Canada: The New Championship Drought To Watch For
The Chicago Cubs won the World Series on Wednesday night, their first since 1908, snapping a 108-year championship drought, the longest by any team in North American professional sports history. Back in June, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Championship, snapping a 52-year drought for a city with three major pro sports teams. So what’s next on the drought-busting checklist?
Sure, there are a few teams and few cities still struggling. The NBA’s Sacramento Kings organization has not won a title in 65 years and never since their move to California. Wednesday night’s losers, the Cleveland Indians, haven’t taken home the hardware in 68 years. Ten NFL teams still have yet to win it all in the Super Bowl era. Yet, with the Cubs and Cleveland off the books, it seems like there’s a void in the championship drought department right now.
It’s time that attention turns not to any one team or city, but to the country of Canada. Canadian teams have combined to go 199 straight seasons without winning a major North American title. In 1993, the country was championship central, with both the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Blue Jays winning their respective leagues. Since? Nothing.
It’s been 23 years now for the Blue Jays since they were MLB champs. They have come close over the years, but have failed to even take home an American League pennant. Playing in a division that has been one of the strongest in baseball over the past decade plus, which has housed four New York Yankees championship teams and three Boston Red Sox championship teams since 1993, it’s been an uphill battle for the Blue Jays. Meanwhile, the Montreal Expos, title-less since their inception in 1969, were forced to relocate to Washington, D.C. in 2004 (where the drought continues to this day).
The Toronto Raptors are still seeking that elusive NBA championship. It’s been 21 years since the Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies brought pro basketball to Canada in 1995, and neither team has been able to get it done. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2000, where they too have yet to find glory. In a league that is unquestionably the most competitively unbalanced, a Raptors team with a lot of talent are still annual underdogs against the likes of the Cleveland Cavaliers and other Western Conference powerhouses.
Of course, the biggest drought-magnifier is the NHL. With seven teams competing in a 30-team league, Canada should have close to a 25% chance to win the Stanley Cup every season. Alas, no such feat has been accomplished in 23 seasons. The odds of that happening: less than 1%. The Toronto Maple Leafs are tied with the St. Louis Blues for the longest championship drought in the league at 48 years. The Vancouver Canucks, established in 1970, have never won the Cup. After Alberta went back-to-back in 1989 and 1990, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers have not won since. The Ottawa Senators, the 1992 NHL expansion team, has also never gotten it done, and their first season, 1992-93, was the first and last time that they even saw a Canadian champ, with Montreal taking the crown. Both iterations of the Winnipeg Jets are also without a Stanley Cup and Quebec Nordiques fans sat and watched their team move to Denver and establish the Colorado Avalanche dynasty at the turn of the century.
To make matters worse, no Canadian team even qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs last year, and the Oilers have a league-high ten-year drought of even making the postseason. Canada’s NHL teams are in need of some puck luck, and the Blue Jays and Raptors will take some as well. With the two biggest drought story lines in sports now over, it’s time that North American sports fans turn to the northernmost of the two participating countries. Canada needs a championship, and they need one soon.
If there’s any consolation, the only more tortured fan base than the country of Canada is their closest neighbor to the south, Buffalo, New York. Misery loves company.
Craig Anderson Again Away From Team; Timetable Uncertain
In a story that sounds like it will be one of the focus points of the season for the Senators (however unfairly), Craig Anderson has again left the Ottawa Senators to be with his wife Nicholle. The goaltender’s wife was recently diagnosed with cancer, prompting the team to go out and get Mike Condon from the Pittsburgh Penguins for exactly this reason.
The 35-year old Anderson recorded an emotional shutout in his return to the net after learning of the diagnosis, and stopped 32 of 33 shots on Tuesday over Carolina. In his career with Ottawa, the veteran netminder now carries a 2.63 GAA and .919 save percentage, both outstanding numbers.
