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With the days counting down to the annual Rookie Tournament and training camp, it is time to take a look at the Toronto Maple Leafs competition in the Atlantic Division and see where they stand prior to the season. The Atlantic once again appears top heavy, with a trio of clubs that earned more than 100 points occupying the automatic playoff spots at the top of the division last season and five clubs that either will battle for a wild card spot or to stay away from the bottom of the standings, but there is always one team that no one expects and surprises. The Montreal Canadiens were among the best teams in the NHL only a few years ago, but due to a series of questionable trades and decisions made by GM Marc Bergevin, the Habs appear to be set for another season of disappointment.
Montreal finished 28th in the NHL with a 29-40-13 record (71 points) and near the bottom of the league in offense with just 209 goals, mostly due to their lack of depth and firepower up the middle. They hoped to boost their offense by dealing for Jonathan Drouin and shifted the talented winger to center, but scored only 13 goals in his first season in La Belle Province.
Brendan Gallagher led the team with a career high 31 goals, but only Paul Byron managed to score over 20. The normally productive Max Pacioretty dipped to 17 goals after four straight 30+ goal seasons and his status as a pending unrestricted free agent has led to frequent trade speculation.
Bergevin swapped Alex Galchenyuk to Arizona for Max Domi, re-signed veteran Tomas Plekanec and added forwards Joel Armia and Matthew Peca.
19 #Leafs players at Mastercard Centre, ramping up towards the opening of training camp 10 days from now. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/Zc7yMZmyD3
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) September 4, 2018
The Canadiens may be in most trouble on the blueline. Shea Weber played only 26 games because of a foot injury and will be out until at least December after having off-season knee surgery. Without their defensive leader, more of a burden falls on veterans Jeff Petry, Karl Alzner, youngsters Victor Mete and Noah Juulsen and goalie Carey Price returning to form.
Price had only 16 wins in 49 games with a career-worst 3.11 GAA and .900 save percentage. The Habs chose Jesperi Kotkaniemi third overall in the 2018 Draft and there are some indications that the big Finn could make the club out of training camp, but that would be a sure sign of desperation for a team that should think more about rebuilding than trying to make the playoffs.
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