Are the Montreal Canadiens in a window to contend for a Stanley Cup?

The Montreal Canadiens will be gunning for the playoffs, but it seems the organization may be considering a few realities heading into the year.

The most frequent question for any organization – whether it’s verbatim or some sort of variant – is, “What are your team’s expectations for the season?” Not too much to gain from a question like this unless you’re a team trying to tank and even still, no one will flat out say the playoffs aren’t the goal. Take the Montreal Canadiens for example.

The team has missed the playoffs for the last two seasons despite saying they were determined to make it. But what else are they going to do? The Habs aren’t tanking and have actively tried to make it every year, and that isn’t going to change this time around. However, comments made by owner Geoff Molson could be telling.

This is based on Molson’s words to the team on Monday regarding patience (or the lack thereof) from the fanbase. He defined a window for the Montreal Canadiens to compete at three to eight years with the combination of youth and veteran leadership on the roster saying:

"The combination of the veterans, that we have signed for the long term, with the young veterans — the Domis and Gallaghers of this world — and the young players who’re coming up, I think we’ll have a very talented team with a lot of potential during this period."

The question is whether the Montreal Canadiens are at a point where they can compete. The St. Louis Blues opened that reality to everyone after their unorthodox Stanley Cup run last season, and it is what Marc Bergevin said, once you get in, anything can happen.

But should the Habs leave it up to chance or optimism? Should they be patient and wait for the stones to fall in their favour or should they be active and do something to ensure their abilities to play into April.

It’ll all depend on what happens over the course of the year. American Thanksgiving is one of those milestones, and it continues on to Christmas, the All-Star Break and the Trade Deadline.

Luckily that evaluation starts today with the beginning of the 2019-20 season.

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