Canada still owns hockey, just not in the NHL standings

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Canadian hockey has never been better. Canadian hockey teams have never been worse.

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It's a strange juxtaposition between the current NHL season and the upcoming Winter Olympics, which are just around the corner.

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Rarely has Canada had so many legitimate candidates for an Olympic hockey team at a time when so many franchises in the country are struggling to find themselves.

Tuesday night in Edmontonlong-shot Olympian Wyatt Johnston, a former member of the GTHL's Toronto Marlboros, scored four points in the team's 8-3 rout. Edmonton Oilers.

That gave Johnston 25 points in 23 games with the Dallas Stars, very similar to fellow Olympic hopeful Mark Scheifele and just below John Tavares of the Maple Leafs.

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For context, Johnston has more points than Sidney Crosby, more than Tom Wilson, more than Nick Suzuki, Brandon Hagel, Sam Reinhart, Mitch Marner or Sam Bennett, Anthony Cirelli, Seth Jarvis or Mark Stone – many of whom are expected to receive an Olympic call-up late next month.

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Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong and his team have a tougher task of living off the obvious choices of Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Cale Makers and Crosby, and surrounding them with the right mix of teammates.

For the first time in more than a decade and only the second time this century The NHL's top four scorers are Canadian.. It may not end the same way as the 2013-14 season, but MacKinnon currently leads the NHL in scoring, followed by teenager McLean Celebrini, 20-year-old Connor Bedard and, as usual, McDavid.

The last time four Canadians led the NHL in scoring: Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf, Claude Giroux and Tyler Seguin. This is a relatively good list. The list with MacKinnon, Celebrini, Bedard and McDavid is a sensational list.

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The only time this century that four Canadians finished in the top 4 in scoring came in the 2006-07 season, when Crosby won the title, followed by Joe Thornton, Vincent Lecavalier and Dany Heatley.

This rise in individual Canadian talent comes at a time of great hockey crisis across the country. The two-time Stanley Cup finalist Oilers appear to be in a deep dive. They are the worst in the NHL in terms of goals. Dallas got four goals from Stuart Skinner in the first period Tuesday night.

While missing the playoffs still seems unlikely for the team of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the panic surrounding the Oilers is both real and complex.

It's real in Vancouver, too, where the Canucks don't seem to know who or what they are. They are tied for 14th place in the Western Conference. They have one incredible asset in a defenseman. Quinn Hugheswho probably wants out and the Canucks don't want to trade him. They want to trade everyone no one wants and too many of their players have no-trade clauses in their contracts.

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They can't win with just Hughes and the little players they have around him, and they can't really handle Hughes because historical returns for a player of his quality rarely end in a tie deal.

Vancouver is trapped, but not in the same way Calgary Flames are at the bottom of the Pacific Division and near the bottom of the NHL.

The Flames have some quality assets in veterans Nazem Kadri and defender Rasmus Andersonto name two – but they have a thin squad that works hard and scores fewer goals than anyone in the game.

Today's Alberta Hockey: Calgary can't score goals. Edmonton won't be able to stop them.

Winnipeg should make the playoffs. The Jets have a playoff roster, and until the recent injury, they had one of the few reliable goaltenders in a league that didn't have any goaltenders.

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But now with Connor Hellebuyck out for six weeks or more after surgery, the Jets sit 11th in the Western Conference, fifth in the Central Division – all after a 116-point season a year ago.

Their story is different from that of the Maple Leafs, but no less troubling. Last season, the Leafs finished first in a very tough Atlantic Division and played seven games with the Florida Panthers, who beat the rest of the league en route to another Stanley Cup.

The Leafs were last in the Eastern Conference heading into Wednesday night's game at Columbus. To say that everything went wrong in the first quarter of the season would be almost true. They look old and slow which was never a good combination in today's NHL, and now they are old, slow and injured in many places.

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With the departure of Anthony Stolarz, they no longer have a goaltending tandem. They didn't have two thirds of the first line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Nice – both of whom will return Wednesday against Columbus. – for some time. They are without their most indispensable player, guard Chris Tanev, and there are too many others around them who are injured or having terrible seasons, or both.

The Leafs don't look like a playoff team at all.

The Montreal Canadiens, currently outside the top eight in the East, look set to make the playoffs. The Habs have a variety of explosive talent, from Lane Hutson to Suzuki to Cole Caufield, and if they produce anything resembling adequate goaltending over the next four months, they should be a playoff team.

Currently, Ottawa is the only Canadian team in a playoff position as the American Thanksgiving holiday approaches and it's hardly convenient. They are tied with two other teams for sixth place in the Conference – or eighth, depending on how you look at it.

They are now in playoff position. Right now. It's an uncomfortable place to be when five teams are within one point.

None of this will make Rogers Sportsnet happy after their great game against the Blue Jays. They need Canadian teams in the playoffs to attract viewers.

It doesn't look like there will be many of them in May.

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