Montreal Canadiens: Inspiration from former Stanley Cup Champions
The Montreal Canadiens were the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup, and aspects of that group can be duplicated in the future.
Saturday was a special anniversary for the Montreal Canadiens. It marked 25 years since the team hoisted the Stanley Cup and most importantly, the last group from Canada to do it. The Winnipeg Jets almost took that mantle for themselves, but a run in with the Vegas Golden Knights ended that possibility.
That team had a new bench boss Jacques Demers with a bunch of players with something to prove. Fortunately for the Habs, they took their talents to new heights and showed up in the playoffs when it counted. Vincent Damphousse, Kirk Muller, Paul DiPietro, Eric Desjardins, and John LeClair were some of the standouts for the Montreal Canadiens.
It also helped that Patrick Roy had a dominating post-season after a slightly above average regular season. His .929 save percentage led Roy to win his second of three career Conn Smythe Trophies.
The Habs have had a difficult time trying to get back to that since then. 2010 and 2014 were the closest the team has gotten making it to the Eastern Conference Finals. The former saw them eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers in a less than ideal manner. Montreal only won one game, and three of their four losses were shutouts.
Carey Price getting injured in their 2014 run was a turning point. He went into that series against the New York Rangers with a .919 save percentage before being on the receiving end of a Chris Kreider net crash. Who knows what would’ve happened if Price was healthy. But that’s the ‘beauty’ of the professional sports.
Now we sit in 2018 at the cusp of a partial rebuild with a lot more optimism behind it. The Montreal Canadiens can set themselves up to have the same luck and success as that team 25 years ago. As good as Roy was, the rest of the team followed suit and did their part.
Effective scouting and talent evaluation will have the right players in place to improve. The new era of the NHL makes it harder to be competitive every year, but with the right decisions, the Montreal Canadiens time could come.
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Next: What if the Habs draft a defenceman?
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