Is the playoffs enough for the Montreal Canadiens next season?
Discussing the biggest takeaway for the Montreal Canadiens after the playoffs, a move Marc Bergevin must make and whether the playoffs are enough next year.
It’s the first roundtable of the offseason where we get into some of the heavier questions for the Montreal Canadiens to tackle over the next few months.
1) What is your main takeaway from the Montreal Canadiens’ performance in the playoffs?
Teddy Elliot: I caught myself repeating Dante’s famous “I’m not even supposed to be here today!” while watching Montreal’s improbable playoff run, but in all fairness, I don’t think anyone was supposed to be here today. But it happened, and here we are.
One major takeaway? In a word – experience. The Habs have a whole lot of young talent that now has playoff experience and going into next season, that will be absolutely crucial to not only the team’s performance but its mindset. The kids, specifically Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, know what’s at stake and proved that they hang with the league’s top dogs.
Not only did they handily dispatch the Pittsburgh Penguins and their two-headed beast, but they also gave a top-seeded Philadelphia Flyers team a run for their money and almost pushed them to Game 7. The Canadiens absolutely needed this crucial experience to light a fire under them, and honestly, it was mission accomplished.
The league should be on alert because, with this newfound energy, a depth of riches at the centre position, and a slew of enticing and highly-talented prospects coming soon, the Canadiens are going to be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come.
Emmanuel D: After watching the Canadiens give it their all in the playoffs, I believe there is a good foundation for the future of the organization. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Nick Suzuki took a step forward in their careers, and so long as they continue on this path, the Canadiens may have finally solved a long-time issue at the centre position.
Carey Price and Shea Weber played strong games, and the Canadiens get some upgrades on defence and a backup goalie, they’ll be in a good position. However, Marc Bergevin should be wary of acquiring immediate help if the price is sacrificing a top prospect.
Scott Cowan: For the past few seasons, I’ve always felt as though the Canadiens have been stuck in a limbo of sorts. While Bergevin’s quick “rebuild” last year impressed me greatly, and I loved the ‘what do have to lose’ speed-focused approach the team took, its something that hasn’t worked quite as well this season. It’s always felt like one step forward, two steps back, and this playoff performance, to me, added a step.
While Montreal still has issues within their roster, this postseason showed that they can keep up with some of the better teams in the NHL, even outplaying them at times. At the end of the day, the Habs have a number of talented players on this team, and while none of them are game-breaking stars, when they play as a team, they can be a formidable foe. While I believe they are far from being a true playoff contender, I feel as though these playoffs showed their capable of at least making the playoffs, if they execute a proper game plan.
Omar White: My takeaway from these playoffs may be a bit of a bittersweet symphony. The Montreal Canadiens can dance with top talent in the team, but they need more. Games 3 and 4 are clear examples of that.
The Habs were able to expose the Flyers’ and Carter Hart when they’re defensive broke down in Games 2 and 5. They used their speed to win puck battles and fight for ice in the crease to capitalize on. But when Philadelphia shut things down, the team didn’t have a single answer. Their best offensive players in terms of straight production were Tatar and Gallagher, who weren’t nearly as effective as they could’ve been.
Kotkaniemi and Suzuki are turning into game-breakers, but the Montreal Canadiens need more. It’s not feasible to wait for Cole Caufield and expect him to be that right off the bat. Whether it’s via a trade or a free agent signing, the Habs need another impact player to fit into this lineup and help the team hit that next level.
2) What is a move you feel Marc Bergevin must make and why?
TL: Marc Bergevin has a busy offseason ahead of him, but one thing he absolutely must do is find Carey Price a reliable backup goalie. The team’s in-house options aren’t looking too promising, and with a huge number of free-agent goalies hitting the market this summer, Bergevin needs to open the coffers and find someone who can play at least 35 games and win the majority of his starts because as we saw during the playoffs, a rested Price is a dangerous Price.
SC: With the Canadiens season just recently ending, discussing what trade’s Bergevin must make is difficult, as the dust kind of settles around the spur of the moment excitement these playoffs brought. While players like Tomas and Tatar and Max Domi (especially after these playoffs) are expected to have rumors swirling, I feel as though trading them simply because of a bad postseason isn’t the best idea.
For me personally, I think a trade that would be beneficial to Montreal comes from the Tampa Bay Lightning. While not a major trade, Alex Barre Boulet has been tearing up the AHL with the Lightning’s farm team, the Syracuse Crunch, tying for the league lead in goals last year as a rookie. Despite this, he’s been given little, if any chance, by a stacked Tampa Bay team, which makes me wonder where exactly his value lies.