Even though the Senators were forced to give up a fifth-round pick for Condon, a player Pittsburgh had only just acquired on waivers three weeks earlier, it should provide them with some stability behind Anderson while Andrew Hammond nurses a groin injury. Even when Hammond returns, the team might elect to carry three goaltenders for the remainder of the year.
As everyone does when they write about this story, the staff here at PHR would like to extend our thoughts to the Anderson family. Many people’s lives are affected by cancer every day, but usually sports tends to provide relief from serious matters. If you’d like to help, check out #HockeyFightsCancer for donations and support.
Senators Recall Fredrik Claesson, Max McCormick From AHL
The Senators have made another couple of tweaks to their NHL roster, bringing up Fredrik Claesson and Max McCormick from Binghamton of the AHL. No word on the corresponding moves yet.
Heading into their matchup with the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night, the team has brought up some youth to inject into the lineup. Claesson, a 23-year old defenceman played 16 games with the club last season, and is a solid stay-at-home defender often called Binghamton’s best blueliner. While he doesn’t provide a ton of upside, he excels at winning puck battles and providing a first pass out of the zone.
McCormick, on the other hand is a bottom-six forward with a ton of grit and energy. He’s always in hard on a forecheck, and isn’t afraid to drop the gloves if he has to. While he’s not big by any means, he does provide a physical nature to his line, and can catch unsuspecting defenders napping with a hard shot. McCormick got into 20 games with the Senators last season, scoring two goals and notching two assists.
Injury Notes: Hammond, Letang, Pietrangelo
After dealing for Mike Condon today to give himself some insurance, Ottawa Senators’ GM Peter Dorion says that Andrew Hammond is out for at least another week dealing with a groin injury. Hammond was placed on injured reserve last week.
While Hammond is out with a known injury, Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen reports that the Craig Anderson situation is “very fluid”, meaning the goaltender may miss additional time during the year. Condon will fly to meet the Senators in Ottawa for tomorrow’s game against the Canucks.
- Kris Letang is back in uniform for Pittsburgh and will play tonight against Anaheim, says Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register. Along with the top blueliner, the Penguins will be welcoming back Matt Murray to the ice as he gets his first start this season. Murray was nursing a broken hand suffered at the World Cup.
- The Blues have announced that Alex Pietrangelo will likely play tomorrow even though he didn’t practice today with the club. While he’s due for another evaluation in the morning, head coach Ken Hitchcock said he looks to be “OK” for tomorrow night.
- David Backes is back skating for the Boston Bruins, after receiving medical clearance yesterday. According to Claude Julien “everybody’s on track right now and heading in the right direction.” Practice was a little thin today as Tuukka Rask, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, Zdeno Chara and John-Michael Liles were all given the day off.
Ottawa Acquires Mike Condon From Pittsburgh
According to Bob McKenzie of TSN, the Ottawa Senators have acquired Mike Condon from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a fifth-round draft pick. Since Craig Anderson was forced to take a short leave of absence from the team (he has since returned) and Andrew Hammond was placed on injured reserve with a groin injury, the Senators have been looking high and wide for some help in net. It’ll come in the form of Condon, who was selected off waivers by the Penguins just before the start of the season.
For Pittsburgh, this is a nice return for a player who only spent a few weeks in your system. Condon was an emergency claim by the Penguins once Matt Murray wasn’t able to start the season due to his broken hand. Now, as Murray returns, the team had to make a decision on Condon as he would obviously require waivers once again to go to the AHL.
For the Senators, Condon will provide some assurance that they’ll have an NHL caliber goaltender in net each night even if Anderson has to take any more time off. While the team will likely come into the same situation once Hammond returns, they won’t have to make a decision for at least some time.
Condon broke into the league last season when Carey Price went down, playing 55 games for the Canadiens to mixed results. With a .903 save percentage and 2.71 goals against average, the 26-year old rookie at least showed he’s capable of helping an NHL squad, though perhaps not for the majority of a season.
It must sting the Canadiens the worst, as they were unable to get anything in return for Condon before the season. While a fifth-rounder isn’t a huge return, it is at least something tangible.
