Craig Button predicts the Canucks will be Canada’s next Stanley Cup champion
By Alex Hoegler
On a recent edition of “The Quiz”, TSN’s Craig Button explained why he thinks the Vancouver Canucks will be Canada’s next Stanley Cup champion.
The Vancouver Canucks were oh-so-close to ending Canada’s Stanley Cup drought in 2011, but they fell to the Boston Bruins 4-0 on home ice in Game 7.
A Canadian team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1993, when the Patrick Roy-led Montreal Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings in five games. No team has made it to the Stanley Cup Final since the 2010-11 Canucks.
The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers came awfully close to ending Canada’s drought, but they fell in Game 7 of the 2004 and 2006 finals, respectively. The Ottawa Senators qualified in 2007, but the Anaheim Ducks easily dispatched them in five games.
On the latest edition of TSN’s “The Quiz”, James Duthie asked Jamie McLennan, Dave Poulin and Craig Button to guess which of the seven Canadian teams will end the country’s Cup drought.
McLennan and Poulin both predicted the Winnipeg Jets. Button called it “a toss-up” between the Canucks and the Toronto Maple Leafs, but ultimately, he believes Elias Pettersson and company will be the ones who bring the Cup back to Canada.
“I love what the Vancouver Canucks have in their young group of players,” Button said.
Vancouver has a dynamic young core led by Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes. Prospects Jett Woo, Nils Hoglander and Vasili Podkolzin also provide plenty of excitement for the future.
At the end of the day, having a great roster doesn’t guarantee future championship success by any means. Just ask the perennial powerhouse San Jose Sharks, who have yet to win it all despite two decades of regular season dominance. The Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win in sports, after all.
But it’s hard not to get excited about the core the Canucks have assembled here, and the pieces are in place for them to compete for championships over the long run.
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It’s been 27 long years for Canada, but six of the seven clubs will have a shot at winning it all when the league resumes the 2019-20 season: The Canucks, Maple Leafs, Flames, Oilers, Jets and Montreal Canadiens will all play in best-of-five qualifying round matchups with the opportunities to advance to the round of 16.