Expectations are going up for the Montreal Canadiens, and they may need to make an addition or two
The Chris Johnston Show: Chris Johnston on the Montreal Canadiens, who may need to make a trade or free agent signing this offseason.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“There’s nothing to be taken away from the Habs. You know, I do think it gets really hard for them really quickly now. You know, they kind of had these, you know, last year for sure was, was all gravy. They got in right the last weekend of the season. I know they went out at five to Washington.
But you know, no one necessarily expected that this year. Expectations go up a little bit. I think next year they, be as a result of this, the expectations are going to go up exponentially on the Canadiens.
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You know, the front office, I think it’s done a nice job of being patient. I know they have more prospects coming. But they’re probably going to have to make a trade or two, or look at a big free agent signing, or you know, find ways to augment the group. You know, especially, you know, so much talk about it, but I think they need another center that can play in their top six.
And so, and they’re in a really tough division. Like that’s that’s the other takeaway for me is, you know, we see Aleksander Barkov miss the whole season, and then lead Finland to a world championship gold alongside Anton Lundell, his Panthers teammate. I mean, I’d expect Florida is going to be back. I don’t think Tampa is walking away easily. You know, Boston’s been on the upswing. You know, Montreal is in the thick of it with a bunch of teams. Obviously, Ottawa, you know, expects to still be taking steps forward at this stage. I know the Leafs want to get back there. Don’t know if they’re going to be able to do it on stop on a dime, and immediately rock it back up.
The point is, is that I just think it’s going to be really tough for Montreal to replicate, or even exceed this. Even with a young core. So this isn’t saying anything bad about them, because I think they’ve done this is what you want. They went through a rebuild, they get in the playoffs one year, they get in there the next year, go to the conference final. They get through two tough game sevens.
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Like, there’s all sorts of great positives built into this, but it’s not a guarantee that the next step is just around the corner either, and so you know, hopefully once the dust settles on the season, the players kind of internalize that and use it as fuel and motivation and come back next year looking to be one series better.”
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