I can't express my disappointment with the Canadiens this season adequately. I knew this team was no Tampa Bay Lightning, but I felt they would be contending for 2nd or 3rd in the Atlantic. The remarkable collapse of Price, Pacioretty, and Galchenyuk (for a while) coupled with some injuries to Price, Drouin, Weber and who knows who else really helped to take this team out of the race early.
The team needs Pacioretty to score, Price to stop pucks, and Weber to defend. The team hasn't received more than one of those "needs" at one time this season and it quickly spelled the end for this team. Math, and games remaining, kept Montreal in the mix for a while. Lindgren almost came in and dragged the team ahead with him, actually he did just that until Price was healed up.
But, a couple win streaks and some high win % stretches of games weren't enough to bring them back from the bottom, especially with Pacioretty in a season long funk, Weber still out and walking in a boot, and Price not really his typical self. It's hard to blame Price though, it must difficult to get into these games when your team struggles to generate any scoring chances and is likely to go to sleep immediately after a goal.
So here we are, wasting some pretty good/decent seasons by some of the role players like Gallagher, Shaw, Carr, Benn while guys paid to perform languish on the sidelines and on the ice.
There isn't a quick fix here, but the team needs a change. Clearly a change in leadership would help too. Pacioretty is a great player but his leadership abilities maybe lend themselves more to "support" instead of "Captain".
As the Max Pacioretty rumours heat up, we look at some possible trade destinations for the #Canadiens captain. (@Dixononsports)https://t.co/WVzHtkQsmp pic.twitter.com/T1MJg0sRF5
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 4, 2018
It was definitely a unique year though as Carey Price is the undisputed leader in my mind and with his terrible start, then injury, I can't believe he was his typical self in the room. Add to that some anger about how the media has portrayed him and his wife, he may be off completely. I think I would be for sure. So much so he stopped saluting the fans and is short with the media after games. This is the player who would shoulder all blame, all the time and listen to all the media's (sometimes) ridiculous questions without reservation. That seems to have changed this year and it isn't Price's fault either.
Now we have moved from hoping for playoffs to hoping for Dahlin, not that the prospect of adding a elite prospect to the team isn't exciting. But this team needs some more high end talent, especially on defense. A young, speedy, offensive defenseman could be just what this team needs for next season. Weber, Mete, Dahlin, Petry (if he isn't moved), Alzner, Schlemko, Jerabek, and Juulsen actually looks pretty good to me. There's possibly a player to be added to that group in any potential Pacioretty deal, so IF Montreal could land Dahlin this summer it could help remake this D group immediately and effectively.
I know, big IF...
"I think we're too easy to play against." - @PetryJ
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 3, 2018
READ -> https://t.co/87NpRHqUPe #GoHabsGo
Lot's of people on my social media are saying that St. Louis could provide the best return of assets to Montreal as they could move prospects like Kyrou, Kostin, Fabbri, and Thomas. Dreger speculated Nashville could have interest in Pacioretty and has prospects like Fabbro and Tolvanen to move. I speculated that should Vegas look to cash in on a monumental opening expansion season they definitely have the young assets to sell for established scoring help. Either way the talk of the return for Pacioretty in a any deal appears high, this is a good thing for a team that needs help all over.
Get ready for speculation overload folks.
LERNOUT ASSIGNED TO LAVAL
Lernout's Christmas holiday in the NHL has come to an end as he was returned to the AHL team yesterday. Lernout was a healthy scratch the last two games and produced no points during his call up.
The Canadiens have assigned defenseman Brett Lernout to the Rocket.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 3, 2018
DETAILS -> https://t.co/a1kyOIgFYc #GoHabsGo
Lernout will head back to the farm for more minutes to develop into the big, bottom pair defensive defender we project him to be.
TAMPA BAY LOOKING LIKE CUP FAVOURITES
The Lightning come into this game having won 13 of their last 16 games with 5 shut outs during that span, including two straight against Columbus and Toronto. They are likely to find themselves playing a team tonight thats only chance to fight back will be through defense and excitement killing play.
If the Canadiens fail to contain the high flying Lightning early this game could get out of hand fast. The Lighting have two of the leagues best, if not the best, forwards in Kucherov (56 points) and Stamkos (49 points) and both players have over 30 (!) points on the PP. I don't need a crystal ball to tell you that tonight looks like a difficult game for the Canadiens. I'm hoping they can pull off a miracle, as I'm not a big fan of coach Cooper and would like to see him humbled by a non playoff team.
A lot of talk tonight will focus on the play of young rookie rear guard M Sergachev, the trade piece that landed Montreal highly touted F J Drouin. Drouin's first season in MTL hasn't been as remarkable as Sergachev's unfortunately and has added more fuel to the "Fire Bergevin" fire. Sergachev has put up 8 goals and 18 assists in 39 games this year, including 10 PP points.
Drouin, by comparison, has only put up 5 goals and 13 assists in 35 games and is barley 2 points ahead of teammate Weber in points, despite Weber playing 9 less games.... Ugh, that was tough to type. Drouin lacks any true finishers to play with during his first season learning the Center position at the NHL level and it shows. Drouin should improve if Montreal can bring in some scoring in the future, or perhaps go back to LW if they manage to land a proper center.
So tonight we are likely to get the double whammy from the Sports world. Not only are the Habs likely to be handed loss number 6 in a row, but we will be reminded how Bergevin possibly lost out on Drouin deal, which will lead to talk of the Weber deal, which will lead to collective groaning from the Habs fan base as they try to watch some truly boring Canadiens hockey...
Well, back to researching draft picks and watching the World Juniors...
I'll keep praying for Tavares...
Go Habs Go!