Montreal Canadiens: 2020-21 Will Be Pivotal Season For Future of Franchise

The Montreal Canadiens need to pick a direction for the 2020-21 season and pave the way for future success.

The Montreal Canadiens have seemingly been coasting along for the past few seasons. There have been no major changes to the roster for the past two years, and the team that barely missed the postseason in 2019, only got into the 2020 playoff picture because it was greatly expanded during a pandemic.

They have most of their regular players signed for next season, though Max Domi and Victor Mete will be restricted free agents. Status quo is not going to work for the third consecutive campaign, especially since we know it was not good enough in the past two years.

The Canadiens enter the 2020 offseason with a couple of options. It is time for them to choose one direction and put everything in that direction.

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On the one hand, the team has 11 draft picks and a nice stable of young players in the cupboards. They could look to trade some players who will be unrestricted free agents in a year and load up on first round draft picks to accelerate the rebuilding process. Trading Jeff Petry, Phillip Danault, Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher would make the Habs a far less competitive team in 2020-21, but would give them the best group of prospects in the league.

It doesn’t appear that the Habs are headed in that direction. Already this offseason they made a couple of trades. They added Jake Allen from the St. Louis Blues for a third round pick and dealt a fifth round pick for the rights to Joel Edmundson.

Allen and Edmundson will definitely fill roles that needed to be improved in Montreal. Allen will take on more starts than a backup has been able to handle since Carey Price took over starting duties a decade ago. This will allow for a more rested Price down the stretch and into the postseason (if the Habs can get in.) Edmundson played regular minutes in the top four for the St. Louis Blues when they won the Stanley Cup in 2019 and can provide reliable, steady minutes on the left side of the blue line which is a weakness for the Habs.

But, Allen and Edmundson are not going to turn this team into a contender. Also, Edmundson isn’t even signed and could be an unrestricted free agent in less than four weeks. Even if he does stay in Montreal, the Canadiens are a long way from competing with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins.

So, if Bergevin believes 20-21 is a “go-for-it” year for the Canadiens, he has a lot more work to do. He has the draft pick capital and cap space to make a big trade that would bring in a big goal scoring winger or a top four left defenceman. If he thinks this is the year to go for it, then he is going to have to make a couple of moves that push the Allen and Edmundson acquisitions to the back pages.

With so many players entering the last year of their contracts, it is a risky year to go for it. If the team is sitting in third place in the Atlantic Division as we approach the trade deadline, what would Bergevin do with Tatar, Petry, Gallagher and Danault? What if the team is a point out of the final wildcard spot? It would be difficult for Bergevin to sell at that point.

But what if the team finishes with 96 points again and just misses the playoffs? Losing any of the aforementioned UFAs for nothing after missing the postseason

would be disastrous. It is possible we could see some of those players extended long before the end of the 2020-21 season. But, does it even make sense to bring everyone back and hope the team somehow gets better?

There are big decisions to make in the next year for this team. How much longer will Petry, Danault, Tatar and Gallagher be in Montreal? If the team goes “all-in” and doesn’t succeed, will Claude Julien and Bergevin be back? If they sell a few veterans and add first round picks next month, will other key veterans like Shea Weber and Carey Price want out as well?

A lot of questions, but no answers just yet. We can expect a busy Bergevin during the draft. Whether he is making selections or trades will tell us a lot about where he wants this team to go in the near future.

One thing is for sure, just adding Allen and Edmundson won’t make this a contending team. Their addition does show Bergevin wants the team to be improved next season. That tells me Bergevin will be making a few more big trades or signings in the coming weeks. Status quo won’t work. It is time for Bergevin to pick a direction and throw all his chips on the table and really push this team toward rebuilding or contending.

It seems like he is leaning toward making them a contender. It will be fun to watch what other moves he has up his sleeve this offseason.