The Montreal Canadiens bye week is over, and now it’s time for the second half of the season to begin leading up to the Trade Deadline and eventual playoffs.
The Montreal Canadiens have been off since January 23rd when they defeated the Arizona Coyotes 2-1. Since then, we’ve gotten the NHL All-Star Game and some trade discussions on social media to keep us at bay. But the wait is finally over, and the Habs are back.
The team will come together in Brossard to practice ahead of their back-to-back pair of games over the weekend against the New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers kicking off the second half of the season. You could argue the halfway point was at the beginning of January when Montreal played their 41st game.
It’s a literal marker given the NHL’s 82-game total. However, this is the point of the year where things start to get interesting.
The Trade Deadline is four weeks away, and teams have already begun to make moves. More are sure to come both from those wishing to boost their rosters and those with UFAs to spare. Additionally, gaining points from here on out are even more important. There’s going to be a race to clinch a playoff spot, and no one wants to hold that back to the end of the season.
The Montreal Canadiens have 31 games left on the schedule. Of those 31:
- 12 are against Metropolitan teams
- 10 are against Atlantic teams
- 5 are against Pacific teams
- 4 are against Central teams
To dive further into Montreal’s remaining schedule, 15 of the 31 games are against playoff teams. There’s no such thing as an easy win in the NHL, but you have to think winning a large portion of those 16 other matches will be a focus. Especially games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres. The former was just knocked down to the second wild-card spot while the Sabres are five points behind the Montreal Canadiens.
Here’s another tidbit of information regarding the schedule. Puck Ranking Guru is a site that ranks the strength of a team’s schedule based on how well themselves and their opponent have been performing. The Montreal Canadiens schedule so far ranks 21st making it more on the easy side compared to others.
However, the remaining games rank seventh. There’ll be limited room to coast with the competition being relatively tough. On the positive side, Marc Bergevin still has time to decide whether he wants to make any moves at the deadline or stand pat with what the Habs have at their disposal.
It’s going to be an interesting nine weeks and the Habs shouldn’t have too many difficulties if they continue the positive things that’s made them an effective team this season. Buckle up Montreal Canadiens fans.