Is this a little bit cheesy?  Re-posting an old fan post of mine?   Too busy / lazy for new material, so I put out a ‘best of’ collection instead?   Maybe.  Ok probably.  In any event, I revisited this post from two years ago last night in the GDT and I thought I’d re-post it since it contains info that some of the newer folks around here might find interesting.   And by interesting I mean “will help you shut up your mouthbreathing co-worker that loves the Flames”.

http://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/2009/4/5/823851/perspective-or-your-team-sucks-too

So that this post isn’t completely a repeat of my previous work, after the jump I’ve updated the playoff records of Canadian teams to see how the Leafs rank as we ‘enjoy’ our 6th playoff-free season.

Below are the playoff records for Canadian teams as of April 2009 (prior to the 2009 playoffs), going back to the 92/93 season when Ottawa joined the league:

Leafs     66-66 (132 GP)  -- 10 series won
Sens      49-54 (103 GP) -- 8 series won
Canucks 44-52 (96 GP) -- 7 series won
Habs      43-46 (89 GP)* -- 7 series won
Flames  31-39 (70 GP) -- 3 series won
Oil          30-39 (69 GP) -- 5 series won   

This is how it looks now - 2 years and 3 playoff seasons later (inclusive of this year’s round 1results):

Leafs     66-66 (132 GP)  -- 10 series won
Canucks 60-65 (125 GP) -- 10 series won
Habs      55-66 (119 GP) -- 9 series won
Sens      51-58 (109 GP) -- 8 series won

Flames  33-43 (76 GP) -- 3 series won
Oil          30-39 (69 GP) -- 5 series won   

So as you can see, even with a 6-year playoff absence, the Leafs are still at the top of the list for playoff games played and are tied for playoff series won.  There’s a good chance that Vancouver will move into the lead this playoff season, but if you needed another reason to cheer for Nashville this round, now you’ve got one.

None of this takes away the pain of the last 6 years.  It still sucks that the most enjoyment I’ve got out of the playoffs post-lockout has been cheering for Canadian teams to lose.  But this stuff is important to keep in mind when people are pointing to the Leafs as some sort of anomaly, the ‘laughing stock’ of the Canadian NHL franchises.    We’re not.   We’re going through a rough patch, just like all of the teams have over the last almost 20 years.   And maybe we’re not quite poised to return to the relative ‘glory’ of the Quinn era, but I like where we’re at and where we’re going.  I’ll be updating this again next year, and I hope I’ll be making some changes to the Leafs record when I do.