What Happened to the Montreal Canadiens?

Sports News Profiler – What Happened to the Montreal Canadiens?

For a life long dedicated Habs fan, the team’s recent fall from grace was difficult to bear. In this the 100th year of the storied franchise, expectations and optimism were high. Rather than going deep in this year’s playoffs and possibly challenging for the Stanley Cup, the Habs were literally beaten down and swept in four games in the opening round by a more motivated, talented Boston Bruins team.

What happened to the Canadiens in the last year that resulted in such a disappointing season?

Last season they showed a surprising resurgence and finished atop of their conference. Their attributes were the best power play combined with solid defense, team speed and good mix of veterans and youth. With the acquisition of veteran forwards Robert Lang and Alex Tanguay and improving young goaltenders, the anticipation was that the team would continue to improve.

Almost inexplicably however, and with practically the same lineup intact; the power play disappeared, the defense was porous, the goaltending mediocre at best. Mark Streit was sorely missed as was Sheldon Souray the previous year. Secondary scoring was non existent as players like Guilluame Latendresse, Chris Higgins, Andre Kostitsyn and most notably Thomas Plekanacs, struggled and underachieved.

A coaching change late in the season was distractive as well as arguably the rumours of a trade for Vincent LeCavalier prior to the trade deadline.

The bottom line was that this year was not to be. They were beaten by a much superior team in the Boston Bruins who showed too much talent and depth that the Canadiens just could not match. Ironically, the Bruins played like the iconic Canadien teams of old who could beat you any way you wanted to play it; physical, finesse, speed, scoring, goaltending. To their credit the Bruins maintained their cool and discipline throughout and it was the Canadiens who took the chippy penalty calls much like their frustrated opponents of the past.

In the end the Habs were just not good enough. They were depleted by injuries to four of their defensemen, most notably Andre Markov, their leading scorer and power play catalyst as well as both Lang and Tanguay. The effort was there but they took bad angles to the puck, didn’t cover the shot lanes well or finish their checks when it counted. They lost a lot of battles for the puck. Their passing and playmaking were poor and ineffective, often missing the out pass, squandering good scoring chances, or just getting rid of the puck. When they did get scoring opportunities, they didn’t have the snipers who were capable of making the shots. They seemed to be off guard and surprised when they did get the puck in front of the net. Carey Price was capable of a better performance; however, he never seemed to be able to gain the momentum and confidence he needed. Most of the goals he allowed were perfect shots or picture setups.

The great thing about sports is there is a competitiveness and eternal optimism that never fades for fans but the Canadiens’ year in retrospect is a cruel reminder of how difficult it is for any team to win the holy grail.