The Montreal Canadiens made a deep run in the 2021 postseason, ultimately falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final.
They got off to a terrible start to this season, winning just one of their first seven games.
Carrying momentum from one game to the next doesn’t really happen or make a lot of sense, so it wouldn’t have been realistic to expect the Canadiens postseason run to have any direct impact on the beginning of this season. Especially after a very busy offseason of turnover.
The Canadiens lost Phillip Danault and Tomas Tatar to free agency. Jesperi Kotkaniemi skipped town when presented with a lucrative offer sheet, Corey Perry left via free agency as well and Eric Staal is yet to find a place to play this season. They also lost Shea Weber to injuries and depth defenders Jon Merrill and Erik Gustafsson moved on after being brought in at the trade deadline as rentals.
It is easy to connect the dots between all of these players leaving town and the Canadiens struggling. But would any of these players been able to save the start of the Habs season?
Probably not based on how they are all playing to begin the season. Let’s take a closer look at each.
Phillip Danault
Danault signed a six year contract with the Los Angeles Kings with a $5.5 million cap hit. He has played seven games in a secondary role with the team and scored one goal and one assist. He is still a stellar defensive centre, but he didn’t find a new gear offensively with the big new contracts in L.A.
Tomas Tatar
Tatar is settling into a role on the New Jersey Devils with young Dawson Mercer and Andreas Johnsson on his line. He is still an advanced stats maniac, and he has three assist in five contests so far. That is exactly the same pace he scored for the Canadiens last season when he had 30 points in 50 games played. He signed a bargain contract with the Devils at a $4.5 million cap hit for just two years.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Kotkaniemi signed that enormous offer sheet late in the offseason and the Habs took the first and third round picks as compensation in exchange for the young forward. He is playing first line left wing with the Carolina Hurricanes on a line with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen. After seven games, Kotkaniemi has two goals and one assist.
Corey Perry
A lot of fans were upset when Corey Perry signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was a great fit with the Habs last season, but they Lightning offered a two year contract which is something the Canadiens were not willing to do. Perry is yet to register a point with the Bolts after eight games, but his line dominates the shots and chances every time he is on the ice.
Erik Gustafsson
The offensive minded defenceman is suiting up for the Chicago Blackhawks once again and is off to a slow start. Everyone in Chicago is having a difficult year, from the players on the ice to the executives who are finally losing their jobs for a complete lack of morality shown a decade ago when they refused to look into Kyle Beach’s claim of sexual abuse by a video coach. The team is horrible on the ice and Gustafsson has three points in seven games while being a minus 6.
Jon Merrill
Jon Merrill is a steady defender and he signed a one year contract with a $850,000 cap hit. He didn’t have a point in 13 regular season or 13 postseason games with the Canadiens last season. He has two already this year in seven games with the Wild and is playing a fine defence as well.
Of all the players that left after the postseason run, none are really tearing up up offensively this season. It is hard to point at any of them and say that losing him is the reason the Habs are struggling this season.
Still, having said that, I think Brendan Gallagher would be playing better now if he had one of his regular linemates back in either Danault or Tatar. After losing so much veteran presence and experience, having Perry in the dressing room and playing a depth role on the wing would probably be beneficial right now.
But none of these players, even all of them combined, would not have solved the Habs biggest issue which is goal scoring. Tatar has not scored, Danault has one, Kotkaniemi has two playing with Aho and Teravainen and Perry doesn’t have a point.
The Canadiens really couldn’t possibly be worse off than they are right now to begin the season. But claiming the big reason for their poor play is all the players they lost in the offseason doesn’t make a lot of sense either.