Bulls of the week

The Montreal Canadiens, Edmonton Oilers, and now the Ottawa Senators are giving Canadian fans something to cheer for as they head into the final two weeks of the regular season. In the countdown to the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Original Six Canadiens are suddenly the hottest team in the NHL, going into the weekend on a seven-game winning streak at 44-21-10 and 98 points. That’s good enough for third in the competitive Atlantic Division behind only the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres (both at 100 points).

The Oilers appear to be finding their groove and their defence at the right time, winning five straight games to consolidate their position in second place in the “pillow fight” that is the Pacific Division. Seeking a third consecutive appearance in the Stanley Cup Final, the Oilers are a comfortable eight points clear of the second wildcard berth in the Western Conference and are playing some of their best two-way hockey this season.

The emerging bonus for sports bars and restaurants, apparel merchandisers, Canadian-based NHL sponsors, licensees and media rights holders is being provided by the Senators, who are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and are in quite the Eastern Conference traffic jam for one of two wildcards. Ottawa is one of five teams separated by just three points in that tooth-and-nail wildcard chase. If they maintain recent form, Ottawa should give Canada three of seven available berths in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s a step down from having five of seven in the post-season as per last year, but it’s a much more promising scenario than what was shaping up two weeks ago when both the Oil and the Sens were in losing slumps and the Habs were far from a sure thing.

Yet the biggest lift this week goes to the WNBA and its two newest expansion franchises; the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire. Thanks to the completion of a new collective bargaining agreement two weeks ago, the biggest women’s professional sports league in North America – and the world — will thankfully not lose games to a work stoppage. That was not a certainty three weeks ago. The difference for the Tempo and Fire is significant given that there is not much harder in the business of sport than launching an expansion team during a strike or a lock out. That’s why it’s a big boost and a relief for the newest members of the WNBA that they’re on track to usher in their first-ever season next month. A big part of that takes shape tonight in the WNBA Expansion Draft.

Bears of the week

Moving toward their first Stanley Cup playoff appearance in 15 years, the Sabres are easily having one of their best seasons in 55 years of franchise history. At the other end of the spectrum, their 1970 NHL expansion cousins — the Vancouver Canucks — are having one of their very worst seasons. In terms of winning percentage, they’re not quite as hapless as they were in their earliest years in the 1970s and the Mark Messier years in the late 1990s. Yet as of Thursday of this week, they’re locked in to 32nd place out of 32 teams in the NHL.

History tells us they have never been dead last like they are this year. The upside is that gives them a 25.5 per cent chance at the number one overall draft pick in June’s NHL Draft and the assurance that they’ll pick in the top three. Picking number one overall – which they’ve also never done before – may make up for much of the pain the Canucks season ticket holders and fans have endured in this joyless 2025-’26 season. Yet make no mistake: The Canucks have plenty more pain ahead of them as they commit to a long-overdue, unbridled rebuild.

Sport business commentator and marketing executive Tom Mayenknecht is a principal in EMBLEMATICA and the host of The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.