The Montreal Canadiens didn’t end up with Matt Duchene but the Columbus Blue Jackets acquiring him could add some pressure in the playoff picture.
The Montreal Canadiens are going to be in a tight fight to make the playoffs for the rest of the season. They’ve created some separation between themselves and other teams with their latest pair of wins, but it’s important to keep in mind what another cold stretch in combination with a hot one from someone else can do.
The current Eastern Conference standings have the top-three in the Atlantic Division unchanged with the Tampa Bay Lightning first followed by the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Metropolitan Division is still the New York Islanders at one with the Washington Capitals at two, and now the Columbus Blue Jackets at three.
Matt Duchene made his debut with the Blue Jackets against his former team who got the upper hand 3-0. That propelled them into the three whole knocking Pittsburgh to the second wild-card spot beneath the Montreal Canadiens.
But what does this have to do with the Habs? Well, to put it simply, it makes the playoff race in the Eastern Conference a little more difficult.
Columbus is a better team with Duchene in their roster and will likely lock themselves into a spot. If Carolina is for real and attempts to add at the deadline to lock in an opportunity to play in the offseason, then the Montreal Canadiens could be in trouble, especially if the Hurricanes go on their annual end-of-year hot streak into April.
Marc Bergevin could choose to either stand pat or make another move to bolster the team. However, the feeling around management is that the former option looks to be the more preferred one. If that’s the case, the Montreal Canadiens can’t afford to have any slumps similar to their last one.
Another thing this does is make the remaining regular season games against the Carolina Hurricanes must-wins. Pittsburgh isn’t going to slow down and Columbus surely won’t with Duchene in the fold.
The pressure is on even more than it was in the past. Who cares whether the Habs weren’t expected to be in the playoff picture at the beginning of the year. They’re here now and losing a spot this deep into the season will be a very bitter portion of the sweet cake that was the 2018/19 season.