I feel like the whole "Canada's Team" thing is a false narrative that gets pushed every year by the media here.
Like every hockey fan in Canada is supposedly rallying around the idea that that Cup "belongs here" or some crap - despite the fact that every single season the Cup is won by an American team comprised mostly of Canadians anyway, and every single season is followed by a summer that sees the Cup make regular trips up here with those aforementioned Canadian players.
They do that so Canadian viewers amp up by banding together. With so few Canadian teams to begin with and they stink so bad winning the cup or just making the finals is almost impossible already, their ratings stink if all Canadian team fans bail watching when their team gets ousted. It's all about viewership.
It's like when TSN or Sportsnet recaps daily highlights. There could be an awesome game between Colorado vs Dallas, or TB vs Florida. Or Lakers play GS. Which game recap do they show first? Canadian teams. Even if lowly Ottawa is the only Canadian team playing a meaningless game that night, somehow that cruddy game gets the first news bite of the show.
Also, hockey is the only pro sport Canadian athletes fill the rosters better than US So for sake of patriotism, the media plays on the silly Canada vs US arc in hopes sports fans stick around and cheer for which ever Canadian team is left in the playoffs. And if no Canadian teams are left, then it's the TV shows going gonzo about Sidney Crosby from Cole Harbour Nova Scotia or McDavid racking up 140 pts. If you were blind and couldnt see Sid wearing a white and yellow Pittsburgh jersey, you'd think he played for a team based in Cole Harbour if you went by audio. On the other hand, how many times have the media said Ovechkin is from Moscow or Kucherov is from Maykop? Probably never.
Canadians call Americans childish for going full blown patriotism in sports or politics. But Canada does it too for hockey like it's the only thing in the world worth boasting about. That, curling and Donovan Bailey winning 100M dashes.
A lot fans are also into this. Go on any forum and chat about hockey and you'll see people say all cups are won by US teams past 30 years. But then Canadians will say "ya, but most players are Canadian anyway". So when the media plays up the Can vs US story (team or players), it feeds the losers who give a shit about who wins what.