Senators Return Chabot To Junior
The Ottawa Senators have returned defenseman Thomas Chabot to the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Chabot made the Senators out of camp but only appeared in one game. However, Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion told reporters that Chabot “gained so much valuable experience here” and Dorion expects him to challenge for an NHL position next season.
The 18th overall pick in 2015, Chabot has 24 goals and 108 points in 168 games over three seasons with the Sea Dogs. He’s expected to make his season-debut on Thursday night.
Chabot will be counted on to lead their defense alongside Bruins first rounder Jakub Zboril, and should make Team Canada at the upcoming World Juniors in Toronto and Montreal. Chabot posted 3 assists in 5 games at the 2016 World Juniors. Canada will be looking to avenge their 6-5 quarter-final loss to eventual gold medal-winners Finland.
There are now 13 slide-eligible rookies, after six players hit the 10 game plateau in the last few days.
Anderson Triumphant In Courageous Return To Net
Everyone knew this was coming.
Craig Anderson pitched a 37-save shutout in his return to the crease after his wife Nicholle was diagnosed with cancer. Anderson had taken a personal leave of absence last week, but returned to the team at the behest of his wife after backup Andrew Hammond went down with injury. It was Anderson’s second shutout in a row, with a week in between them.
It wasn’t an easy return to action for Anderson, as the Senators were in Edmonton to face the top team in the Western Conference. Oilers coach Todd McLellan knew what was coming; he was the coach of San Jose when Dominic Moore left the team during the 2012 playoffs to tend to his wife Katie, who had been diagnosed with liver cancer. The Senators were heavily outshot, but the game never seemed in question with Anderson in net.
Senators captain Erik Karlsson told Sportsnet’s Mark Spector afterwards that despite the rivalries, the NHL is a tight league, “I feel like we have a lot of respect for each other… We do a lot of stupid things, but at the end of the day, we all have a life outside of the rink. When things like this happen, you have a lot of human respect for that.”
Anderson was named first star of the game, and the Oilers fans gave the teary-eyed goaltender a loud ovation when he came out to wave to the crowd. Oilers goalie Cam Talbot remained on the bench to clap and show support for his peer.
TSN’s Ray Ferraro and Ryan Rishaug both noted the quiet nature of the Senators locker room after the game (Ferraro on the Senators broadcast, Rishaug on Edmonton radio Monday morning). The visitor’s locker room was empty when the media entered the room; the Senators communications staff brought out select players one-by-one for interviews. Anderson did not speak to the media after the game.
Atlantic Division Snapshots: Anderson, Deslauriers, Conacher, Vanek
As noted earlier this week, Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson is going through a tough stretch in his personal life with the recent news of his wife’s cancer diagnosis. At his wife’s insistence, Anderson has returned from a brief leave of absence and will be pressed right back into service tonight between the pipes for the Senators, who are in Edmonton to play the red hot Oilers. Bruce Garrioch confirmed via Twitter that Anderson will get the start tonight as Ottawa attempts to snap the Oilers five-game winning streak.
Anderson has won four of his five starts this season despite a GAA approaching three and a S% just above 90%. Now in his 14th NHL season, Anderson has won 217 career games and has twice finished fourth in Vezina voting. During the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, Anderson led the league in GAA (1.69) and S% (94.1%).
With Andrew Hammond now on IR the Senators desperately need Anderson, though it would be understandable if the veteran netminder’s focus is somewhat divided. It’s likely most everyone outside of Edmonton is going to be an Ottawa Senators and Craig Anderson fan tonight.
More from the NHL’s Atlantic Division:
- Physical winger Nicolas Deslauriers of the Buffalo Sabres left Saturday’s win over Florida after a collision along the boards in the game’s final minute, writes Amy Moritz of The Buffalo News. Later, Mike Harrington, also of the Buffalo News, revealed on Twitter that Deslauriers has a knee injury and will be out of the lineup for “weeks.” To replace the four-year veteran in the lineup, at least for the time being, the Sabres have recalled winger Nicholas Baptiste from Rochester of the AHL, once again courtesy of Harrington. Baptiste has already appeared in two games this season for Buffalo – the first NHL action of his career – and scored his first career NHL goal on October 20th.
