A Winning Habit
Fansided

Montreal Canadiens Roundup: Are the Habs in a Stanley Cup window?

By Omar L

MONTREAL, QC - APRIL 06: Ryan Poehling #25 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates his first career NHL goal in his first game at 11:41 of the first period and is joined by Jordan Weal #43, Brett Kulak #17 and Jeff Petry #26 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre on April 6, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 in a shootout. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - APRIL 06: Ryan Poehling #25 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates his first career NHL goal in his first game at 11:41 of the first period and is joined by Jordan Weal #43, Brett Kulak #17 and Jeff Petry #26 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre on April 6, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 in a shootout. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 8
Next
Montreal Canadiens
MONTREAL, QC – APRIL 06: Montreal Canadiens (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Omar White: The narrative on a cup window used to be solely based on the ability of a team’s core players, and for the most part, it still is. The St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals, and Pittsburgh Penguins, three latest Stanley Cup winners, all had their core players at their best allowing them to go all the way. However, the salary cap has proven time and time again to get in the way of that where teams are forced to trade away players from their talent pool to make everything fit.

The Montreal Canadiens haven’t had financial issues and in fact, have benefited from the problems of others. The difference between the Habs though (and this will sting) are those three teams I used as an example have won recently while Montreal is waiting to lift the cup for the first time since 1993.

With a healthy Carey Price, anything can happen. Price got the Habs to the Eastern Conference Final in 2014 before getting taken out by Chris Kreider, and the world saw what Jordan Binnington did for the Blues, especially in Game Seven. But Price can’t do it all by himself. The team’s strength will be dependent on who they have playing in front of him.

Assuming no other trades are made, the Habs will have this same group to work with for another two years. If the plan is to win with said group however, the window is then two years.

The end of the 2020-21 season is when the Montreal Canadiens will have their first cap crunch. The top line of Brendan Gallagher, Phillip Danault, and Tomas Tatar will be in need of new contracts and negotiating Gallagher’s could be difficult. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Ryan Poehling, Artturi Lehkonen will be restricted free agents while Joel Armia will be a UFA.

Marc Bergevin has the luxury of running these players on the cheap and hopefully he recognizes that if there were ever a time to win a cup, it would be now.

Home/Editorials