How would the Montreal Canadiens fair in an all-Canadian division?
By Omar L
The structure of the 2020-21 NHL season is still unknown, but there’s talk of an all-Canadian division, which could be a challenge for the Montreal Canadiens.
The 2019-20 NHL regular season was one that will go down in the record books without setting any records. Things shut down in March and weren’t back in action until July when the league created its Return to Play Plan. Luckily, a well-planned East and West bubble gave way for the return to the NHL, allowing the Montreal Canadiens to compete.
Similarly to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Habs completed the upset defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins to advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017, and the rest is history. Since then, Marc Bergevin has been at it making his respective moves to improve the team.
The trade was made for Jake Allen to stabilize the goaltending situation, Max Domi was shipped out for Josh Anderson, Joel Edmundson joined the team to shore up the right side, and Tyler Toffoli came aboard in free agency for four years at $4.25 million. Now the talk is how the Montreal Canadiens fair against the rest of the Atlantic Division, which has gone through its own kind changes.
The Toronto Maple Leafs took away from the skill and speed of their bottom six to add more grit and leadership. The Buffalo Sabres added key names in Taylor Hall and Eric Staal. The Detroit Red Wings signed Troy Stetcher, Vladislav Namestnikov, Bobby Ryan and Thomas Greiss while the Ottawa Senators got themselves a new number one goaltender in Matt Murray as well as a number of key prospects.
And then there’s the Tampa Bay Lightning who just won the Stanley Cup, and the Boston Bruins, who are still the Boston Bruins despite losing Torey Krug.
The thing is, the Habs’ and their place in the Atlantic Division may not be the focus right now. In fact, it’s possible we’ll need to start looking at things at a larger scale. In this case, nation-wide.