by Gregorio Lentini, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
I know, it was only two games, and one of them was against the worst team in the Eastern Conference, but the Montreal Canadiens have a modest winning streak.
Many fans understandably want to call it quits on the season. They advocate that the Habs should sell off all notable assets and commence a rebuild. As enticing it seems to restart, wait a decade and actually contend, I do not think that rebuilding is a feasible option for the Montreal Canadiens.
With only an 18 per chance of taking the first-overall pick when finishing dead-last, teams are more likely to end up like the Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes than the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Another consideration for a rebuilding team is that there is a good chance that their young stars will develop at the same time forcing a cap crunch. The Edmonton Oilers, who happen to be at the bottom of the league, may be tight against the cap next season. In two years, Canada’s ‘beloved’ Toronto Maple Leafs will be in the same situation.
Rebuilding a team from the bottom is appropriate in some situations, but not when a team still has promise. The question then becomes: do the Montreal Canadiens have any promise left?
Reasons for Pessimism
The Canadiens currently sit two points out of a playoff spot. The Habs rank twenty-ninth in goals scored with 59, twenty-seventh in goals against with 80, twenty-seventh on the powerplay at 15.9 per cent efficiency and twenty-third on the penalty-kill at 77.4 per cent.
In other words, from a preliminary statistical analysis, they’re terrible.
Looking deeper into the team to understand the cause of these horrible stats, one realizes that the team has major holes.
Firstly, they lack any real depth at centre. Jonathan Drouin has struggled with the transition to the No. 1 centre position and would undoubtedly be more productive on the wing. After him, with all due respect to Philip Danault, there is no true No. 2 center. There also does not appear to be any significant centres in the trade market to alleviate the situation.
The next major issue is the defence. To put it simply, they are disorganized. The defence corps has not played cohesively to date. It’s as if they don’t know where they should be. They’re not exactly mobile either.
The third problem is the Canadiens’ overall lack of identity.
Even though the Habs have speed, especially with players like Paul Byron and Drouin, they do not really come off as a speed-first team. Even though they have some strength, especially with Shea Weber, they are not a strong team. Even though they have grit, especially Brendan Gallagher and Andrew Shaw, they are not a primarily gritty team. They are still searching for their identity.
Reasons for Optimism
The reasons for optimism can be summed up by the following reasons: time, money and injuries.
Even though the season looks lost, the most important fact to keep in mind is that there is more than two thirds of the season left to be played. The Habs have showed glimpses of brilliance in games, for example, against Ottawa and Florida. They have looked creative and fast.
The fact that they have fantastic possession numbers suggests that they may actually be better than the results have shown to date. In fact, if they can play the way they did against Columbus on Monday, while avoiding all the penalties, they have a chance at going far.
In my opinion, the biggest problem so far has not been a lack of scoring, it’s confidence. The Habs have allowed back-to-back goals on eight occasions this season. If they could have mustered up the mental fortitude to keep fighting even when the opponent scored, they may have won several more games.
The reason I think this confidence is going to come back is rooted in the return of injured players. Among others, Carey Price, Jonathan Drouin, Artturi Lehkonen, Shea Weber and David Schlemko have all been injured at one point in the season.
Even though the majority these players are vital to the team, one player in particular has the ability to change the face of a game all by himself. That is Carey Price.
Price’s return has added vigour to this team. Over the past two games, Price has looked like his old self. With Price stopping pucks, the team can play with more ease since they do not need to be as worried about counter-attacks.
Once Weber and Schlemko return, the defence might be more stable. Though the defence looks slow, with players like Schlemko, Jeff Petry, Victor Mete and Jakub Jerabek, they may be more mobile than most believe.
Finally, fans cannot forget that the Habs still have almost seven million dollars in cap space. They also have prominent prospects, such as Charlie Lindgren and Nikita Scherbak, as well as high draft picks, to engineer a trade. With Edmonton and Arizona floundering and John Tavares’ situation uncertain, Marc Bergevin may be able to find a trading partner.
The Verdict
Honestly, I still think it is too early to know for sure it the Habs have what it takes to go far. I, for one, find it hard to believe that a team with Price, Weber, Drouin, Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk will miss the playoffs.
The Canadiens are only two points out of a division spot. If they can remain resilient, and if they can continue to play with speed and creativity, the season may not be lost after all.