By Robert Rice, Senior Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

TORONTO, ON — The All Habs Mailbag is as popular as ever! This is the place to send in your questions about all things Montreal Canadiens.

Then check every Thursday to read the answers to the most popular or poignant questions about the Habs. Keep in mind that we will discuss the entire Canadiens organization so questions about prospects and roster players are equally welcome!

Submissions can be mailed directly to [email protected]

Three Guidelines for Submissions:

• This is not for hate mail or complaints. If you have an issue with what you read on these pages, this is not the place to bring it up. The mailbag is for questions about the Montreal Canadiens organization and the NHL.
• As long-time readers of All Habs know, we do not publish rumours.  Therefore I will not engage in discussion of the validity of rumours — frankly I consider them a waste of time anyway.  For every rumour that was close to accurate, there have been about a thousand duds.
• Nothing of essay-length please. There will be other people who will have questions and it is a bit unfair if I have to dedicate the Mailbag to answering one very large question or someone who’s asking five questions at once.

Dude

Any news on if Habs will sign Dartmouth senior Dustin Walsh or pursue any college free agents?

Given Dustin Walsh’s unremarkable senior season in the NCAA with 22 points in 29 games, I would think he has fallen off the radar as a prospect of interest for the Canadiens. As per the college free agents out there, Montreal has not been connected as a frontrunner for any of the names of interest such as Dan DeKeyser, but this is not a big surprise either. College free agents tend to favour signing with teams that can nearly guarantee them a place in the NHL and the Canadiens depth chart at present is weighted to higher-profile prospects than arguably anyone that is available on the market.

Jimmy P

Has Louis Leblanc had a rough year, or is something wrong with his game?

The ankle injury that Louis Leblanc suffered to start the season did not help him to start with, but he has struggled since returning from injury. Even assuming that he was playing through a tough recovery period, as the case often is with ankle sprains he’s had a very disappointing season with 13 points in 50 games. There of course the concerns about the coaching methods of the Hamilton staff this season that has not helped to see much consistent production from the team as well, but this is probably marked more down on Leblanc than his coaches. Leblanc likely could use a summer off to re-train and a fresh start in the 13-14 season, ‘lost years’ do happen for prospects but it is worth keeping in mind Leblanc had three positive development seasons prior to this year so it is difficult to start declaring him a failing prospect. A bad year but much too early to close the book on the 2009 1^st-round pick.

Herman E

Are you sold on the Habs as true contenders?

I think in the vacuum of the shortened season and the weaker performance level of the Eastern Conference this year, it is not something you can necessarily argue against. Montreal has two primary rivals in the East for supremacy in the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins. Montreal has lost by one goal in two games against the Penguins this season and enjoy a 2-1 record against Boston, two being decided by one goal and the latest game in a shootout. Given a 2-3 record against their opposition and each game being tightly contested, one can say Montreal is at the very least close to the level of the two teams and Montreal still enjoys a slight lead over Boston in the standings.

The issue at hand will be the playoff run. Montreal is virtually assured of a playoff spot at present, but their ability to match the competition level there could arguably be in question. Two key depth pieces in Rene Bourque and Raphael Diaz are still not anywhere close to suiting up for Montreal with Bourque’s setback after skating with the team and Diaz still not having returned to even solo practice yet. With the Canadiens at present mostly relying on five defencemen per game and finding themselves short a reliable scoring forward they may become outmatched against the deeper offensive lineups of Pittsburgh and Boston. If the Canadiens were to at the least get back Diaz, they would be able to boast as stable a defensive group as any of their opposition and it would allow Andrei Markov, who has been showing fatigue of late to skate less if Diaz was available to take up some of the puck-moving responsibilities.

At peak health, I believe the Canadiens can match with any team in the Eastern Conference and win in a 7-game series, even potentially missing depth players like Bourque and Diaz possibly. The issue will be to win multiple rounds, the Canadiens have only gone to the Conference Finals twice in the last 2 decades and a lack of depth has often seen them exit early after winning their first playoff round. Exhaustion or injuries have also factored in during recent years for the team hitting the wall as well in their playoff appearances. If the Canadiens can maintain a respectable level of health, which can really can come down to luck in most circumstances they are well within position to make a deep playoff run as their scoring and defence are deeper than at any point in the last 15 years.

Does Michel Therrien get credit for the Habs accomplishments or is it more like a fluke?

While the Canadiens were never truly as bad as their 2011-12 season portrayed them to be, their rapid turnaround this season does very much owe to Michel Therrien.

Therrien has managed to implement a system that plays to the strengths of the Canadiens and has them competing on a nightly basis. A strong “never say die” attitude has been present with the Canadiens all season long, allowing them to gain wins that they would have easily let slip away last season. Therrien also has the team’s best players being exactly that for the most part, everyone who is expected to contribute has delivered for the most part this season. Therrien is also to be credited with taking the talent he has and making it work, as it is common to typically see a talented team or two struggles despite their skilled personnel and underwhelm during the season. It is extremely difficult in the modern NHL to stay at the top of the league standings without strong coaching and so far this season, Therrien has delivered.

Granted, one has to factor in that the Canadiens have enjoyed an excellent healthy streak among their entire core this season, when often they have been fighting depth issues in the past three seasons as injuries struck. One can also keep in mind as well that the team is the deepest in terms of scoring and defence than it has been in years which is also helping matters.

Therrien is to be credited with taking the talent he has and making it work, as it is common to typically see talented teams struggle despite their skilled personnel and underwhelm during the season.

Steve R

Would you go after Ryan Clowe as a UFA? If so, at what cost? He would be a nice 2nd/3rd line winger.

 At present I must give a very definitive “no” to the idea of acquiring Ryane Clowe from San Jose. The first issue is the cost, the Sharks are reportedly asking for a 1^st-round pick and a top prospect, which is a pretty hefty expense after seeing what Brenden Morrow and Jarome Iginla went for.

The second consideration is his terrible season, no goals and 10 assists over 26 games, while missing time with a shoulder ailment. With no guarantee of Clowe resurging in the final 3^rd of the season and no sign he is working towards a resurgence, it seems to be a very high-risk wager to deal notable assets for a player who is struggling with consistency and possibly health issues as well. Given the more physical nature of the playoffs, I understand the idea of taking on a player like Clowe but given that he may in fact be playing at less than 100 percent, it’s arguable the playoff atmosphere may just put him out of action entirely. At present, it is very difficult to argue he is what the Canadiens are missing.