Things for the Montreal Canadiens to embrace and avoid next season

The Montreal Canadiens will be on a mission to make the playoffs, and with the improvements made to the Eastern Conference, it’ll be a battle all year long

There’s less than a month before the start of the preseason. As always, many are looking forward to seeing how the rest of the league will look after it’s player boosts, but the Eastern Conference has a special magnifying glass over it. This, of course, includes the Montreal Canadiens and whether they can stop it from being three years in a row without the playoffs.

Most of the teams in the Easy have gone through some form of improvement. The most being the Florida Panthers, New York Rangers, and New Jersey Devils.

The Atlantic Division has been running the Eastern Conference for some time and with three non-playoffs teams getting better, the playing field may even out. At this moment, it doesn’t look as if the Montreal Canadiens can get it done, especially if the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, and Toronto Maple Leafs stay where they were.

The Habs will probably have to fight for a wild-card spot once again. That’ll put them in competition with a number of those newly improved teams as well as the Carolina Hurricanes who also added over the summer.

With that said, there a few things the Canadiens will need to stray from and things they’ll need to embrace.

Avoid

1. Slumps – It’s going to be airtight in the East, and if the Montreal Canadiens fall too far, it’ll be extremely hard to get back into it. Ideally, the Habs remain in that bubble all year long and turn on the Jets at some point down the stretch. Who knows, those final five or six games could be a pay per view once again.
2. Injuries – Tough to control this one as no one chooses to be injured. The Habs have had a lot of issues in this department over the last two seasons and staying healthy (especially in goal) will make the difference.

Embrace

1. Goals – The Eastern Conference is a very skilled one with a lot of high-scoring teams. The Habs did their part at 5v5; however, their power play wasn’t up to par. It may not exactly be about how many goals they score, but when they occur, which again makes the man advantage a focal point.
2. Keith Kinkaid – The Habs are as good as Carey Price is, that’s a fact. That said, they can’t afford to tire him out as he is another year older. Signing Kinkaid was a good move for the team, and he’s a steady enough goaltender to harbour a decent workload. The fresher Price is, the better the team will be overall.

Of course, there are more things that can easily be added, but these should be the focuses for the Montreal Canadiens. It’ll be an uphill battle starting in October, and the Habs are clearly the underdog. However, having your back against the wall can turn something mediocre into something special.

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