The offseason of 1919 was notable for a couple of reasons. First, with the World War now concluded, many players were finally able to swap their khaki uniforms for hockey sweaters. And secondly, the NAHC was once again able to have four active clubs as the Quebec club, dormant for the past two seasons, finally returned to the fold. This relatively drama-free situation represented a 'new normal' for the sport as the club owners were generally united in purpose, something that had been missing while Jack Connolly was counted among its membership in previous years.
While it was business as usual for both the NAHC and TCHA, Connolly continued to linger on the fringes of the hockey world, openly discussing his plans to start a rival professional league. The return to normalcy helped Connolly as well in his designs to start a rival pro loop based in the United States. He began to revisit his plans and approach potential partners in the U.S. And though the reception remained cool in most locations, the end of both the war and the flu pandemic would soon usher in a decade that would fully earn its moniker - the "Roaring Twenties" - and provide fertile ground in which Connolly could plant his seeds.
If the 1917-18 season was one of transition, the 1918-19 season was one of surviving the attrition caused by the war (that finally ended in November of 1918 - too late for many of the players in France to be discharged and returned home for the season) and a new and more insidious threat: influenza. The attrition claimed the Montreal National Hockey Club, which ceased operations immediately following the 1918 Cup series. Down to three clubs, one of which (Toronto) was operating on a shoestring budget thanks in some part to the legal fees necessary to fend off Jack Connolly's lawsuits, the NAHC played an 18-game schedule that resulted in one powerhouse, one average club and one doormat. The TCHA had a 20-game schedule and had a doormat of its own in the newly reborn Victoria club, but the other two clubs went toe-to-toe throughout the season.
Newspapers around Canada bemoaned the lowly state of pro hockey - noting, not incorrectly, that with many top players in the military the two pro loops featured a lot of "filler" and that amateur hockey was far more entertaining. Some of the "amateurs" were being paid under the table, which didn't help the pro loops (who were not helping themselves by underpaying their own players). This meant the mantra for 1918-19 would be survival - as the country demobilized many players would be returning for 1919-20 and the hope was that the influenza pandemic would have burned itself out by then as well.