Canadiens: Are The Playoffs Suddenly Out Of Reach?

When the Canadiens embarked on their improbable yet magical run to the Stanley Cup finals, the fans were disappointed for not winning it all, but the optimism surrounding this club was at an all-time high.

Our captain was motivating his troops and played some of the best hockey of his career. Carey Price regained his MVP form and was unstoppable. The youngsters in Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Jesperi Kotkaniemi were showing flashes of becoming future stars. The veteran depth and leadership of Corey Perry and even Eric Staal were integral parts in this story. Despite his contract situation in the air, fans were still optimistic that Phillip Danault would stay in Montreal and continue being the elite shutdown centerman for years to come.

Sometimes however, life doesn’t go your way.

Weber’s career is likely over as he’s dealing with a myriad of injuries. Price had surgery for a torn meniscus which seemed to serve as the final drop in a glass already filled to the brim as he checked himself into the player assistance program and is seeking help with his mental health. Perry was let go without a consideration and Staal is still mulling over what to do with his career. Danault bolted to Los Angeles while claiming on the way that he wanted out of Montreal’s fish bowl regardless of how things turned out and as for Kotkaniemi…we’ve covered that ad nauseum.

Despite a few savvy moves such as bringing in Christian Dvorak to fill in the middle lane void and Mike Hoffman to bolster the Habs’ powerplay, the identity and chemistry of this team is simply non-existent at this point as proved by the team’s winless record in its first five games of the season.

No disrespect to Jake Allen who literally carried this team into the playoffs last season when Price was out with an injury, but the team simply does not play with the same confidence when he’s between the pipes. The Chiarot-Savard experiment which was supposed to replace the duo composed of Charot and Weber ended up being a catastrophe. Savard is a good and honest defenceman but a Top 2 he never was and never will be. Same goes to Jeff Petry who’s an excellent player but every time Weber would be out we would see flaws in his game. Almost as if he’s putting way too much pressure on his shoulders and thus starts making mistake after mistake.

We seem to have found chemistry on one line at least with the trio of Jonathan Drouin, Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson showing the most promise so far this season. The rest of the team has been mixed and matched all over almost to a point where you wonder if Dominique Ducharme doesn’t just randomly picks names out of a hat to compose his lines.

You would think that with 77 games left to the season there would still be a chance to recreate the magic from last playoff. There is, but time is already ticking. In order to achieve this, the team would need to win approximately 65% of its games for the rest of the year. That would put them at approximately 90 to 95 points which is likely what would be needed to qualify for the first round.

This means no more extended winless streaks. No more experiments and the team needs to rise up now. You have to sink or swim with what you have and the players need to realise that they are playing their season now rather than in February.

On paper, the Canadiens have a strong enough roster to punch a hole in their division and start climbing up the standings. However, the new leadership group will need to stand up and lead by example more than ever if we ever hope to start winning again.

It’s not going to be easy, but it’s still doable.