Montreal Canadiens: It’s Playoffs Or Pink Slips For Claude Julien and Marc Bergevin
Montreal Canadiens general manager and head coach will have a hard time keeping their job if they miss the playoffs.
The Montreal Canadiens have not had a lot of success recently. If not for a global pandemic and a greatly expanded postseason, the Habs would have missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
The Canadiens were given a second lease on life in the 2019-20 season and made the most of it. They knocked out the heavily favoured Pittsburgh Penguins in four games in the play-in series but were then defeated in six games by the Philadelphia Flyers.
It gave the team an opportunity to leave the 2019-20 season with their heads held high and give the team more confidence heading into next season. Bergevin gave them more confidence with a terrific offseason.
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First, he acquired Jake Allen to backup Carey Price. The Canadiens starter showed in the postseason how fantastic he still can be when he is rested. He had a league leading 1.79 goals against average as well as a .936 save percentage and a pair of shutouts in his ten playoff games. It was a small sample, but Price was the best goaltender in the postseason which is what he can be on a regular basis if he isn’t forced to play more games and face more shots than everyone else.
Bergevin upgraded the defence as well by trading for and signing Joel Edmundson. The hulking blue liner will add some depth on the left side of the blue line and play a big role on the penalty kill and likely be in the top four whenever the Habs have a lead to defend. He also got Alexander Romanov signed to an entry-level contract who should step in and play.
Then, after upgrading the goaltending and defence, Bergevin traded Max Domi for Josh Anderson and signed Tyler Toffoli. The team will miss Domi’s skill, but they are deep down the middle without him and desperately needed a physical shot in the arm and not many are better at providing that than Anderson.
Toffoli will add some scoring punch to the second or third line and has the skills to score 25 goals in a season. He should add a new dimension to the power play as a right handed winger with a great shot. Anderson’s size and scoring punch will be a boost to a bad power play that could use some ugly goals from the crease area.
Having upgraded every area of the Habs depth chart, the bar is set much higher for next season’s Montreal Canadiens. After missing the playoffs for three years (except for the time 24 teams got in) the Habs are now playoff contenders.
More than that, the Canadiens are expected to make the playoffs. Team owner Geoff Molson said so himself when speaking with Eric Engels of Sportsnet earlier this week. He thinks the team should be in the 2021 postseason and they are set up to be good for a really long time.
That’s the expectation and it came straight from the owners mouth. Anything less would be a disappointment. Missing the mark for a fourth consecutive season would have to force Molson to look elsewhere for people who can turn this ship around.
dark. Next. Bergevin read goalie market well
The team looks improved on paper. They better be improved on the ice, or it is going to cost Bergevin and Julien their jobs.