In the words of the old torch song, “Spring can really hang you up the most.” For the fans of Canada’s hockey teams in 2026 the results of their best international efforts so far are bracing. Based on what we know of Canada’s not-so-magnificent-seven NHL teams, the news is not going to get any better.

Beaten (no medal) by Sweden in the IHF World juniors. Beaten by the U.S. (silver) in men’s Olympic hockey. Beaten by the U.,S. (Silver) in women’s Olympic hockey. And now just two NHL teams— Edmonton and Montreal— are likely playoff spots in the first round next month. In the East Ottawa has a faint chance at the postseason, three back of the final wildcard at this writing. In the West Winnipeg is five back of a final spot.

To put the Oilers’ playoff placing in the tepid Western Conference into perspective, they would be seven points back of the final wildcard spot in the East. Ergo, no postseason. No wonder Connor McDavid described the West as a “pillow fight”. But Gary’s Gods of parity will give them a shot at a third straight Final spot. With their star Leon Draisaitl injured and unlikely to help much come Round One. Good luck.

If you’re looking for a symbol of all that’s gone wrong in Elbows Up since the turn of the calendar to 2026 look no further than Toronto’s captain and occasional superstar Auston Matthews, the American captain in the Olympics. After years of speculation Matthews had decided in 2024 to stay in Toronto on a four-year contract to see if he could get the this current iteration of the Buds to their first Final series since 1967. (Their first Cup? Let’s keep it real, folks.)

After a seven-game beating from Florida in the second round of the 2025 playoffs— in which Matthews’ team entered as the top seed in the Eastern Conference with 108 points— Leafs Nation decided to beat up on departing star Mitch Marner who hightailed it to Las Vegas while claiming he couldn’t function in Toronto’s hockey market. This despite Matthews scoring just once in the seven games against the Panthers and just 33 in the regular season— after a 69-goal season in 2023-24.

With Marner gone and Swede William Nylander becoming a larger key to the Leafs’ offence, Matthews entered the Olympics as a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Would he step up to deliver the goods for his home nation or muddle along as he’d been doing all year?

Canadians— Leafs fans in particular— don’t need to be reminded what happened next. The image of a transcendent Matthews with the gold medal around his neck, celebrating with his team after the OT golden goal from Jack Hughes was extra galling for Toronto fans— who then heard Matthews’ teammates extoll his leadership in the Olympics. Coming just two days after the U.S. women’s team defeated Canada in OT it was a February to forget.

Hopes then turned to a strong finish to the season and playoff redemption for Toronto and the rest of Canadian fans. Guess again. Matthews’ Olympic nemesis Radko Gudas of Anaheim took out Matthews’ knee, sidelining him for the remainder of the Leafs’ season. Which now looks to be over by mid-April. Adding salt to the wounds, Marner is now poised to make the postseason with a dangerous Golden Knights squad.

Feelings are no less bitter in Winnipeg, where the Jets— the top seed in the 2025 playoffs only to lose in Round 2 of the playoffs— saw their maligned goalie Connor Hellebuyck backstop the U.S. in the Olympics with a spectacular performance against Canada in the gold-medal OT game. The highlights will haunt Canadian TV forever.

Any hopes he might repeat the performance for the Jets in the playoffs are faint and growing fainter as Team Wab Kanew is likely to get an early sayonara sans playoffs.

The most contested battle for Canadian hockey fans might taking place at the bottom of the Western Conference, where the Flames and Canucks are playing tank-a-thon in hopes of getting the top pick in the Draft come June. At a putrid 50 points (as of Sunday) Vancouver is currently the greatest embarrassment yo BC since David Eby, offering little resistance to opponents as they peruse the Top 5 prospects come June.

Calgary dumped much of their expensive veterans before the trade deadline and now wallow in the depths, hoping for a Top three draft pick of their own come June. For the Flames it’s all about having a competitive squad when their new arena opens for play in the fall of 2027.

Which leaves the Canadian team that last won the Stanley Cup in 1993, the Montreal Canadiens. Like Quebec separation the Habs are always promising big things to Quebeckers. Usually disappointing. Since Patty Roy stole the Cup for Montreal in 1993 Montreal has seen the Final once (2021) when Tampa waxed them 4-1. They’ve missed the playoffs 13 times in that same interval.

The Habs are a skilled team with some interesting bits like Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson. Whether they can sustain the six-week meat grinder that it takes to win the Cup is another matter. The team’s motto is “To you from failing hands we throw the torch. Be yours to hold it high”. In 2026 they are virtually the only ones in Canada still advancing at the enemy in hopes of salvaging something from the rubble of Canada’s misbegotten year. Bonne chance.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his 2025 book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His new poetry collection In Other Words is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca and on Kindle books at https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1069802700

In Canada The Leafs Always Fall In Spring, 2026 Edition