Every day when I get up, I enjoy checking the Memories feature on Facebook, it’s great to be able to reminisce on what happened in the years past, to see what was making you happy back then or what you were up to some years ago. These days, a lot of my memories on Facebook have to do with playoffs hockey...You see, whether the Canadiens make the Spring dance or not, I always watch the playoffs because there just isn’t any better hockey than Stanley Cup playoffs hockey. To be honest, seeing these memories these days kind of hurts, just makes me miss hockey all the most but this morning it was even worst. You know what happened 5 years ago to the day? The Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators in the first round and that is the last time the Canadiens won a series. This truly goes to show how badly the wheels fell off the wagon in my book...
Has that ever happened before you say? Well yes, the “record” is 6 years without winning a playoffs series from the years from 1936-1937 to 1942-1943 (and there was also a 5 year without a series win between 1931-1932 to 1935-1936) and you know what that means? It means that should the Habs not take part in the tournament next year or should they fail to win a round, they would tie that “great” record....How the mighty have fallen.
It’s all well and good to play in the regular season, to see Carey Price beat the record for most wins in franchise history, see Tomas Plekanec play a thousand games in the NHL, see our beloved Habs beat the Bruins in the Winter Classic in Foxboro but good grief do we need something more meaningful to happen. And yes, we’ve had fun celebration the past and seeing the greats have their numbers raised to the rafters but what we truly crave is for another Stanley Cup banner to go up there. When is that likely to happen though? It’s very hard to say in a 31 team league and even more so when the cornerstone of your franchise (Price) is soon going to turn 33 years old, your captain is pushing 35 and the heart and soul of your team (Gallagher) says he wants to win and that’s what will determine where he signs when his contract is up after next season. Look at it any way you want it, the Canadiens cannot afford to lose Brendan Gallagher and when the times come to negotiate an extension with him, Bergevin better have heck of a plan to show and manage to convince him that yes, winning in Montreal is possible.
Right about now though, it doesn’t look very likely that the Habs will be winners again in the foreseeable future. Yes, they do have some bright prospects but until they make the jump to the big league and prove that they can perform there, they are only maybes... Next season, let’s hope that Suzuki stays away from the sophomore jinx, that Kotkaniemi is either back to year 1 KK or given more time to develop and that people learn to accept that Poehling will not be an offensive threat in this league. Whatever happens though, the Canadiens will need more impactful players (and no just the arrival of Alexander Romanov won’t do) if they are to come back to their winning ways and that is up to Marc Bergevin to fix...can he do it?
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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