The Montreal Canadiens made it to the Eastern Conference Final in 2010. It was a renaissance playoff run for a city that is suffering through the longest Stanley Cup drought in its history (17 years). Teams that make long playoff runs generally instill hope in fans for better things to come. Montreal was just three wins shy of a Stanley Cup Final, so they must be ‘almost there’.
Buyer beware.
Lest we forget, it was an OT loss (to the Eastern Conference-worst Toronto Maple Leafs) on the second last day of the regular season that provided the single point they needed to secure the 8th spot in the East. Then they rode the hot stick of Mike Cammalleri and the stellar goaltending of Jaroslav Halak past the Washington Capitals and defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
Well, their playoff hero (Halak) is now tending goal in St. Louis. The Canadiens had the dilemma of two young goaltenders becoming RFA’s at the same time. They decided to keep Carey Price whom they drafted 5th overall in 2005. Alex Auld was brought in to provide capable backup minutes. However, the faith shown in Carey Price needs to be repaid in the form of a strong season or the Canadiens will not have a successful season.
The offense has potential, but potential only takes you so far. Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri need to stay healthy (combined to miss 38 games in 09/10) and score 35-40 goals each in order to lead this team back to the playoffs. Scott Gomez has not lived up to his enormous contract that he signed with the Rangers and needs to produce as well. Tomas Plekanec landed a $30M, six year contract in the off-season as well. If he continues to produce at a point-per-game clip (or close) then he will earn that money and Montreal will benefit. Benoit Pouliot and Andrei Kostitsyn have yet to add up to the sum of their parts and the club will need secondary scoring from them.
Andrei Markov, who became a Canadian citizen in 2010, is the lynchpin of the defense corp. He will need to quarterback the PP that ranked 2nd in the NHL last season. Marc-Andre Bergeron was let go but it is hoped that PK Subban will be able to fill his spot. The daring 21 year old became a fan favourite while averaging over 20 minutes/game during the playoffs. Hal Gill, Josh Gorges, Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek round out an able top six that will look great some nights, and not so great on others.
There a lot of ‘ifs’ with this club. They lost to a much bigger and more physical Flyers squad in the Conference Final and that size disparity still exists. They are a small group of forwards who will need to depend on their power play to survive, along with staying off the trainer’s table. They will challenge for the 8th seed in the East.
If they get in, anything can happen (as we saw last season). Getting in will be the hard part.
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