Montreal Canadiens: What If Mats Sundin Agreed To Play for The Habs?

Would Sundin, instead of Lang, change the 2008-09 Habs fortunes?

Around the time of Lang’s injury in early February, the Habs had a record of 29-16-6 which had them on pace for 103 points. Had Sundin been in the lineup and not Lang, they likely would have been even better and assuming Sundin doesn’t get injured, they could have kept that momentum going forward.

In reality, the Habs did not keep that momentum going. They went 12-14-5 over the final two months of the season, as injuries piled up, Price’s game went south and the team just couldn’t get back on track. They lost their last four regular season games and finished with 93 points, barely hanging on to the final playoff spot, beating the 93 point Florida Panthers based on a tiebreaker.

Could Sundin have changed the fortunes of that 2008-09 team? Assuming he stayed healthy, they would have qualified for the postseason more comfortably. They likely would have finished a little higher than 8th in their conference, as they were just two points back of the New York Rangers and four points back of the Carolina Hurricanes.

This would have helped the Habs avoid the 116 point Boston Bruins in the opening round, but they would have faced the 106 point New Jersey Devils. Martin Brodeur was still pretty good in 2009, proven by the fact he had a .929 SV% in the opening round of those playoffs. The Habs were struggling to score late in the year, and would have had trouble solving Brodeur, whether they had Sundin in the lineup or not.

Injuries derailed the Habs centennial season, and Price was not at the top of his game by the time the playoffs rolled around. He allowed 15 goals in four postseason games against the Bruins that series. Would Sundin have helped? Yes. But with Markov, Mathieu Schneider, Tanguay, Sergei Kostitsyn and Plekanec all injured by the end of that series, the former Maple Leafs legend would not have been able to help the Montreal Canadiens go much further in their centennial season.

The Canadiens looked like they had a great team heading into their 100th campaign. However, their young goaltender was not ready to carry his team on a lengthy playoff run and their injuries late in the year resulted in a disastrous that no one player would have been able to avoid.

Adding Sundin in June 2008 would have been a very exciting move for the Canadiens. There is no question he could have had a great year playing with Tanguay and Kovalev, or even with Latendresse and Higgins. However, unless he could magically fix Andrei Markov’s knee, the Habs didn’t have the defence, or the goaltending, to go on a deep run in 2009.