Montreal Canadiens have long road back to relevancy

The most important franchise in the NHL has hit tough times, and barring any miracles, they are going to endure them for quite some time.

Prior to the mid 1990s, the Montreal Canadiens were the model franchise in the National Hockey League, if not North American sports. The Canadiens, known locally as Le Habitants, have the most Stanley Cup championships since 1993.

Incredibly, the franchise won largely with only French Canadian players. They never went more than six seasons without winning the Cup between 1952-93, racking up 19 titles in that stretch.

Now, the Canadiens are the bottom of the proverbial barrel, stripped clean of any present hope.

Since winning it’s last championships 1993, Montreal has only notched four 100-point seasons and has gone as far as the Eastern Conference Finals, doing that twice. With the current collection of talent and a general manager that just dealt Alex Galchenyuk for Max Domi, straight up, even getting to the playoffs is a pipe dream.

Galchenyuk was oddly put in a bottom six role by head coach Michael Therrien at times last year, despite playing on a team that should have had him on a top line. The 24-year-old is a supremely talented left wing, scoring 30 goals back in 2015-16 and potting 51 points on last year’s fiasco of a club.

Meanwhile, Domi is a decent player, but he’s not of the same caliber. The Winnipeg native had 45 points for the Arizona Coyotes in 2017-18, and is only a year younger. This move also doesn’t satisfy Montreal’s pressing need for a center.

The Canadiens and their fans need better than what has been given to them by general manager Marc Bergevin. Since coming into the role in 2012, Bergen has watched the team go south, largely due to the incomprehensible trade of P.K. Subban for Shea Weber.

Subban has continued his superstar career with the Nashville Predators, helping the club to a Stanley Cup Final two seasons ago while being in annual contention for the Norris Trophy. Weber, conversely is both more expensive, three years older and an injury risk. He also has a cap hit of $7.8 million through the 2026 season.

Looking at the NHL roster and what’s below, Montreal is in dire straights. Max Pacioretty and Brandan Gallagher are the only two wingers with top-six talent, and the former is likely to be dealt this offseason. Defensively, Weber is the lone hope or a top-pairing force, while Karl Alzner is a borderline second-pairing blueliner.

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Outside of center Ryan Poehling, the Canadiens are without any top prospects, although they do have the third-overall pick in the NHL’s upcoming draft, Bergevin can’t afford to miss on that selection. If he does, it should be the final draft he partakes in.

For a once-proud franchise, Montreal finds itself on the bottom, looking up at the rest of the Atlantic Division, and league. It’s a sad state, and one that won’t change until management reverses its current trends.