As the saying goes: its always darkest before the dawn. And while the Montreal Canadiens so far have been better than they have been in the past, this is the most difficult and nuanced part of the rebuild. Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes have to be very careful to make it out of this stretch.
As of writing this, the Montreal Canadiens are 11-14-3 after 28 games, good for 25 points. That is last in the Eastern Conference, but only by one point. Buffalo, Ottawa and Detroit all have 26 points and Columbus and Pittsburgh have 27 and 28 points respectively.
The interesting thing is the difference between the Montreal Canadiens and the last place team, and the Montreal Canadiens and the last wildcard spot in the East. Both Chicago and Nashville have 20 points in 28 games (special mention to the San Jose Sharks who have 25 points but in 3 more games), and the Philadelphia Flyers currently hold the last wildcard spot in the East with 30 points along with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
So the Canadiens are 5 points up on the last place teams in the league, and 5 points out of a playoff spot. And its a good metaphor: Right smack dab in the middle.
The Montreal Canadiens have a good team. They have been said to have the best core under 24, and their best players are just going to be getting better and better. The Montreal Canadiens are in a dead heat with the Buffalo Sabres in average age this year, with the Sabres having an average age of 25.52, and the Habs having an average age of 25.73.
In a similar vein, the Montreal Canadiens have played 6,693 games combined, just 15 games more than the Sabres. They are quite a bit below the third fewest combined experience, the Calgary Flames with 7,988 games.
The problem is that a lot of the Montreal Canadiens young players are already here and are very good. Cole Caufield is tied for the fourth most goals in the league this year, Nick Suzuki is clicking along at a point-per-game pace and Lane Hutson is breaking records already.
And so many players are on their way. Ivan Demidov is still in Russia for the rest of the year, Michael Hage has been tearing it up this year. Owen Beck is proving his worth with Laval, and while Logan Mailloux proved he wasn't ready for the NHL, but has been developing in the AHL.
But all of those players have been drafted by the Canadiens, and while that is extremely good, no team goes all the way with just drafted players. You need to make moves and trades to address holes, get better and get over the hump.
But is the team ready to make the jump from basement dweller seller to playoff bound buyers? If you buy too early, you run the risk of stranding the team in the middle, neither good enough to be a true NHL contender, but not good enough to draft players to help with developing.
Just look to the Canadiens fellow Atlantic division peers: the Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings. These three teams have been stuck in this phase of the rebuild for years.