Serge Savard is telling the truth. It is almost unimaginable that no Canadian National League team has managed to win the Stanley Cup in three decades. We tell ourselves there must be a reason. The 10 possible causes listed by my colleague Stéphane Cadorette are relevant. What we can add is that the face of the NHL has completely changed since 1993. The league is no longer exclusive to Canada. Not only on the ice, also in his management.
The process began with the Great Expansion of 1967. The number of teams formed in the United States went from four to ten in one fell swoop. It was a taste of free trade.
The owners of these formations have gradually taken their place in the operation of the circuit. Power shifted when the NHL offices moved from Montreal to New York when Clarence Campbell retired in 1977.
From that point on, the league turned into an American corporation.
Bill Wirtz of the Chicago Blackhawks, Jeremy Jacobs of the Boston Bruins and Ed Snider of the Philadelphia Flyers were the most influential governors.
Everything went through her.
The owners of the Canadiens and the Leafs were no longer in power.
Alan Eagleson, executive director of the NHL Players’ Association and organizer of international tournaments involving league players, was the champion of ice hockey on Canadian soil.
Internationalization and marketing
At the same time, the pool of players became international, which led to a gradual change in the identity of the teams.
The Scandinavians came, then the Slavs, who had to leave their country to play in the world’s biggest ice hockey league.
The Soviet Union allowed veterans of their national team to move to the West. The fall of the Berlin Wall burst the last borders.
This without forgetting the enormous advances made by the Americans and the advances made by the Swiss and the Germans.
The NHL is comparable to the Premier League in football. The composition of the teams is cosmopolitan. The Canadian is no longer the club created to bring French-speaking players together.
Another pivotal step in the NHL’s transformation was the appointment of Gary Bettman as commissioner. The league has marketed itself like never before.
While we don’t hold little hockey Napoleon in our hearts, the track’s revenue has grown from $400 million to $5.7 billion under his reign.
The number would be well over six billion if not for COVID that caused amphitheaters to close for extended periods.
weak excuse
As far as players’ perceptions of Canadian teams go, things changed with the draft. The players got to know other markets.
It’s not yesterday that players chose palms over slochs. In the 1970s, Rogatien Vachon and Marcel Dionne liked Los Angeles’ mild climate. Carol Vadnais, Gilles Meloche and Joe Hardy all loved life in Oakland, even if the California Golden Seals didn’t win often.
Still, it’s somewhat offensive when we hear that players have put a clause in their contract stating that they don’t want to pursue a career in Canada, particularly due to the pressure and omnipresence of the media. It’s nice to say that players aren’t all made equal, those factors are part of the job.
Do Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield seem unhappy in Montreal?
Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Samuel Montembeault and Mike Matheson feel like royalty there.
The Canadiens and Leafs are to the NHL what the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers are to baseball, the Giants, Cowboys and Patriots are to American football, the Celtics and Lakers are to basketball.
Players who have been part of great Canadiens teams will tell you that fan and media interest has helped them perform well. They were paid to play hockey and they put their heart and soul into their job and their team. They considered themselves privileged to earn a living in the sport they loved so much.
Today it’s all business and it starts as soon as players destined to play in the National League have agents aged 14-15.
we are somewhere else
