On Sportsnet’s Hockey Central we do panel predictions each Friday for the Saturday night games that involve Canadian teams. Heading into last season I did not particularly believe in our beloved Canadian squads, and it buried me. Five Canadian teams finished with at least 96 points, five made the playoffs, two won their regular season division titles and the Jets earned the Presidents’ Trophy.

The country was happy, but at least in the panel standings, I got killed.

Heading into this season I expected some correction to all that Canadian success – surely they weren’t all that good – but I had tweaked my expectations. The Oilers had established themselves as being among the league’s elite, the Leafs lost Mitch Marner but added depth, and it seemed Montreal and Ottawa had arrived post-rebu

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