The Montreal Canadiens ended their 2023-2024 season by saying expectations would be higher next year as they move forward in their rebuild.
We’ve heard time and time again, from both management and players, that they wanted to be “in the mix” for a playoff spot. That losing games wouldn’t be accepted anymore.
Everyone, fans included, expected a notable step forward and, for the first time in three seasons, everyone would be held accountable for the results on the ice.
The results we’ve seen in the past 4 games have done very little to convince us these expectations would be met.
After getting completely blown out 8-2 by the Kraken and losing badly 6-3 to the Capitals, Montreal looked better against lesser competitions but still lost against the Penguins and Flames, turning the past week into a 4 games losing streak, acquiring only 1 points out of 8.
Not the best way to remain “in the mix”, as the team is now back to being last in the Atlantic division with a league worst -18 goal differential.
There is still a lot of hockey to be played this season (69 games to be exact) and there’s obviously a way to turn this around with a few wins. This being said, it’s hard to see this scenario unfold with the current state of the team.
The Habs defense still looks, far too often, lost in their own zone as players seem to keep chasing the puck more often than not and don’t seem to completely understand where they should be or who they should cover. On tuesday, even a responsible player like Jake Evans somehow decided the puck carrier wasn’t his priority on the Flames tying goal, leaving Coronato free to skate in the slot and score. If that’s not a sign of confusion, I don’t know what is.
As previously mentioned, they did look, overall, better against Pittsburgh and Calgary and some will see it as an encouraging sign. Against Pittsburgh, they played a good game and they lost, it happens. Against Calgary, they had an amazing first period but couldn’t take advantage of their chances and then, somehow, still took the lead despite being dominated in puck possession and shots on goals for the rest of the game.
If you needed proof of how fragile the current mindset of this team is, the third period against Calgary was more telling than anything you might have read, heard or seen the past few days. This team was playing “not to lose” instead of trying to win and aside from a disallowed Branden Gallagher goal, didn’t create anything to keep the pressure on the Flames.
Before we could even hope to see them get the extra point in overtime, the Flames scored the 2nd fastest overtime goal in NHL history only 7 seconds after the puck dropped when a weird play saw Nick Suzuki lose his stick, his man and our collective minds.
There is still time to turn things around, these players on this team are capable of being much better than we’ve seen so far.
Expectations have been raised and for the first time since Martin St-Louis has been named head coach, his team is not reaching these expectations, which puts more pressure on him to figure things out sooner than later.
Some bright spots
Despite the team’s unimpressive results collectively, some players still manage to stand out and give us a glimpse of hope for the team’s ability to improve.
Branden Gallagher: After two and half seasons of looking like a player with nothing else to give to his team after giving everything he had for almost a decade, it certainly looks like Branden Gallagher has found new life and a new role on this team. He’s been as regular as it comes since the season started, he’s been engaged in the play and has managed to get scoring chances regularly on the team’s third line. While he’ll likely never be back to his prime form, it does feel good to see the once fan favourite right wing in a positive light once again.
Kirby Dach: We’ve all been pretty hard on Kirby Dach since the season began. Expectations on him after missing a whole season to injury were most likely too high as it seems obvious he is not at the level he was a year ago. We did see a much improved contribution from him since he’s been moved to the wing on the first line. It looks as though this is where he’ll remain for a few games. Dach’s biggest strengths were always his transition game and his ability to steal the puck from opponents, creating turnovers and opportunities for his linemates. We’ve seen him do that more often as a winger and it’s been very encouraging.
Cole Caufield: The October’s Molson Cup winner has given everything you could hope for from him since the season began. He still leads the NHL with 10 goals and is getting chances to add more every game. As long as he keeps scoring and remains a big threat on the Habs powerplay, I don’t want anyone talking to me about his game without the puck. He’s been excellent.
Jake Evans: The team’s newly appointed 2nd line centre (who saw that one coming during the summer?) has been the Canadiens most consistent forward since the season began. His contribution on the penalty kill (still at a respectable 82.22%) is obvious and every line he’s
been on this season has looked better with him on it. He’s obviously not the long term solution in the Habs top 6, but until we see any other centre step up its game, he does look like the better option for the time being.
Hopefully the positives we’ve seen in the last two games carry on next week and we see them finally get rewarded with a few points in the standings. If the slide continues however, perhaps it will be time to adjust expectations accordingly as we remind ourselves this team is still building towards the future, not for short term success.
Thank you all for reading and have a nice day!
Hugo Brossoit (Scabeh)
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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