Below is an excerpt from the Hockey news article by John Grigg who explains why he thinks the Canadiens are this year’s version of the Ottawa Senators:
Montreal is led in scoring by defenseman Andrei Markov with a goal and 12 assists. He’s tied for 18th in league scoring. Saku Koivu is tied for second on the team with 11 points in 10 games. The chances he’ll continue on a point-per-game pace are slim. And even if he does, the chances he’ll play 80 games are even slimmer. Alex Kovalev? He won’t duplicate his ’07-08 campaign – 35 goals and 84 points – this season. He hadn’t approached such lofty totals since the early part of the decade with Pittsburgh.
The supporting cast up front? Alex Tanguay is off to a nice start with six goals and 11 points, but he’s a passer, not a shooter. Tomas Plekanec? Three goals, seven points. The brothers Kostitsyn? Seven points combined. Guillaume Latendresse? One goal.
Outside of Markov, the defense corps is exactly that, defensive. Don’t look for much scoresheet filling to come from Montreal’s back end.
Ah, OK. But what about the Montreal net, you ask? Well, the Canadiens began the season with the least experienced goaltending duo in the league. Between the two of them, Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak had played 63 regular season NHL games prior to opening night. That’s almost never enough to carry a team, even in Montreal.
