Who's to Blame for Canada's Continued Stanley Cup Drought?

D'oh, Canada. The Stanley Cup will be handed to an American team this spring…again.

A Canadian franchise hasn't laid claim to the coveted Stanley Cup in 21 years. That drought is about to hit 22, with the Montreal Canadiens having been eliminated from this spring's tournament Tuesday night.

Before we assign blame for this astonishing dry spell, let that number sink in—22 years. When the Canadiens claimed the silver chalice in 1993, Bill Clinton was being sworn in as president, Prince was changing his name to a symbol, movie tickets cost about $5 and some crazy fan decided to parachute into the ring during a heavyweight fight between Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield.

Pop culture aside, hockey is Canada's culture. It's the country's national pastime (the U.S. can have baseball, and Europe can have football/soccer).

So as fulfilling as the international success has been—three gold medals in the five Olympics NHLers have been allowed to participate—and how blissful Canadian hockey fans are to talk about back-to-back Winter Games dominance in Vancouver and Sochi, there remains a void in the hearts of the NHL enthusiasts up here.

"Well, it is strange, because we're supposed to be the Mecca," Jacques Demers, who coached the Canadiens in 1993, told the National Post's Sean Fitz-Gerald.

Added former Habs forward Vincent Damphousse: "I didn't think the Canadiens would be that long without a Cup. So, imagine, with seven teams, it seems pretty unusual. But it's a trend that's probably going to change."

Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

Things are looking up for the Calgary Flames, a team that boasts some strong core pieces. The Edmonton Oilers are set to draft a generational talent in Connor McDavid next month. The Canadiens have Carey Price, and the feeling is they are a few pieces away from advancing further in the near future. The others may catch up too...eventually.

But for now, there is a definite sadness in the air of these cities that fell short once again.

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Old rivalries like Leafs vs. Habs—deeply rooted in the glory days of the Canadian teams—may still keep some from rooting for just any Canadian club when theirs falls. But the longer the drought goes and the more time that passes without these teams playing any meaningful games against each other, the more the hatred fades and rallying behind the flag can kick in.

I've already heard people—particularly family, friends and co-workers in Calgary—proclaim they wouldn't watch the rest of the playoffs with the Flames and Canadiens out. The interest has faded along with the chances of the Cup coming back to their team, or Canada. That's not something I can relate to. It's like turning off a movie before the end.

It is, however, more obvious than ever that this country needs another win to feel connected as a united nation of hockey fans. There's no promise of another Olympics.

The Canadiens were the northern nation's final hope in a season that offered the most opportunity since the year lost to lockout. With the Habs, Flames, Ottawa Senators, Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets all qualifying, the five Canadian clubs in the postseason were the most since 2004.

That makes it tougher to digest this time around. It forces Canadians to look for excuses. Or maybe apologies. We're good at apologies.

We're also getting pretty good at developing inferiority complexes and looking for blame.

You could blame brain drain.

You know the concept. Educated or professional people leave a particular place and move to another that offers better pay or living conditions. Well, free agents haven't been particularly keen on signing in some of the smaller-market Canadian cities like Winnipeg, Edmonton and even Calgary these past couple of decades.

Are the winters that bad? Yeah, they are.

Gerry Thomas/Getty Images

The additional fact many of these Canadian teams have been cyclically rebuilding or just fairly brutal for a decent portion of these past 22 years might also contribute to guys such as Michael Cammalleri choosing the New Jersey Devils over staying with the Flames for similar dollars and terms.

Guys want to win, and that trend has clearly been south of the border since the days when Edmonton, Calgary and Montreal ran up a seven-year stretch of keeping the Cup in Canada.

You could blame the percentages.

Fact is, Canadian teams make up just 23.3 percent of the league. During the Original Six era, when the Toronto Maple Leafs and Canadiens counted as 33.3 percent of the NHL, they took the Cup home in 20 of the 26 years before expansion added another half-dozen U.S. teams in 1967.

The Maple Leafs haven't won since. The Canadiens and, for a brief period, the Edmonton Oilers managed to serve as a reminder hockey was still Canada's game. But with parity at an all-time high, the entry draft serving as the foundation for the franchises now unable to simply buy championships, Canada has hardly had a sniff in the last two decades. Five Canadian franchises have finished as the runner-up in these 22 years.

You could blame NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

There are plenty of untapped Canadian markets that could support another franchise, but the commish continues to remain loyal to struggling southern markets. Getting the Jets back to Winnipeg was a victory, but until Quebec and Southern Ontario get more teams, the percentage of U.S. franchises will likely continue to grow with clubs in Las Vegas and Seattle potentially on the horizon.

Conspiracy theorists in Calgary might point out—as prone to do at every opportunity—that they really should have won the Cup in 2004 when Martin Gelinas appeared to put the puck past Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and over the goal line in Game 6 with a chance to clinch, but the review went against the Flames.

That memory was rekindled this spring, by the way, when an apparent goal by rookie Sam Bennett on the same side of the same net at the Saddledome was reviewed and disallowed.

And the new divisional playoff format introduced last season meant Canadian teams went head-to-head in the first round in two series this spring.

Or you could just blame Canada.

Nothing less than a Cup in the country will do. For that reason, Canadian teams have been reluctant to rebuild over the years, preferring to add aging free agents and trading away future talent in order to please in the short term. Those failures have led to new management teams in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Toronto in the past couple of years.

It might also be time to change the perception that Canadian teams represent the country. Canadian players are everywhere. They make up 46 percent of the skaters who have played at least a game in the playoffs this spring. The next closest country is the U.S. at 17 percent.

Of those remaining prior to Wednesday's Game 7 between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers, three of the five teams have double-digit Canadians suiting up among the 18 players, excluding goalies.

The Capitals have the most with 11. Both the Rangers and Blackhawks boast 10. The Ducks aren't far behind with nine, and the Lightning have eight.

With some manipulative modern math taking into account that every player has a day with the Cup, chances are it spends more time in Canada than anywhere else anyway.

Sorry, eh.