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If it’s in the range of a middle of the road prospect, adding him to Laval alongside his old-line mates, Joel Teasdale and Alexandre Alain, and former coach, Joel Bouchard, could be a match made in heaven. While I’m not quite sure what Tampa would want in exchange, I feel it could be a solid trade for Montreal.
ED: We’ve heard the need to acquire a top-LD ad nauseam, and I still believe that this is a necessary move to make though so much as the need for acquiring a scoring winger to compliment either Jesperi Kotkaniemi or Nick Suzuki. I believe this is especially true after a playoffs where the Canadiens could have benefitted from an extra goal in all but two games. Whether that’s in the form of risky free agent signings or through the trade market, acquiring a scoring winger should be the utmost priority.
Another necessary move should be acquiring a backup goaltender to reduce the number of games Carey Price plays and allowing him ample time to rest because, as we saw in the Canadiens 10 games played this month, a rested Carey Price is beyond dominant. I would look towards the free-agent market and set my sights on Jaroslav Halak, Thomas Greiss or Corey Crawford.
OW: There are moves I’d like for the Montreal Canadiens to make, but Marc Bergevin cannot leave this offseason without having a for-sure backup for Price. It’s clear he’s overused and overworked, and the Pittsburgh Penguins were worried about having to face a rested Carey Price. And what happened? A rested Carey Price won the team the series and got them the upset.
Teams around the league have all caught on to the idea of platooning goaltenders. The Boston Bruins do it with Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, the Dallas Stars did with Ben Bishop, and Anton Khudobin and the Philadelphia Flyers did it with Carter Hart and Brian Elliott. In seeing how dominant Price can be when he’s not forced to overwork himself, it has to be Bergevin’s absolute objective to find someone who can get at least 30-35 starts.
If not, the Habs’ offseason is a failure, in my opinion.
3) What should we expect for the Habs next season? Are the playoffs enough?
TL: If the world goes back to normal and the season begins according to plan – which is looking like less of a possibility with each passing day – the Habs should reasonably expect to at least qualify for the playoffs. The key thing is that Bergevin makes the right offseason decisions and get a reliable backup goalie, a left defenseman, and at least one more top-9 winger. While that’s a tall order in any offseason, let alone a pandemic offseason, the team has proven itself capable of winning and has an amazing crop of talent that free agents might be keen to play with.
SC: The Canadiens just came off a season where they had an even .500 record, snuck into the playoffs as the 24th and final team, defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in the qualifier, and outplayed a Philadelphia Flyers team that simply had the bounces and calls go their way. This Habs team was dead in the water, having shipped off most of their depth pieces for picks and prospects.
As I stated, they have absolutely nothing to lose and put together a solid run against all the odds. I think just making the playoffs would be plenty enough, and a solid step in the right direction after misstep after misstep. Were long removed from the days of “Radulov” and solid backup goaltending, so to see this new era of the Canadiens make a playoff push come next year would be very encouraging. While you could argue that these playoffs were just them playing great hockey at this time, I think, with a few depth acquisitions in free agency (whenever that is supposed to happen), they could make a playoff push come next season.
ED: It’s hard to predict where the Habs will end up if the NHL opts to play an 82 game season. I think the moves made in the offseason and the players staying healthy will be crucial to making a push for postseason contention. Making the playoffs may be considered a successful season in that case, but winning at least round would show huge progress in this team’s “retooling.”
OW: There are two ways to approach this question: from the perspective of the viewer and the perspective of management. Gimmick or not, the Montreal Canadiens proved they could compete with the league’s best in a playoff-like setting. Price proved he can be a stone-wall when needed, Weber proved he can still be a force on the backend while Suzuki and Kotkaniemi proved they can take control of a game.
Bergevin and Molson may see those two series’ against the Penguins and Flyers and feel the retool is almost ready, and making the playoffs is the bare minimum. And why wouldn’t they? According to management, making the playoffs has been the focus of each of these three seasons, even though it’s gone south. Therefore, they’ll want something more next year.
Next. Who played their last game for the Habs?. dark
For me, I think making the playoffs is enough. We can’t forget that the Montreal Canadiens wouldn’t have made the playoffs if the league didn’t extend it to 24 teams. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve still gone three years without making the playoffs legitimately. Get in, and then we’ll see what Bergevin’s squad can do.