The Montreal Canadiens find themselves at a crossroads. Expecting to compete for a playoff spot this year and beyond after what fans considered a solid offseason in which they traded for sniper Jonathan Drouin , signed veteraen defenseman Karl Alzner away from the Washington Capitals and locked up their star goaltender Carey Price for another eight years, the team has struggled all season, including a recent three-game losing streak to Columbus, Arizona and Saturday’s 6-0 loss to the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. The Canadiens suddenly find themselves 8-11-2 with little optimism that things might get better.
In fact, NBC Sports Joey Alfieri writes that it might be time to break up this team now and begin a proper rebuild. Up until now, general manager Marc Bergevin has been unwilling to trade the team’s veteran players such as center Max Pacioretty, but that could change soon as it doesn’t look as the team is a quick-fix away from repairing its on-ice problems. Saturday night on “Headlines,” Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos said that ownership and management would soon have a discussion about the direction of the team. Pacioretty would be a prime trade candidate, who has one more year on his contract at $4.5MM.
The scribe looks at their offseason moves and wonders if the team’s big trade to acquire Drouin might be looked as a major blunder as the team did trade away star defensive prospect Mikhail Sergachev, who is thriving for the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning. He is also quick to point out that it was a major mistake to let go of Alexander Radulov and veteran defenseman Andrei Markov for nothing when the team quite obviously needed them.
- Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette writes that this latest 6-0 defeat to the Maple Leafs could spell the end for not just the current roster, but also for Bergevin, who has been responsible for constructing this roster and look to be going no where. The GM has been running the team for six years now and has little to show for it, but a team heading towards a lottery selection in June next year. The general belief is that if you aren’t competing for a playoff spot by the American Thanksgiving, then you have little shot of reaching the playoffs and the Canadiens aren’t close to competing. The scribe writes that while many feel that the team’s trade of P.K. Subban was the start of the downfall of the team, Todd suggests that Shea Weber is not to blame, but things may not look so bad had the team kept both Markov and Sergachev to form a Big Three. Instead, the team only has Weber to show for it, which falls under Bergevin’s domain.
- Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette writes that the team has always had an identity, starting with their goaltender and then with a solid defense in front of him. Boring, but respectable. Instead, the scribe writes, the team is starting to look like the 2015-16 team that had lost Price for most of the season and finished in 13th place in the Eastern Conference. Now the team has gutted their defense and have removed their identity, which the franchise so often has depended on.
- After a column in which he questioned the health of Price, Stu Cowan tweets that Price was the first out to practice Monday morning.
People suggesting a full rebuild have no idea what they are talking about and are only trying to capitalize on the panicking portion of the fan base. The Canadiens are not an old team and a good portion of the roster is 25 or younger. Do they need a retooling? Absolutely. Do they need a full on tank job rebuild where they suck for 5 years as has been suggested by national media? Not at all.
Weber, Price and Drouin are cornerstone players already locked up long term. Yes Weber and Price are 32 and 30 but are still elite contributors while Drouin is 22 and has a crazy combination of elite speed and skill that the Habs haven’t seen in 25 years.
With them, you have Gallagher, Lehkonen, Mete, Danault, Galchenyuk and Lindgren already playing pivotal roles and are all 25 or younger. You also have McCarron, Scherbak and de la Rose trying to carve out roles as well with Noah Juulsen and Brett Lernout having solid potential and are just about NHL ready.
Further in the system, you have Will Bitten, Jake Evans, Lukas Vejdemo, Michael McNiven and Michael Pezzetta. Now, none of those guys look to be stars but all project to be decent to solid NHL contributors. Now add in the 2017 draft class, which looks like Montreal’s best since 2007’s haul of McDonagh, Pacioretty, Subban and Yannick Weber. In particular, Ryan Poehling and Joni Ikonen look like potential 1st line players while Josh Brook, Cale Fleury and Scott Walford look like they could be potential top 4 defencemen.
Retooling the roster is the best way to go here. Get a good haul for Pacioretty, trade Plekanec, trade Byron, trade Benn, trade Davidson, trade Shaw, trade Alzner, try and unload Petry for whatever you can get, trade Montoya if he gets healthy and trade Schlemko if he ever comes back. Load up on as many 2018 picks and/or NHL ready prospects as you can and augment an already youthful core. Oh and find a real Center so Drouin can go back to wing where he’s best at.
Despite what many say, you cannot say Montreal is worse off now than when Bergevin took over because they aren’t. Should Bergevin continue on as GM? I don’t know because I don’t know who you’d get to replace him that you can trust and meets that stupid “must be French” criteria.
Very well said, Doc. What you have said is so true about this great franchise. ” Real” & knowledgeable fans such as yourself see this situation for what it is. For sure it is not time for the Canadians to panic but something is not just right with the team. It seems like it is time for a players only meeting & a front office, coaching staff get together. I hope that they get it going in the right direction before more of the season slips away from them. Sometimes it is just a player or two that cause these types of problems.
The Canadians did lose some defensive depth & some on the roster are not pulling their weight every game. I do believe that the current coaching staff needs to put the entire roster on notice & sit the players that are only putting out minimal effort. I am a huge fan of the Original Six & truly hope that Montreal gets it straightened out as soon as possible.
Montreal can’t possibly rebuild now after trading Subban for weber two years ago and then trading their best prospect this past offseason. Those two moves are the exact opposite of rebuilding. If they trade Weber and Drouin, there’s a zero percent chance they get back anywhere close to what they have up.
I could see a rebuild on the fly though where everyone except for Price, Drouin, and Weber are moved.