Montreal Canadiens hold team meeting, face tough decisions

If head coach Michel Therrien is safe with Montreal Canadiens, could a trade be coming?

Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports was on Twitter earlier today saying that the Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin held a team meeting for 20 minutes this morning before practice.

If you are a fan of the Habs, you are well aware of how the season has played out for the hockey club. The team started with flying colors, winning 10 of their first dozen games. However, since the first of December they have only won five games and appear to be heading right off the 82 game season cliff. As of January 21, no Canadian team would be in the playoffs for the first time in over 40 years.

The Canadiens have been utterly lost since the injury to their star netminder Carey Price. The scoring has dried up considerably and the Canadiens are falling down in the Eastern Conference standings.

To go hand in hand with what ESPN and TSN hockey analyst Pierre LeBrun says via Twitter, Bergevin is giving full confidence in the coaching staff that has been assembled with head coach Michel Therrien leading the team. However, fans in Montreal can be rather ruthless and demand changes. There have been cries by some Canadiens fans on social media screaming for a coaching change and naming possible candidates for the job.

Their next game is Saturday night in Toronto against the Toronto Maple Leafs. In Canada, any game between the original six franchises is a must see event on television and is a ratings bonanza for Hockey Night in Canada telecasts.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly the direction of the Montreal team. Throwing out an assumption here, but one would have to believe that after the 20-minute meeting they were discussing various trade options to consider if they are content on hanging onto the head coach.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have a disgruntled forward, Jonathan Drouin, who sat out an AHL contest as a member of the Syracuse Crunch against the Maple Leafs minor league franchise, Toronto Marlies. The game was in Toronto and the Canadiens are also heading there shortly. Could this be a possible trade option that Bergevin was considering?

The NHL spotlight is definitely on the Montreal Canadiens and things are cooking to fix their floundering hockey club. They have 50 points and have slid out of the playoffs. They would want to right the ship heading into an important contest against their long-time rival this Saturday night.