Fansided

Projecting every NHL team’s chances of hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2019

By Griffin Youngs

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 07: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Five of the Stanley Cup Final during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena on June 7, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 07: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Five of the Stanley Cup Final during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena on June 7, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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28. Montreal Canadiens

The self-inflicted downfall of the Montreal Canadiens has been painful to watch as they took a promising team and gutted it into a husk of its former self that is well out of playoff contention, and it looks like an even rougher season could be ahead.

Last season, the Montreal Canadiens finished in 28th in the league with 73 points, a 30-point drop-off from the season before when they won the Atlantic Division.

Why they could win

It’s hard to be especially bad when Carey Price is your starting goaltender. He’s carried pretty bad Canadiens teams farther than they should’ve gone in the past, and if he can have a bounce-back season, then perhaps the Canadiens can find a way into the postseason. After that, having a hot goalie is all it takes to make a run.

Plus, a lot of players on the team had uncharacteristic career worst seasons, and they can get back a lot of production lost last years if their top players can bounce back. Injuries also plagued the team, and a healthy lineup full of bounce back players could get them into the playoffs behind Carey Price.

Why they won’t win

Unless Carey Price is otherworldly, Montreal frankly has to hope for a miracle to even get into the playoffs. The organization is in flux right now, and nobody really knows exactly what they’re trying to do here.

Marc Bergevin has made this team worse over the years for no particular reason, and it all came to pass last year when Montreal suddenly fell off a cliff and couldn’t recover. The team’s depth was traded for scraps, and it didn’t get any better this offseason. Alex Galchenyuk was sent to Arizona in exchange for a struggling Max Domi, because according to Bergevin, he had better character.

Captain Max Pacioretty is on his way out of the organization after being told they it will not negotiate an extension with him, and he’s the last real goal scorer left on this team. Montreal has made no moves to acquire any scorers to play with their abundance of playmakers, and once again, it is going struggle with putting pucks in the net

The defense is also nothing short of a disaster with Shea Weber injured until at least December. That leaves Jeff Petry as the best available defender, who is actually a solid top four guy, but there is nothing else there to support him. Even when Weber comes back, they’ll just have a decent first pairing and nothing after that.

Conclusion

Still expect Montreal to be a bottom five team, but it all hinges on Price. He likely can’t lead them to the playoffs, but he might get them close if he can steal the show night after night. Tanking an acquiring top draft picks would be a good option, but Bergevin has also said that this team is not rebuilding at the moment, even though that is a flat-out lie.

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