Montreal Canadiens: Habs Denounce Hurricanes For Not Playing Enough Preseason Games

Rarely have we seen so many off-ice events create a rivalry between two opposing teams. Once again however, let’s add another chapter in the Canadiens (Molson) vs Hurricanes (Dundon) rivalry.

According to Frank Seravalli, the Montreal Canadiens has informed the NHL that the Carolina Hurricanes have only played four pre-season games instead of the CBA-mandated 6 games. Teams are responsible for their own schedule as opposed to the programmed schedules the NHL hands out for the regular season. This is why you see the Canadiens face the Leafs and Senators all the time. They settle their own agreements and it saves on travelling costs as well.

There’s been wide speculation that the Hurricanes assumed that the pandemic would lax the regulations when it came to how many pre-season games to play. Again, because teams are responsible for their own schedules, the NHL had a “trust” agreement with teams so they weren’t tracking anyone. They would just assume everyone had played 6 games. That wasn’t the case as the NHL only found out once the Canadiens pointed the situation out.

Neither teams have commented at the time of writing this article.

Obviously no one will be up in arms about this but it’s interesting that this should happen nonetheless. Unions and the league will most likely get together and make sure this doesn’t happen again. One thing is for sure however, the rivalry between Montreal and Carolina has reached a near boiling point after the Hurricanes successfully pried Jesperi Kotkaniemi off of the Habs via an RFA offer sheet. Of course, things have already started heating up after Marc Bergevin unsuccessfully tendered a 5-year $42.27 million offer to Sebastian Aho back in 2019.

Thursday, October 21st, 7pm at the Bell Center. Mark that on your calendar as both teams square off in what should be a very interesting matchup.