Montreal Canadiens must change the nature of their roster construction
By Omar L
The Montreal Canadiens want to be a competitive team but are actually in limbo and must settle on a format if the organization wants consistent results.
There various tiers of teams in each given NHL season. There are the elite teams who can’t wait for the regular season to end as soon as it begins and the teams who are good enough to compete for a playoff spot. Teams who are on the bubble where their year could go either way make things interesting while the bottom feeders consult with draft reports as soon as puck drops for the season opener. Whether they like it or not, the Montreal Canadiens are in a mix of the two categories.
The team has yet to make the playoffs since the 2016-17 season after finishing first in the Atlantic Division. Marc Bergevin pulled the plug on Michel Therrien’s tenure as head coach despite the team have a great regular season and look to another run with Claude Julien as the final push to stardom. Unfortunately, it’s all gone south from there.
Even though Bergevin said all the right things at the end of the 2017-18 season in that the Habs will focus on speed and skill moving forward, there has yet to be any playoff in Montreal.
Some thought those words meant the team would rebuild, but we all know how Bergevin feels about that word. Instead, they chose to reset, yet nothing has changed.