Montreal Canadiens: Comparisons to the Edmonton Oilers continue

The Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers had a lot in common this season, and the similarities are continuing all the way to the plans for the offseason.

While the other 16 teams are battling in the playoffs, teams like the Montreal Canadiens are tying up lose ends to their year. It’s been a lot of selective speeches from members of management. Selective in the sense that there is an obvious set of moves the Habs hope to move that are meant to be kept a secret until the right time, which would most likely be when the move in question is made.

We all know what both Marc Bergevin and Geoff Molson have said. It’s been discussed so much now that most or all Montreal Canadiens fans could recite them by heart. In short, there is a plan at hand, and Molson trusts that Bergevin is the right man to carry it through. Ironically, the same thing happened on the other side of the country with the Edmonton Oilers.

If you’ve checked in on the Oilers this season, you can agree that they’ve had a more frustrating season than the Habs. For one, they went into this year with expectations from several respected hockey minds of challenging for a Stanley Cup. There’s also the fact that phenom Connor McDavid won his second Art Ross Trophy in a row after putting up 41 goals and 67 assists for 108 points.

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The blame has been placed on general manager Peter Chiarelli. After missing the playoffs for two of McDavid’s three entry-level years, Oilers fans were hoping for change, specifically in the GM position. Sound familiar?

However, the screeching tire sound effect fell over the city of Edmonton after CEO Bob Nicholson confirmed that Chiarelli will return next season. It will be the coaching staff that may be at risk of getting a change which could put Todd McLellan’s head coaching position in question.

Nicholson also used the magic words to get his fan base discussing:

"We will have a plan coming out in the near future with how we are moving forward"

It’s not specific to Montreal and Edmonton to have an offseason plan. Any team who didn’t make the playoffs has to go back to the whiteboard and work out strategies to improve. What makes the situation with the Habs and Oilers so similar is the optics of everything. Management has been put into question for both teams, and while it seems that they’re committed to a process, it also feels like it’s the last straw.

Bergevin and Chiarelli will be walking into the 2018/19 season with the hottest of hot seats which could be cooled depending on what they do over the summer. Both are known to be huge fans of the pandemonium level trades so it’ll be interesting to see what they have in store.

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