The Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs -- 50 percent of the Canadian teams in the NHL -- managed to win their first round series, guaranteeing that a Canadian team will eventually play for the right to represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup finals.

Although one might think that this would be a blow to NHL postseason interest in the United States -- which has had both teams represented in the last seven Cup finals -- many don't think that will be the case.

"Toronto and Montreal, as part of the 'Original Six' have fans across the world," said Ottawa Senators president and CEO Roy Mlakar. "Wherever you travel, from Anaheim to Tampa Bay, you see Leafs and Canadiens fans all over the place. And don't think there aren't a lot of hockey fans who would like to see the $29 million (payroll) Ottawa team beat teams like the $60 million Philadelphia team."

The matchup of the teams, in terms of Canadian versus U.S., won't make much of a television ratings difference, said Howard Bloom, host of "The Sports Journal," a sports business radio show based in Ottawa.

First round Nielsen television ratings support Bloom's claim. The highest rated game from the Detroit-Vancouver series (Game 1) drew 658,000 households, according to Nielsen media research. The highest rated game from the Boston-Montreal series (Game 6) drew 634,000 households. Meanwhile, the Game 5 all-American matchup of San Jose Sharks and the Phoenix Coyotes only mustered a series high of 287,000 households, according to Nielsen.

Oddly enough, ESPN's highest rated first-round series from last season's playoffs featured the Maple Leafs and Senators, who face each other in this year's conference semifinals.

A large-market team with a huge fan base, such as the Detroit Red Wings, will affect the ratings positively more than a Canadian team will do so negatively, said David Carter, principal of the Sports Business Group, a sports marketing firm.

But Carter says a true ratings boost lies in attracting the eyeballs of the casual fan.

"Aficionados of the sport are going to watch the Stanley Cup regardless of who is playing," Carter said. "You might get the casual fan to watch at home or go to the bar if the team is from their area. But unless there's a real star like Mario Lemieux playing, you're not going to see much of a bump coming from the casual fans across the country."

If there's a good story that might interest the general fan, it could be the Canadiens, a team that entered the playoffs as the eighth-seed and whose captain, Saku Koivu, has returned to the ice after missing almost the entire regular season with abdominal cancer.

Then again, Ray Bourque's quest for the Stanley Cup last year didn't help out ABC, which broadcast the last five games of the seven-game series between the Colorado Avalanche and the New Jersey Devils. ABC saw a ratings decline of 11 percent from the 2000 Stanley Cup finals, which featured the Devils and the Dallas Stars.

"I think your wonderchild is Ottawa," said Terri Ritenour, director of sports research at Kagan World Media, a media research firm. "They are the financial underdogs, they are not piling tons of money and they're not making tons of money. That makes them exciting to watch."

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com.