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Canadian Drought Continues, as ’93 Cup Remains Emblem of Past Era

By Scott Cowan

The Montreal Canadiens meet on the ice to celebrate their Stanley Cup victory 09 June 1993. The Canadiens won their 24th Stanley Cup championship by defeating the Los Angeles Kings in four out of five games. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo credit should read -/AFP via Getty Images)
The Montreal Canadiens meet on the ice to celebrate their Stanley Cup victory 09 June 1993. The Canadiens won their 24th Stanley Cup championship by defeating the Los Angeles Kings in four out of five games. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo credit should read -/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens
MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 25: Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Rookies Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi looked promising in the playoffs for Montreal, with Suzuki seemingly on track to becoming a centrepiece of the Canadiens franchise in future years. Kotkaniemi’s improved size enabled him to battle along the boards much more and subsequently made him more difficult to knock off the puck.

Even lesser prospects like Jake Evans showed promise in their respective roles, and the experience these playoffs bring to these rookies, to me, makes up for the chance at the first overall pick the Canadiens could have had, should they have lost in the qualifier.

For yet another year, the NHL playoffs will continue with American teams at the forefront, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t good hockey left to be played. There are still some great storylines to come out of both the Dallas Stars and Golden Knights, who are now set to face each other in the Western Conference Final.

Dallas hasn’t been to the Stanley Cup Final in 19 years, and Vegas would be in the final for the second time in their three years of existence – an unbelievably impressive, unheard of achievement in expansion hockey.

In the days where the Toronto Raptors and professional tennis players like Bianca Andreescu have become symbols of Canadian pride, a Stanley Cup Championship is something that has been sorely missing from a country that essentially founded the sport of hockey as we know it today.

The NHL has come a long way from the early days of the Joe Malone’s and Georges Vezina’s of the past, but it seems as though we find ourselves tied back to those glory days whenever the present fails to live up to them. Despite the struggles, I truly believe this drought will end soon enough; however, whether it’s the Montreal Canadiens or Edmonton Oilers remains to be seen.

Next. The next "stage" of the Taylor Hal story. dark

There’s a lot of NHL hockey left to be played, and even if it’s without a Canadian team, fans from all over the country will be watching, for the local players, local stories, and just plain good hockey, as the hope for a Cup continues, 27 years removed, from its last taste of glory.

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