Should The Montreal Canadiens Have Done More This Season?
It's been a quiet season for the Montreal Canadiens. Aside from re-signing their young defensemen in Arber Xhekaj, Justin Barron, and Kaiden Guhle and giving Juraj Slafkovsky a long-term extension, Canadiens management didn't add much during free agency.
However, there is a process that Vice President of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton and General Manager Kent Hughes are going through to make the Canadiens a consistent playoff team. They have their young core of Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki locked up. Not to mention what they have on the show.
Therefore, it seems premature to think that the Canadiens are ready to take the next step and compete for a playoff spot. Montreal should be close, but being in a playoff spot should happen in the next two or three seasons.
Gorton and Hughes want Montreal to be a consistent playoff team, not a one-and-done team. That's why it's surprising to hear the former coach say they should have done more for the Canadiens this offseason.
NHL Network: Last week on NHL Network, Tony Luftman and Bruce Boudreau discussed two divisions in the Eastern Conference. They moved up to the Atlantic Division, and Boudreau was asked which team he thought had more work to do. He said the Montreal Canadiens.
** NHLRumors.com transcript
Tony Luftman: “The next title, the theme has something left to do, maybe more than one, something from the Atlantic Division. Who do you choose?”
Bruce Boudreau: “Yeah, I think Montreal has to do something.”
Luftman: “Okay.”
Boudreau: “You know, I mean, the Canadians from Montreal have won the Cup 20-plus times. 24 times, to be exact. You know and you like, I mean, they've got some kind of, I know it's a rebuild, and people talk about rebuilding and all that, but I don't think they've done too much in the offseason to get better, unless they're going to get better with growth, just internal growth.
But I mean, in the heavy section of the Atlantic, I think that if Montreal should be one of the main places where you want to go. They have 21,000 people and one of the best facilities to play in every night. And I don't think they've improved enough to get into that potential playoff situation.”
These comments are interesting because I'm not sure what to expect from a team that will miss the playoffs again, as they rebuild and prepare for the future.”
Source link
