- The Athletic polled just under 20,000 fans on which team will NOT win a Stanley Cup before 2036
- Vancouver topped the list at 15 percent, with Toronto, Calgary and Columbus all in double digits
- Read below for the full top 10 and the two Pacific teams nobody expected to see on it
The Athletic put a blunt question to just under 20,000 hockey fans, and Vancouver ran away with the answer.
The survey asked people to name the one club they are most confident will NOT win a Stanley Cup before 2036. Canucks fans will not enjoy this. Vancouver took 15 percent of the vote, more than any other team in the league.
Toronto landed second at 12 percent, Calgary third at 11 and Columbus fourth at 10. Those four were the only clubs to reach double digits.
Here is the full top 10:
Chicago sat at 8 percent and Seattle at 7. Detroit and Winnipeg tied at 5, Ottawa took 4, and the Rangers closed out the group at 3.
Detroit showing up at all says plenty about a front office that still cannot solve its center problem. The Red Wings spent the summer asking for a first-line center in a Dylan Larkin trade and found nobody willing to pay it.
Check out the original bar chart, which went a few names deeper than the top 10:
Five Pacific Division teams made the top 12. Vancouver, Calgary and Seattle are all somewhere in a rebuild, so those votes track.
The other two are stranger. Edmonton drew 3 percent while still employing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Anaheim picked up 2 percent months after pushing Vegas to six games in the second round.
Buffalo is the flip side of all this. The Sabres came in under 2 percent, one year after ending a playoff drought that had run nearly 15 seasons and finishing a win short of the conference final.
One good spring changed how 20,000 people see that franchise. Vancouver and Toronto are still waiting on theirs.
