The NHL Playoffs this season will be more American than ever
For the first time since the 1969-70 season, there will be no Canadian teams in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.
The lack of Canada-based teams in the playoffs also means a record number of American teams that will compete for the Stanley Cup, with 16 of the 23 teams based south of the border in the postseason. The number of American teams in the playoffs has been on the rise over the last 50 years (first chart below) thanks to the increase in the number of playoff teams as well as an increase in the percentage of teams that now call the U.S. home.
For most of the last 50 years, the percentage of NHL teams from Canada and the percentage of playoff teams that are Canadian have been similar (second chart below). However, the last six seasons has been a bit more worrisome for teams north of the border as the percentage of Canadian playoff teams has deviated downward by large margin, hitting rock-bottom this season.
