What a disappointment of a season the Canadiens had last year. The franchise celebrated its 100th anniversary, and the whole city, no province, was ready to celebrate a Stanley Cup championship. Little did the Montreal brass and their fan base know that they had a team that wasn’t built for success, and it showed. Yes, the team did make the playoffs, but struggled to earn the eighth seed, and promptly got swept by the Bruins in round 1.
This season will most likely be a do or die situation for General Manager Bob Gainey. He has made a few smart moves on this roster in his tenure with Montreal, including this off-season, but has let too many big name players walk without getting any compensation. Just to mention a few, Sheldon Souray, Craig Rivet, Alex Kovalev, their long time captain Saku Koivu and Mike Komisarek who signed with the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. That last one has got to burn.
Let’s not get on Gainey too much, one man that should’ve been fired a few years back is team President Pierre Boivin, this guy is a total dumbass. He is all about keeping the Canadiens as French Canadian as possible, and that showed more than ever when Jacques Martin was hired to be the next head coach of this team. That was a bad move, no disrespect to Martin, but there were better and more qualified coaches who weren’t French Canadian out there. And Gainey didn’t want him.
So this season will be a test for the brass and the players, especially with the free agent moves Gainey made this summer. First of all, it started with a trade for Scott Gomez, in exchange for Chris Higgins. Both players have struggled the past two seasons, but Montreal is in deeper with the seven plus million dollars they will pay Gomez. It seems as if Gomez isn’t even worth that salary because of his lackluster numbers. Gomez isn’t a top flight goal scorer, but can score 15-20 goals a season, but his assist totals need to get driven up. He is a player that can hit fifty assists in a season, for a total 70 points. If he doesn’t play well the Montreal media and fans will be on him.
The same goes for Mike Cammalleri, who signed a five year contract worth six million a year. He did score 39 goals a year ago, but who knows if he can duplicate that mark, because he is a small player, surrounded by other small players. This Montreal offense will get pushed around this season with their lack of muscle. The smallness continued when they signed Brian Gionta, a speedy winger. He can still score, but his body is small, and will get pushed around.
One good signing that was made was bringing in Travis Moen, a player that hits, cannot get pushed around and will protect his team mates along with Georges Laracque.
For some reason the Canadiens are intent on keeping the Kostitsyn brothers around, when they really suck. These two brothers cannot play in the NHL, are whiners and the biggest pussies.
The Canadiens do have some good youth on their team that have had experience with this team. Maxim Lapierre was probably the most consistent player on the Montreal roster all season long. Max Pacioretty played in about 32 games last season, and showed a strong two way game. The scoring should come later on. Matt D’Agostini played in 53 games and scored 12 goals, and he and Pacioretty could get even longer looks this season. One player that has to breakout this season, and must for his career to survive in Montreal is Guillame Latendresse. In three full seasons with Montreal, Latendresse has yet to register more than 30 points in a single season. For him to impress he needs to score 20 goals.
The free agency trend continued on defense, with the signing of Hal Gill, Paul Mara and Jaroslav Spacek. Oh no, three players that don’t speak a lick of French, have fun with the media there. Anyways, Gill is going to be a bust, because he cannot skate and isn’t a good defensemen. Mara was a smart move, a good smart mobile defenseman. Adding Spacek to the mix was also good, another puck moving defensemen, but can he still the play game consistently at the age of 35?
Now for the regulars, Andrei Markov the team’s best defensemen, both defensively and offensively, should have another good year. He is one player that can hit on this team, but at times shies away from doing it. Roman Hamrlik another hard hitter, but one who is also getting older, but can still score 30 points a season. Two young defensemen that have been regulars on this team the past two seasons should be ready for a reduced role with all the signings. If they had played better then Josh Gorges and Ryan O’Byrne would’ve been higher on the depth charts, but one of them will be squeezed out because five spots are already booked on defense.
Now goaltending a position that was so scrutinized that Carey Price had his own Patrick Roy moment, but Price will be sticking around. After an impressive rookie season, that saw him become the number one goalie in the season and a round one playoff win, Price was destined to single handedly carry the team to success. Last season his numbers dropped from 24 wins to 23, a 2.56 GAA to 2.83 and a save percentage of .920 to .905. Price will have to be much better this season and play like a true number one, and have a true breakout season with at least thirty wins. Everyone saw that Jaroslav Halak couldn’t play, even when he had the chance to win the number one job, that’s why Price has to be better than ever.
OVERALL--> THE CANADIENS HAD A HUGE FACELIFT, BUT ONE THING REMAINED, THEY HAVE NO MUSCLE ON THIS TEAM. THERE IS SOME ON DEFENSE, BUT NOT SO MUCH THAT WILL OVERWHELM AN OPPOSING OFFENSE. A FEW ADDITIONS WERE MADE, BUT NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE THE TEAM STRONGER. MONTREAL WILL GET PUSHED AROUND ONCE AGAIN THIS SEASON.
POSITIVE--> GOOD SPEED UP FRONT WITH GOMEZ, CAMMALLERI AND GIONTA. MAX LAPIERRE IS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER, MAYBE CAPTAINCY IN THE NEAR FUTURE? CAREY PRICE WILL REGAIN HIS ROOKIE FORM.
NEGATIVE--> AGAIN, THIS TEAM IS TOO SMALL AND NOT ENOUGH GRIT. ONLY TWO PLAYERS ON THIS TEAM ARE TOUGH AND DROP THE GLOVES.
X-FACTOR--> IT SHOULD BE OFFENSE WITH ALL THOSE MOVES, BUT IT IS CAREY PRICE, BECAUSE THIS IS HIS TEAM, AND HE IS THE FACE OF THE FRANCHISE. NOW IS HIS TIME TO SHOW THAT.
SLEEPER PICK--> MAX LAPIERRE WILL HAVE A SEASON THAT WILL SHOW HE WANTS TO LEAD THIS TEAM AND A TWENTY GOAL SEASON.
PREDICTION--> THE MONTREAL CANADIENS WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, CLINCHING ONE OF THE LOWER SEEDS (6-8).
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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