — in addition to injured big guns and a very public incident with Dennis Wideman.

With just a couple games left, the Flames are already looking to next season. Head coach Bob Hartley told Kristen Odland of the Calgary Herald: “We want the next couple of games to prepare us for training camp, to prepare the summer so we leave the season obviously very disappointed about the standings, but at the same time, we’re proud the way we finished.”
 
Edmonton Oilers

Record through March 30: 30-42-7, seventh in Pacific Division

What happened this season: The expectations were high for the Oilers at the start of the season, with the acquisition of coach Todd McLellan and a bevy of young talent on the roster, including rookie wunderkind Connor McDavid. Those expectations weren’t exactly met.

There is a contingent that insists that injuries, McDavid’s in particular, are what kept the Oilers from being more competitive in the Pacific this season. But when considering the instances in which McLellan has sounded off on his team, this is about more than just injuries. The young Edmonton team still has some growing to do.

Ottawa Senators

Record through March 30: 34-33-9, fifth in Atlantic Division

What happened this season: At this time last year, the Sens were riding high after gaining ground in the month of February in order to punch a playoff ticket. But they never quite found that same magical spark this time around — not even from the acquisition of Dion Phaneuf in that colossal nine-player trade with Toronto. Now there are rumors that coach Dave Cameron will be shown the door after just one season behind the bench.

Despite all of that, Ottawa insists that it isn't going to throw away the last little bit of the season in order to get a high pick in the up-coming NHL Draft. Said winger Zach Smith to the Ottawa Sun: “That’s just not in our nature. We didn’t get here by hoping to lose games at any point in our career. That’s never been considered.”

Winnipeg Jets

Record through March 30: 31-38-7, seventh in Central Division

What happened this season: The trade of Andrew Ladd wasn’t the only thing that dinged Winnipeg up this season. Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun summarized the Jets' 2015-16 campaign as “a train-wreck of a season, the playoff promise of a year ago derailed by a clutter of inexperience, mediocre goaltending and disastrous special teams.”

A couple writers have noted a bright spot for Winnipeg in the top line comprising Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Nikolaj Ehlers. The trio gives hope for the future of the team but unfortunately can only do so much for the Jets at the tail end of this season.

Montreal Canadiens

Record through March 30: 35-36-6, sixth in Atlantic Division

What happened this season: Nothing seemed to go right for the Montreal team after that remarkable 9-0-0 start to the season. The drama with Alexander Semin. The Jarred Tinordi-John Scott trade. Only recording six wins from the beginning of December through the end of January. Coach Michel Therrien putting heavy blame on P.K. Subban. The list goes on.

While it still sounds too facile to say all the Habs’ problems started when Carey Price was first injured, that’s exactly when the team started to unravel. CBC’s Douglas Gelevan said just as much:

Without question, the number one lowlight of the Habs season was losing Carey Price to injury.
The Habs keeper went down with a lower-body injury in October but returned to action a few weeks later. The death-blow came on November 25th in New York, when he was pulled midway through a victory over the Rangers 
At first it didn't seem so serious. But a one-week absence grew into six, and then that grew into "indefinitely." Fans questioned whether he returned too quickly from the first injury.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Record through March 30: 28-37-11, eighth in Atlantic Division

What happened this season: “Rebuild” has been the name of the game for the Leafs all season, which was capped off by the departure of former captain Phaneuf in that monster trade with Ottawa. While Toronto would surely like to have performed better in its first season with Mike Babcock behind the bench, Damian Cox of TheStar.com explained back in February that this was all still part of Brendan Shanahan’s makeover of the team:

With the trading of captain Dion Phaneuf this week, Brendan Shanahan and Co. effectively completed the opening stage of the most ambitious, aggressive rebuild in the long history of the Maple Leafs, one that has not yet moved the club closer to becoming a champion again one day but has emphatically ended a frustrating decade of drifting no closer to that goal.

Vancouver Canucks

Record through March 30: 27-36-13, sixth in Pacific Division

What happened this season: Following a 4-1 loss Tuesday to the San Jose Sharks, Henrik Sedin reportedly said of the Canucks’ ability to match up to the big teams in the West: “We can play with those teams when we’re healthy and we play the right way.”

Neither factor has regularly rung true for Vancouver this season, in which the captain has been one of the Canucks' key pieces sidelined with injury. That’s on top of a campaign highlighted by blowing leads late in games, not to mention bringing up the rear of the league with an average 2.21 goals per tilt and being fifth-worst with a 16.4 power-play percentage.

Coach Willie Desjardins told the National Post: “We’re not as bad a team as it looks.”

Unfortunately for the Canucks, their record and place in the Pacific standings don’t reflect that.

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