Are the Vancouver Canucks the West Coast Maple Leafs?

A lot has been written about the Toronto Maple Leafs’ long-standing playoff futility with the team having never won a Stanley Cup since the NHL expanded beyond The Original Six, but there’s another team with arguably an even more sorry story. That team would be the Vancouver Canucks.

I realize that no franchise can theoretically match the Leafs when it comes to the question of playoff despair - Toronto hasn’t won the Stanley Cup in 57 years - yet Vancouver’s story may be even worse.

Here’s why.

The Canucks joined the NHL in 1971, in the second wave of expansion, and in their 52 years of existence, they have missed the playoffs a total of 24 times.

That’s 28 seasons of being in the playoffs and 24 seasons when they weren’t.

During the same 52 year timespan, the Leafs - and I know this is just mostly semantics - qualified for the playoffs 33 times, while missing them 19 times.

These stats would lead one to believe that the Maple Leafs have been a slightly more successful hockey franchise since 1971, although it also naturally leads to the question of how exactly to define "successful?"

In essence, what metric measures playoff success and, by extension, what makes one team the sadder of the two franchises?

With neither team having won a Stanley Cup since then, it then becomes a question about which team won more playoffs rounds. The thinking being that advancing in the playoffs is the next best thing to actually winning a championship. At least that's some modicum of success.

In this case, the Maple Leafs are statistically (and theoretically) superior, having won a total of 20 playoff since 1970 compared to the Canucks’ 18.

This however, isn't really a great metric. A cumulative team total is simply too subjective. What matters more is the continuity and context of those playoff wins.

To put it another way, when you're winning in the playoffs, how much of a threat are you to winning it all?

It basically comes down to what you do with the chances you're given that matters the most.

In this case, the Canucks win hands down.

The Toronto Maple Leafs - since 1967 - have never been beyond the semi-final. They have never appeared, not even once, in the winner take all Stanley Cup Final.

Vancouver, by contrast, has played in the Stanley Cup Final three times since 1970, and of course, they lost every time.

The Canucks have not only been to the final round three times, but also to the final game of the final round, twice. Losing once in 1994, on the road, to the New York Rangers and the second time, losing at home to the Boston Bruins in 2011.

Toronto, by contrast, has never been beyond the third round - ever.

It never gets old.

This might lead one to conclude that Toronto's playoff futility is far worse than that of Vancouver. At least the Canucks have almost won it, the thinking goes.

But this is where I beg to differ.

Ask yourself this: What's worse - having climbed near the top of the mountain without ever reaching the peak or knowing you've rarely gone beyond base camp?

Which team has a more tragic playoff history?

• Vancouver Canucks
• Toronto Maple Leafs

For my money, your hunger grows worse when you can actually see the meal, but to see it, without ever being able to actually taste it, has to be more devastating. To be teased like that and not win is excruciating.

Vancouver’s historical playoff anguish is almost unmatched. The Canucks don't just fall infinitesimally short of winning a Stanley Cup, they do so in the most soul-crushing ways.

Take the 1982 Playoffs. Vancouver had lost only two games in the lead up to the final but fell to the juggernaut New York Islanders in four straight. They even took the Isles to OT in Game 1, on Long Island no less, before the dam gave way and the Islanders swept the series.

Then, in 1994, after dispatching the Maple Leafs handily in the semi finals, Vancouver would take the NY Rangers to Game 7 before destiny again waved her ugly little finger.

The team had actually fought back from a 3-1 series deficit to send it to a Game 7, only to be crushed again. This time they were beaten by a team in the process of finally exorcising their own playoff ghosts. Before beating the Canucks, the Rangers hadn't won a Stanley Cup since 1940.

This theme, tragically, would repeat itself in Vancouver’s next Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2011, and this one would be the most gutting of all.

After having taken an early 2-0 series lead and subsequently a 3-2 series lead, the Canucks would eventually lose in Game 7 at home, to the Boston Bruins, who would win 4 of the last 5 games and capture their first Stanley Cup since Bobby Orr helped them do it, in 1971.

That's two consecutive curses broken, and another extended.

To the victor, they say, goes the spoils and for the loser, it seems everything is spoiled.

Given the increasingly devastating playoff tragedies suffered by the Canucks over the years, you tell me who has the better - rather, the worst - tale of woe.

This doesn't make the Maple Leafs' case any better. It just means that they now have some legitimate company.

(c) AlJazera

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