How Many Revolutions Around our Sun Does it Take to Win a Stanley Cup?

Years ago I wrote, Why Cheering for the Maple Leafs is… Unnatural, https://www.eqjournal.org/?p=852. Essentially, I argue that when your home team does well, whether that is in Van city, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa or now Winnipeg or, for that matter, Montreal, it’s good for the local economy, so cheering for the Leafs anywhere but in Toronto is like puking where you eat. 

But how many rotations around the sun must the earth make before a Canadian team wins a Stanley Cup? Since the Canadiens did it at the end of the 1992/93 season (Ottawa’s first in the modern era), no member club north of the 49th parallel has managed the trick. So based on a 22 year run of futility (so far) by 8 teams (when the Quebec Nordiques played in the National League), 6 teams after Quebec and Winnipeg flew the coop, and 7 today, it would appear that it’ll take an infinite amount of time before we see a parade in any Canadian NHL city, sigh.

As Canadian teams currently make up 7/30 or 23.3% of clubs, one would expect 5 Cups in 22 years instead of 0. 

One could point to a weak Canadian dollar (for most of that time) or the fact that top free agents appear to want to avoid the media circus of Toronto, the french’ness of Montreal, the horribleness of Winnipeg’s and Edmonton’s weather, the left coast’ness of Vancouver or the parochial nature of lackluster Ottawa. Which leaves Calgary, a dynamic city (before the recent oil crash) with its Chinook winds and great nearby skiing. Still the Flames haven’t won much either. No, I believe something else, something more subtle must be afoot.

It’s my view that sports clubs take on the characteristics of their owners–analytical, racist, incompetent, heartless, gutless, emotional, competitive, intense, crazy, greedy, lazy, bottom-line oriented, tough, wild-spending, unemotional, miserly, ruthless, patriarchal, thorough, misogynist, pitiless, homophobic, calculating, hard working, stats-driven, diligent, blue collar, you name it. Owners tend to surround themselves with like-minded people and from there, whatever dominant characteristic is apparent in the owner, radiates into every cranny of an organization including its coaches, trainers, managers, scouts,

employees and, yes, players.

Americans tend to be tough, driven, competitive, thorough, ruthless, pitiless businessmen immersed in a winner-take-all society, and their clubs reflect that. Winning attracts winners. Yanks like to win. Can’t blame them. 

My fervent hope is that the Sens will win a Cup before my last trip around the sun on this planet, and, frankly, my time is running out, so hurry up will ya?

@ profbruce @ quantum_entity