The regular season is over and the playoffs have begun. Unfortunately, the Montreal Canadiens will not be taking part in the tourney this year.
That’s not a new development. By American Thanksgiving the Canadiens were firmly out of the playoff picture. And while there was a great turnaround with the addition of new head coach Martin St. Louis, it wasn’t enough to bring the team out of last place in the league.
Which, I mean, if you are going to fail, you may as well fail hard. And it helps a lot that the Montreal Canadiens now have the greatest chances of winning the draft lottery, just over 18%. And while there is discussion over whether the Canadiens should pick Shane Wright, or Logan Cooley, or Simon Nemec.
But that doesn’t mean that us Montreal Canadiens fans shouldn’t still tune into the playoffs. There is still a ton of the greatest hockey in the world to be played, and the NHL playoffs are just a full head of quality above the already great regular season.
It would be a shame to miss out on so much great hockey simply because our team isn’t there.
But which team to follow? We all have our biases for and against other teams. Like I myself have always felt a soft spot for the Colorado Avalanche, as they were the best team in the league when I first started watching hockey all those years ago. Or that I do not like the Vegas Golden Knights for obvious reasons.
But as fans of a team, we spend a surprising amount of time with the players of said team. Watching them for 82 games, 60 minutes each. Not to mention all the interviews, fan interaction events and social media posts that we have access to in this modern age.
Its my opinion that its impossible to follow a team without being a little emotionally attached to the players. And its a good thing that there are plenty of former Montreal Canadiens left in the playoffs that we can follow and cheer on. If only for memories.
But what team to follow? There are 16 teams in the playoffs, each with over 30 players on their NHL roster. That’s a lot of players to go through. Well, that’s where this article comes in. Together we will dive into every playoff team and see which former Canadiens reside there. And then we can decide who to follow independently this post-season.