Sorry Canucks fans, most Canadians believe the Leafs have a better chance at the Stanley Cup

Most Canadians believe the Leafs and Oilers have a better shot at the Cup than the Canucks, according to a new poll. 

Perhaps it comes as no surprise, of all the Canadian teams vying for Lord Stanley’s Cup, most British Columbians believe the Vancouver Canucks have the greatest shot at winning it all.

Also not a shocker, the sentiment is not shared by the rest of the country.

When the Angus Reid Institute asked Canadians which team they believed was most likely to prevail, hockey fans were largely divided between the Toronto Maple Leafs (21 per cent) and the Edmonton Oilers (20 per cent).

Only 14 per cent of those surveyed across the country chose the Canucks, with the Jets coming in last, at five per cent.

“The Leafs are an original six team, there’s a lot of lore, and so there's still a lot of love for the Leafs, particularly Ontario (and) east,” said pollster Shachi Kurl.

institute conducted an online survey between April 9 and 11

Vancouver fans are likely to expect a lot of the team in this year’s playoffs.

After a shaky mid-season, the Canucks have been playing better of late, are expecting the return of starting goalie Thatcher Demko.

“I think the Canucks right now are very, very well positioned when you look at what your potential matchups are going to be in the first round,” said TSN’s Farhan Lalji.

“I’ve never seen this league enter a playoff with this level of parity. There’s probably 12 or 14 teams that believe they’ve got a legitimate shot to win the Cup,” he said.

Four of those teams are from Canadian cities and the survey found an increasing number of fans country said they will cheer for any team that could end the country's multi-decade drought.

"For many Canadians, the team to win has evidently become less important than the act of winning. In 2016, 57 per cent of Canadians said they didn’t care which team ended the drought, while 43 per cent said the team to win was important to them. Now, nearing two-thirds (64 per cent) say they’ll cheer for any team that calls Canada home," a news release form the Angus Reid Institute said.

The poll come from a two-day online survey that asked a representative sample of 1,615 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. A sample of that size has a margin error plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20, according to the institute.