- Cory Conacher, who was recalled on Friday to take the place of the injured Nikita Kucherov, has been returned to Syracuse of the AHL, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. Conacher played 13:26 last night for the Lightning but didn’t register a point and recorded a -1 plus-minus rating. Smith suggests the reassignment of Conacher could mean that Kucherov or perhaps even Ryan Callahan is ready to return to the lineup for tonight’s contest against the New York Rangers. As Smith also notes, it would be fitting for Callahan, who has yet to play this season following hip surgery this summer, to make his 2016-17 debut against his former team. It’s also possible head coach Jon Cooper will simply dress seven defensemen; a tactic he utilized on many occasions last season.
- Originally listed as day-to-day due to a lower-body-injury, it now appears as if Detroit forward Thomas Vanek has been downgraded to week-to-week and is expected to miss the next few games, according to Ansar Khan of MLive.com. Vanek is off to a good start in his first year in Detroit, scoring four goals and eight points in his first seven contests. Detroit was considered a fringe playoff team at best coming into the season but the Austrian winger has helped the Wings to a 6 – 3- 0 start and a second place standing in the Atlantic. His extended absence is certainly bad news for a Wings club that has overachieved to this point.
Senators Place Andrew Hammond On IR
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports this morning that the Ottawa Senators have officially placed goaltender Andrew Hammond on the injured reserve. Hammond suffered a groin injury early in the Sens’ game against the Calgary Flames on Friday night. He was replaced by Chris Driedger, who allowed four goals on just 15 shots in the loss. Fortunately for Ottawa, starter Craig Anderson has returned from his leave of absence, encouraged by his wife following Hammond’s injury. Driedger will also remain with the team, and Senators called up Matt O’Connor.
However, the presence of three goalies on the roster for now will not stop Ottawa from taking a long look at the goalie market. A groin injury is one of the most difficult for keepers to come back from and Hammond could be looking at a lengthy absence. In the meantime, while the Senators are happy to have Anderson back, he is not guaranteed to be around all season with his wife battling cancer. That could potentially just Driedger and O’Connor in net. While O’Connor put up good numbers as the starter for Boston University, he has yet to establish his pro game since signing with Ottawa in 2015. Driedger, a 2012 third-round pick, has never been able to live up to expectations, spending time in the ECHL as well as the AHL with pedestrian numbers for the past three years.
With over $5MM in salary cap space, the Senators are one of the few teams that are capable of bringing in one of the goalies in a trade market saturated with high-priced options. With Anderson and Hammond each signed for only one more year, it would not be a surprise to see Ottawa have interest in a long-term option. Jimmy Howard, Marc-Andre Fleury, one of the Dallas duo, or potentially even a return for Ben Bishop could all be possibilities for the Sens if their goalie situation becomes desperate. The immediate health of Andrew Hammond will go a long way in determining just how far the Senators will go to ensure solid tending in 2016-17.
Nicholle Anderson Diagnosed With Cancer, Craig Rejoining Senators
Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion addressed the media on Saturday afternoon and offered an update to Craig Anderson‘s situation. Craig’s wife Nicholle has been diagnosed with cancer.
Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports that the 35-year-old Anderson will be rejoining the team in Edmonton, where they will take on the Oilers on Sunday.
Anderson had taken a leave of absence on Thursday. The Senators backup goalie, Andrew Hammond, subsequently suffered a lower-body injury, leaving the team with their AHL tandem in the NHL. According to Garrioch, Nicholle encouraged Craig to return.
Chris Driedger and Matt O’Connor will both remain with the Senators, as the team is unsure if Anderson’s return is permanent.
Everyone here at Pro Hockey Rumors sends their thoughts to the Anderson family at this difficult time.