Montreal Canadiens Ranked Way Too Low by Sportsnet in Canadian Division Power Rankings

Montreal Canadiens being ranked 6th among Canadian teams is laughable.

Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin set out to improve his roster in the offseason and accomplished that task.

The Habs didn’t come anywhere close to spending to the salary cap in the past three years and also were not going to make the playoffs for a third consecutive season before the global pandemic resulted in a 24-team postseason.

The Canadiens took that second chance and ran with it.

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They came out flying against the Pittsburgh Penguins, with young centres Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi taking huge leaps forward in their development and taking on big roles. Suddenly, for the first time in decades, the Canadiens were deep down the middle and had four lines that could score at any given time. Well, three lines and a fourth when Dale Weise was healthy scratched.

The big steps forward from a pair of young, super skilled centres changed the trajectory of the Habs plan. Suddenly, they had enough depth at key positions to really go all in on the roster. Bergevin did exactly that in the offseason.

After watching Suzuki and Kotkaniemi play key roles in a four game victory over the heavily favoured Pittsburgh Penguins, and also help give the Philadelphia Flyers a rough ride in a six game loss, Bergevin finally spent the money allotted to his team by the NHL.

He traded Max Domi, who was relegated to a fourth line role, for Josh Anderson. He signed Joel Edmundson and brought Alexander Romanov over from Russia. He signed Tyler Toffoli to bolster the depth on the wings and add a power play goal scoring threat. He added Jake Allen from the St Louis Blues to act as Carey Price‘s backup.

All of these additions were made in the middle of a global pandemic when most teams were pinching their pennies and not adding payroll. So, the Canadiens got much deeper at every position while other teams signed players like Jimmy Vesey for minimum NHL rate hoping he can somehow magically turn into an NHL player.

That global pandemic we mentioned has wreaked havoc on the NHL schedule. The Stanley Cup was handed out in late September when the preseason is normally wrapping up. It is the end of November now and we haven’t seen a game all month. We think there will be regular season games in January but nothing is official yet. It’s an odd time for the NHL.

Another result of those oddities is the possibility of a Canadian Division next season. With travel restricted between Canada and the United States, it makes sense that the teams will not cross the border as often as they once did.

As a hockey fan, that makes you wonder, who would be a favourite in the Canadian Divison? Sportsnet recently released their predictions for the Great White North conference and for some reason they had Montreal 6th.

This is just foolish.

Anyone and everyone who follows hockey would pick the Ottawa Senators to finish 7th so we don’t even need to consider the possibility the Habs could finish lower than 6th. However, a few other teams should be fodder for the Habs as well.

The Vancouver Canucks have made terrible cap related decisions for years and finally paid the price this offseason. They lost their number one goaltender and team MVP from last season when Jacob Markstrom signed with the Calgary Flames. They lost Chris Tanev who played a rock-solid defensive game for them on the right side of the blue line.

They lost Josh Leivo who provided great depth as well. They lost all three of those players to the Flames and also couldn’t re-sign trade deadline acquisition Tyler Toffoli who signed with the Canadiens.

The Canucks two best skaters, Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes are entering the final year of their entry-level contracts. Neither are signed to extensions yet and though that may not be a problem, sometimes the pressure of playing in a contract year can weigh heavily on a player.

They brought in Braden Holtby who used to be really good and still have Thatcher Demko who they think will eventually be really good. However, they head into the season relying on two guys who had .897 and .905 save percentages last season. Good luck.

The Edmonton Oilers are another team that did little to improve. They scoured one of the busiest goaltending markets in recent memory and ended up with Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen. That’s after having Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen be their biggest problems last season. Maybe Smith will bounce back at age 38.

On defence they brought in Tyson Barrie who was not good for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season. However, they also lost Oscar Klefbom for the entire season due to injury so their lacklustre defence got worse.

They’ll score a lot of goals, but they’ll allow even more.

The Winnipeg Jets have five really, really good forwards and a great goaltender. But that’s about it. Their lack of depth down the middle of the ice and a depleted defence that hasn’t been rejuvenated after losing Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba and Tyler Myers make them a big question mark.

The Calgary Flames filled a void when they signed Markstrom, and also brought in Tanev and Leivo from the Canucks. That improves their team but they also lost a minute muncher in T.J. Brodie and a defensive stalwart in Travis Hamonic. Overall, that should be a big plus because they went from below average goaltending to great goaltending.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were the top Canadian team in the standings last season. They lost plenty of young, depth scoring in Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson and brought in old, slow guys like Joe Thornton and Wayne Simmonds. They replaced Barrie with Brodie and also signed Zach Bogosian, Jimmy Vesey. Overall, they are maybe the same, but probably a little worse than last season because of the downgrade in forward depth.

Last season, the Canadiens had two eight game losing streaks. Still, they finished within 12 points of every other Canadian team. The Canadiens then got better, and won’t be hoping to get points with Keith Kinkaid in goal anymore, while everyone else except for the Calgary Flames got worse.

The Flames are the class of the Canadian Division today, but the Habs make a strong argument for being the second best team in the country right now. Sportsnet picking them to finish 6th if just laughable.