Carey Price struggled at the start of last season, but ended up playing at an elite level down the stretch. Will Carey be able to build off of that momentum, contend for a Vezina trophy, and propel Montreal back into the playoffs?
The pressure is always on in the NHL, especially if you happen to be a goalie. The pressure is exponentially higher if you’re a starting goaltender, more so if you happen to you play for an Original Six team. How will he respond in 2017-18?
Marc Bergevin added to Montreal’s defensive depth on Tuesday, signing veteran Mark Streit to a one-year, one-way contract worth $700,000 plus potential performance bonuses of $300,000.
The vast majority of the hype for the 2016 NHL Entry draft has surrounded the trio of elite forward prospects: Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi. Given their talent, this isn’t too surprising; however, some talented defencemen are flying under the radar as a result.
Earlier in the year, Jakob Chychrun was thought to be the best defenceman in the 2016 Entry Draft, but he has seen his stock fall of late. It’s hard to pin blame on Chychrun for this slide in the rankings, as he enjoyed a successful 15-16 campaign; however, the emergence of Olli Juolevi and Mikhail Sergachev as top defenders has hurt Chychrun’s worth in the eyes of critics.
At long last, the 2015-2016 season is over for the Montreal Canadiens. Despite a tremendous beginning to the year, key injuries and bad luck ultimately doomed a team which many had considered to be legitimate contenders for the Stanley Cup.
When the curtains closed on the 2015-2016 season, the Montreal Canadiens were left in the unfamiliar position of being excluded from post-season hockey. For some fans, it may have been a relief and an end to year-long suffering, while others might still be shocked that a season that started off so well could go so horribly wrong.
February saw the Montreal Canadiens drift even further out of playoff contention, despite gaining more points than the past few months. At this point, any post-season hopes seem dashed, and it seems clear that Marc Bergevin and Michel Therrien are placing a larger emphasis on evaluating the roster moving forward.
With a 5-7-1 record in February, the Montreal Canadiens didn’t do much to improve their chances of making the Stanley Cup playoffs. Granted, the 5 wins were a marked improvement over the past few months, but at a time when fans have begun hoping for a high draft pick, those wins may have seemingly hurt the Habs more than they helped.
After a disastrous month, the Montreal Canadiens organization decided to forgo the monthly tradition of awarding a Canadiens player the Molson Cup. HabsWorld, while not necessarily feeling any different about Montreal’s ineptitude, still saw fit to recognize the few decent performances.