Is playing for a Canadian team too much pressure?

[NetflixandPhil]

With the Flames, Jets, and Leafs all out in the first round and no Canadian team winning the cup since 93 do you believe it is too much pressure to play for a Canadian team?

Click to read more...

 

[Highmarker]

Toronto maybe.

 

[McHaNugYakEbNurDra]

I may be un-Canadian to even admit it, but this Canadian....

....cheered when the Colorado Avalanche eliminated the Calgary Flames
....cheered when the St Louis Blues eliminated the Winnipeg Jets
....cheered when the Boston Bruins eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs

....but don't get me wrong, I cheer for Canadian teams....well, not the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators or Vancouver Canucks either.

As for the question in the opening post, I think the fans take part of the blame, so does the media, and so do the taxes....but do I think that playing in Canada is 'too much pressure'...no.

 

[Westcoastsniper]

With the Flames, Jets, and Leafs all out in the first round and no Canadian team winning the cup since 93 do you believe it is too much pressure to play for a Canadian team?

If you had 24 Canadian teams, and 7 American teams, it would be the other way around.

 

[David Suzuki]

Canucks made it to game 7 of the final but the pressure of playing in Canada was just too much.

 

[Taluss]

Toronto yes definitely
Ottawa nobody gives a f***
Habs I can see being a more probable one
Oilers nucks Flames Jets I have no idea

 

[Hunter368]

No, that's a silly idea.

 

[tony d]

No, I think for the players they're good enough to handle what comes with playing in any city for any team.

 

[ESH]

Only if you crack under pressure

 

[StoneHands]

If the answer is "yes" then hockey players are incredibly soft. I get it, the media and pressure in Canada and worse than in the US but there are huge market NFL and NBA teams that are under a microscope just as much or more than Canadian hockey teams and they have no problem winning. It's a poor excuse.

 

[HugginThePost]

Of course not.....

It just so happens that it's more attractive to live in the States.

Well, that, and you know there are three times as many teams down here!

I love Canada, I would never consider giving up my citizenship, but I've been down here for 10 years and I don't think I'd ever move back.

 

[Meeqs]

It has nothing to do with pressure, its 2 other things.

1) Its simply a toxic work environment. The media is constantly overreacting and its non stop bombardment for the players. Every team tries their hardest to win and puts more pressure on themselves than any fan base ever could, but those cultures are emotionally draining and are a disadvantage for the teams that have to play in them.

2) Fans in Canada are too loyal. What I mean by this is that for non Canadian markets, teams that don't win generally bleed money, which forces them to stay competitive, generally from the front office and ownership positions. However in Canada you can have a team like EDM who can have the same failure of a brain trust that ruins the team for decades and fans still support them enough to where they stay in power.

 

[POVERTY]

Voted yes - in Ottawa you need to strike a balance between playing well, but not so well that they trade you. That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Are you Alex Ovechkin or Joni Pitkanen/Rick Nash?

 

[COHawk]

These are professionals, it shouldn't matter where you play.

 

[Voight]

It has nothing to do with pressure, its 2 other things.

1) Its simply a toxic work environment. The media is constantly overreacting and its non stop bombardment for the players. Every team tries their hardest to win and puts more pressure on themselves than any fan base ever could, but those cultures are emotionally draining and are a disadvantage for the teams that have to play in them.

2) Fans in Canada are too loyal. What I mean by this is that for non Canadian markets, teams that don't win generally bleed money, which forces them to stay competitive, generally from the front office and ownership positions. However in Canada you can have a team like EDM who can have the same failure of a brain trust that ruins the team for decades and fans still support them enough to where they stay in power.

IMO fans still show up in Edmonton because they have the best player in the world. Yea I'm sure they dont want to give Katz any more money or make him think they support his brain trust but it's hard to not go watch a player like McDavid play.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

If the answer is "yes" then hockey players are incredibly soft. I get it, the media and pressure in Canada and worse than in the US but there are huge market NFL and NBA teams that are under a microscope just as much or more than Canadian hockey teams and they have no problem winning. It's a poor excuse.

Also imagine soccer players lol

 

[StoneHands]

Also imagine soccer players lol

Lol, yup. It's actually hilarious that Canadians think they're somehow more rabid fans of their teams than any other fans of any other sports teams. I'm not saying Canadians aren't great hockey fans who put a lot of pressure on their players but they also aren't some unique brand of fan that other athletes don't see.

You want to talk pressure, just think of Russian Olympic athletes from the cold war era to as recent as 4-5 years ago with the doping scandal. Or to go a step further, think of the North Korean Olympians. Can you imagine what would happen if they somehow brought shame to their country? That's pressure!

 

[NyQuil]

Just sounds like a silly excuse.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Can't talk for the other teams, but for the Habs, yeah, probably.

 

[Fugazy]

Maybe a little bit more in Toronto, but otherwise not really.

 

[Maestro84]

In Toronto, absolutely
In Montreal, if you aren’t good enough or French enough then issues could arise
Everywhere else in Canada, you’d feel less pressure playing there than in the States

 

[Cotton]

If the answer is "yes" then hockey players are incredibly soft. I get it, the media and pressure in Canada and worse than in the US but there are huge market NFL and NBA teams that are under a microscope just as much or more than Canadian hockey teams and they have no problem winning. It's a poor excuse.

The microscope and media is way, way, way worse for NFL and NBA players in the US. So it's either NHL'ers are incredibly soft, or it's a BS notion brought up to rustle jimmies.

Pretty sure it's the latter.

 

[McRpro]

In Toronto, absolutely
In Montreal, if you aren’t good enough or French enough then issues could arise
Everywhere else in Canada, you’d feel less pressure playing there than in the States

Am I reading this wrong? You can't actually think that.

 

[Maestro84]

Am I reading this wrong? You can't actually think that.

I’m being honest there. There’s surely gotta be more pressure to play in markets like New York, Boston, Philly, Chicago, Pittsburgh and even the Cali teams than somewhere like Winnipeg or Ottawa