[Red John]

Glad to see the Canadian teams failing hard, when a Canadian team finally wins the Cup hopefully its the Flames and frankly that isn't too crazy of a prediction to make.

The other Canadian teams have either a bad core or a poor choice of players to build around which is the workings of bad management combined with some bad luck.

Toronto chose to build around Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf. Is anyone surprised that team chokes hard in the clutch? Clarkson and Bozak contracts, Grabovski buyout...terrible moves from a bad GM.

Ottawa's goalie is a true Jeyll and Hyde guy and always will be, so you'll get good year - bad year from them but they really have no true superstars besides Karlsson and he's a one-dimensional guy. Traded a 1st rounder for a winger who can't spell intense. Just picked the wrong players to build around. Spezza? Really?

Winnipeg - mediocre team and core all the way through and likely will be for a long time. Ladd, Wheeler, Kane, Byfuglien, Bogosian, Enstrom - those are awful players to be building around. They're great complementary pieces but not core guys.

Montreal - Bergevin seems to be a bright guy and they're drafting well so hence the best canadian team right now but the insistence on a French coach and French players in that fishbowl will likely limit how far they ever go in the playoffs. A clear step below the contenders in the East.

Vancouver - enough said. Headed for a decline tied to a core that never did get it done in the clutch.

Edmonton - a rotten core in a rotten organization. The joke of the league.

Calgary - seem to be on the upswing, will be interesting to see who they hire as GM and what he chooses to do with the coach etc. moving forward. Could be the next great Canadian team but a lot has to go right in the next couple years. Cautious optimism.