The Montreal Canadiens are the old Toronto Maple Leafs

Considering how far things have fallen for the Montreal Canadiens, it’s tough not to compare them to the Toronto Maple Leafs before they decided to rebuild.

I know. It’s a dangerous comparison to make. The Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs are historical rivals and have spent many years battling against each other on the ice. However, for the longest time, it was hard to refer to them as rivals. The playoffs are where most rivalries are formed and strengthened, and the Habs and Leafs haven’t been able to meet there since 1974.

What’s funny is that the Leafs in the playoffs was always something to laugh about. They were always a victim of the late season collapse or inconsistent play that made them finish out of a spot. Fortunately for them, things have turned around, and they’re set to make their second playoff appearance in as many years.

There’s something that I’ve, and I’m sure many Habs fans, have come to realize. The Habs are the old Leafs. Think about it. For years their organization was feeding their fan base false hope that they were trying to build a Stanley Cup contender, but ownership mostly cared about getting the two playoff dates.

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The Leafs would have ridiculous free agent signings and make ill-advised trades to boost their roster, but it would never work. It hit its peak when fans would boo the players after a lot of their games or through jerseys on the ice.

Their core was rotten. Keep in mind, they had a lot of effective players and Phil Kessel was at the forefront of it. Unfortunately, the Leafs couldn’t come together as a group and win hockey games. Management finally decided that it had to be blown up and they are where they are now.

Looking in the Mirror

The Habs are trending towards that. Marc Bergevin was feeding the fan base hope that the team could still compete without Alexander Radulov or Andrei Markov. Even before this season, Montreal was relying on Carey Price for the majority, if not all of their success.

The year he went down with a knee injury was pretty telling. Obviously, a team is going to have a setback when they’re forced to play without their starting netminder but to have such a drop in the standings doesn’t add any level of comfort to what the team is.

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Looking at the Habs now, and they may be where the Leafs were during the 2014-15 season. Kessel was traded that summer, and based on all the talk, Max Pacioretty will be moved in the near future.

I’m not saying here that the Habs should do exactly what the Leafs did to fix their problems. A major difference between the two organizations was that the Toronto didn’t have too many high-caliber prospects in their system whereas Montreal has a handful of names who we could see wearing the logo in the next two or three years.

However, there does need to be a change from top to bottom both on the ice and in the office. The worst thing Habs management can do is mark this season as a one-off. The smoke is clearly there, and it’s going to turn into a full-blown flame if it isn’t dealt with.

The Leafs were a mediocre team for years and they have just changed things for themselves now. Montreal just needs to ask themselves a single question. What’s worse, a year or two of being bad to grow a winning product or multiple seasons of spending salary and trading assets for nothing? You be the judge.

Next: Habs Are Aggressively Shopping Pacioretty

Do you think this is a fair comparison? Has management woken up, or do you think they’ll still try to salvage things? Let us know your thoughts down below.