5 Key Montreal Canadiens questions for the remainder of the season

The NHL is off now that the All-Star Game is coming up, and the Montreal Canadiens have some questions that need to be answered on the direction of the team.

The Montreal Canadiens have been on their bye week since Sunday after beating the Vegas Golden Knights in a shootout. Since then, a sparse amount of teams have continued to play while the Habs got their opportunity to rest up.

Now it’s not the official halfway point of the season, but things do kick into gear once he NHL starts up. Once that happens, the Montreal Canadiens have a number of questions they’ll have to answer for themselves.

Can They Do It?

Nothing has really changed in the standings. The Montreal Canadiens are still sixth in the Atlantic Division with 51 points. Ahead of them, playoff wise, are the Florida Panthers who have strapped some more points together and have 61.

You could also look towards the race for the wild-card spots which is a three-way battle between the Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers. Either way, the lowest portion of the fight has Montreal out by the same number of points.

Asking the Montreal Canadiens to win five games isn’t a tall task. That said, they’ll need help from the out of town scoreboard which hasn’t worked in their favour.

What could help the Habs are the nights where those above teams are off. And most importantly, the matches against said teams are must-wins.

The Habs face the Panthers three more times and the Hurricanes and Blue Jackets once each. Those three games against Florida can really help their cause, but they’ll have to keep in mind the Toronto Maple Leafs and their goal to make the playoffs.

It’s not looking too good at the moment.

Should They Do It?

A similar but different question. Marc Bergevin has never been one to go crazy at the Trade Deadline, but if he were, this would not be the time. It’s far from a guarantee that the Montreal Canadiens stay in the race much less make the playoffs, and it could be better in the long-term for the Habs to be sellers instead of buyers.

Take Ilya Kovalchuk, for example. As the risk was a risk, it really does look as if the purpose of the signing was to turn Kovalchuk into an asset at the deadline. It doesn’t make too much sense to extend him for next season if they do like what he’s brought to the locker room as far as leadership. At the most, another year couldn’t hurt, but why risk his play taking a hit.

Kovalchuk’s value is increasing more and more, and a draft pick in the second or third round or a B-level prospect could turn into someone useful for the Montreal Canadiens.

You also have to look at the actual draft. The event is happening in Montreal for the first time since 2009. That wasn’t the best year for Habs, who wound up taking Louis Leblanc 18th overall. Leblanc only played 50 total NHL games for the Canadiens, spending most of his professional career in the AHL before moving on to Europe play.

This is not to say that the Habs should tank the rest of the season. At this point, Detroit, Ottawa, and New Jersey have locked up the best odds to get the first overall pick and draft Alexis Lafreniere. However, it is a lottery, and anything can happen. They would have the eighth-best odds to win if the lottery were to happen today and perhaps keeping it that way would be another long-term investment.

Who Moves On?

If the Montreal Canadiens decide to sell their stock, there a number of players who could see themselves out besides Kovalchuk. Marco Scandella is another UFA Bergevin may deal for a team looking to shore up their defensive depth for the playoffs. The Habs will definitely need to retain salary on his $4 million cap hit, and perhaps they’ll be able to recoup the draft pick they gave up for Scandella in the process.

Nate Thompson, Matthew Peca, and Keith Kinkaid are three more players of interest. Thompson is a character player who may not have elite speed but is effective in a limited role. He’s shown his impact in the bottom six of the Habs’ roster, and he’s been a big part of the team’s penalty kill all season. Additionally, teams are always looking for playoff experience, and with 62 games under his belt, Thompson has plenty.

Peca and Kinkaid will be dark horses in this narrative. Kinkaid has been traded at the deadline before transitioning from New Jersey to Columbus for depth at the position but didn’t play a game. He had bright moments in net for the Montreal Canadiens this season and unfortunately wasn’t consistent enough to stick around.

Peca battled through injuries this year, keeping his games played this year to 23 with the Laval Rocket and 5 with the Montreal Canadiens. He went pointless in those 5 games but has 3 goals and 12 assists in the minors. Although it may not be the best stat-line, Peca does bring speed and offensive creativity to his game.

The Injured

The Montreal Canadiens have been without three of their better players for a while now in Jonathan Drouin, Paul Byron and Brendan Gallagher.

Drouin is expected to make his return sometime after the All-Star Break while Byron was skating recently. Gallagher won’t have a structured timeline given the nature of his injury and what rushing him back early did to his recovery.

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On the bright side, having them on the sidelines gave the Habs the opportunity to see what Ryan Poehling can do in a long-term NHL role in the top-nine and Kovalchuk wouldn’t be a Canadien without roles to fill on the roster.

It’s not as if the Habs are in a battle at the moment. If they come out hot out of the break and rack some wins together, then perhaps having Drouin back pushes that initiative further. That could also energize Gallagher to come back and strengthen the forward corps. However, if nothing changes, the Habs should give them all the time they need, even if it lasts for the remainder of the season.

Speaking of injuries, remember Joël Teasdale? There was a good chance he could’ve seen some games in the NHL but wound up hurting his knee. The recovery time was seven months, which may have him ready for March.

Teasdale will likely start out with the Laval Rocket once he’s ready, but why not give the prospect a taste of the NHL as well.