The Montreal Canadiens were nothing short of a complete roller coaster ride in the year 2021.
It was one of the oddest seasons in NHL history, check that, it was the oddest season by far in NHL history.
The Canadiens found themselves in a division with the six other Canadian teams and didn’t play a game in front of a single fan during the regular season. It was weird to watch, and though you would have thought you would get used to it after a while, it just never looked or sounded right to be watching NHL games with no fans.
The on-ice product was quite an up and down ride. The Canadiens played a 56 game 2021 regular season, made the playoffs (barely) and started the new 2021-22 season more or less on time. Their combined regular season record in the calendar year of 2021 was 31-43-15 which is really bad. However, they did go 13-9 in the playoffs in 2021 and made it to the Stanley Cup Final.
Off the ice, things were no less weird. The team lost its captain after that Stanley Cup Final run, probably to retirement, Carey Price checked into the player assistance program but has been out for two months and is just kind of unavailable? His knee injury was supposed to be cleared up around the start of the regular season but he’s still not playing.
The team drafted a player in the first round who asked not to be drafted at all. Jonathan Drouin’s status was a mystery throughout the playoff run but he eventually spoke about how he stepped away from the game to deal with anxiety and a lack of sleep.
Their head coach was fired, their new head coach tested positive for Covid in the middle of the playoffs and was forced to stay away from the team.
They worse blue jerseys a bunch of times.
They lost Victor Mete on waivers just to trade for Erik Gustafsson.
Phillip Danault, Tomas Tatar and Corey Perry were lost to free agency. There was the whole Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet ride that was a mini roller coaster all on its own.
The team played its last game of 2021 with 13 players on the Covid protocol list.
It was a wild year to say the least. 2022 likely won’t have the same roller coaster feeling, and surely won’t have a run to the Stanley Cup Final. But there are many things to look forward to in 2022.
Here are 22 of them.