Canadiens' fan may have had high hopes at the start of the season. A promising young core along with some veteran leadership had the team looking like a definite playoff contender. However, baring a a major turn-around in the second half, the Canadiens are coming closer and closer to a lottery pick situation.
The Habs loss to the Red Wings on Tuesday night was their 7th in a row and third to the Wings this season.
Things don't seem to be looking up anytime soon, as the injury riddled Canadiens prepare for the Allstar break in just a a few short weeks.
Montreal's 1-4-2 record against the three worst teams in the East this season - Red Wings, Senators and Devils - is nothing short of embarrassing when you consider that this club was expected to challenge for a playoff spot this season.
The Canadiens now trail the Philadelphia Flyers by 7 points for that final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and are 10 points behind the Leafs for 3rd in the Atlantic Division.
It will be interesting to see what General Manager Marc Bergevin does with the impending February 24th trade deadline approaching. Perhaps he is willing to pull the trigger on deals involving some of his veteran players to stockpile assets for a rebuild. Or he may elect to try and land a bigger fish in hopes that an improved Habs team, with a full, healthy compliment of players can make a late push.
As Sportsnet's Eric Engles reports it is not out of the question for key players in this line-up to have a different home sooner than later.
-
Canadiens' point leader Tomas Tatar, who leads the team with 16 goals and 37 points in 44 games is a likely target for teams looking to make a run in the playoffs. The Slovakian born winger has 1 year left on his contract with a cap hit of $5.3 million next season and the 29 year old winger could bring in a nice return for this Canadiens' team.
Veteran D-man Jeff Petry is another interesting case, as he is currently on pace to set a career high in points has just 1 year remaining on his deal that pays him $5.5 million a year.
The hulking right-handed defenceman has a modified no move clause in his contract which, according to CapFriendly, includes 15 teams he can refuse a trade to.
Engles believes that Bergevin may see what's out there if he decides to move Petry, but unless the return is of benefit to Bergevin, the big defenseman will likely stay put.
Canadiens centre Max Domi is one believer in the locker room who thinks this team can still make a push for the playoffs.
“We believe in each other in this locker room,” he affirmed. “We're going to push each other to get through this, but it's going to take every guy. So starting with next game, we can do it. We know we can. We just gotta go out and execute now.”
It's going to take more than a speech to get this team going with key players like Brenden Gallagher, Joel Armia, Jonathan Drouin and Paul Bryon all on the shelf. Couple that with the struggles that Carey Price has had this season, and the outlook is pretty grim for the Habs. In fact, they may need a St. Louis-style push to get themselves back into the playoff picture.
Source: Sportsnet
