Montreal Canadiens 2013-14 Season Primer

• Team Outlook from McKeen’s Hockey Guide:

  Montreal went from one of the worst teams in the league in 2011-12 to the Northeast Division winners in the shortened season, but their 2013 campaign still didn’t have much of a happy ending.Goaltender Carey Price hit a wall in the second half of the season and couldn’t seem to bounce back from it. His struggles continued into the playoffs until the Canadiens were forced to replace him due to a knee injury. In the end, Ottawa eliminated Montreal in the first round in just five games, renewing questions about Price’s ability to carry the team.

  The Canadiens are counting on him to bounce back in 2013-14. Backup Peter Budaj is capable of giving an occasional breather, but he’s not a safe fallback option if Price ends up declining for a third straight campaign.If Price can replicate his 2010-11 success though, then Montreal might be one of the most dominant teams this season. Max Pacioretty has demonstrated at this point that he’s the real deal while other youngsters like Lars Eller, Alex Galchenyuk, and Brendan Gallagher should serve as key secondary scorers. That’s a pretty strong group right there and that doesn’t even touch on veterans like Tomas Plekanec and newcomer Daniel Briere.

  They should also be a scary team with the man advantage, thanks in no small part to the defensive duo of P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov. Subban in particular might defend for the scoring crown among blueliners as well as the Norris Trophy.

  With that in mind, Montreal might be able to overwhelm teams offensively in the regular season even if Price struggles, but when it comes to the playoffs, their goaltending will likely be the difference between a lengthy run and another early exit.

• Team Fantasy Outlook from Dobber Hockey’s 2013-14 Fantasy Guide – Over a 150 pages of fantasy goodness:

  Dobber’s lowdown on: Raphael Diaz – The undrafted Swiss rearguard reminds me of another Swiss rearguard – Mark Streit (who was drafted in the ninth round back when drafts had nine rounds). Streit is more of a shooter while Diaz is more of a setup guy, but so far their career trajectory is quite similar. However, Streit didn’t have to deal with a concussion in his second full season, while Diaz did. Assuming the injury is an anomaly, Diaz should continue progressing, but will only break out if Markov or Subban get injured. Because at this point, quarterbacking the Montreal power play is spoken for. He had eight points in the six games that Subban didn’t play, but just six in his other 17 games. In his last season with Zug (Swiss League), he was teammates with Damien Brunner and posted 39 points in 45 games to Brunner’s 46 in 40.

  In the last 18 games, Galchenyuk was held off the score sheet just four times and posted 15 points. And he did it with low ice time, seeing more than 14 minutes in a game just three times in that span and never seeing more than 15:28.

  Plekanec has just 56 points in his last 91 games. He’s a 50-point player thanks to the depth at center and the fact that he’s the most capable of the four, defensively.

  Emelin tallied nine of his 12 points during the 19 games that he played when Diaz was sidelined. With Diaz in the lineup, Emelin posted three points in 19 games. So the 20 that I projected for him is the high end of the expected range.

  Briere had three points and posted a minus-10 rating in his last 15 games with Philadelphia. Although just two years removed from a 68-point season, it’s clear that those days are behind him. He’s still probably going to produce well in the postseason, but is a late-rounder at best in one-year leagues.

Follow link for more info and stats

Additions: F Daniel Briere, D Joel Chouinard, G Mike Condon, F Gabriel Desjardins, F Stefan Fournier, D Doug Murray, F George Parros, F Martin St. Pierre, F Nick Tarnasky, F Christian Thomas.

Subtractions: F Colby Armstrong, D Jason DeSantis, F Blake Geoffrion, F Jeff Halpern, D Tomas Kaberle, D Kyle Klubertanz, F Danny Kristo, F Philippe Lefebvre, F Petteri Nokelainen, F Michael Ryder, F Ian Schultz. D Frederic St. Denis, D Joe Stejskal, D Yannick Weber.

Promotion candidates: D Nathan Beaulieu, C Michael Bournival, C Gabriel Dumont, C Louis Leblanc, D Greg Pateryn, D Jarred Tinordi

Player salaries: $65,965,000 (24)
Cap Number: $65,110,833
Bonuses: $2,697,500
Cap Space: $1,886,667
Forwards: $36,740,833 (13)
Defensemen: $20,470,000 (9)
Goalies: $7,900,000 (2)
Source: CapGeek

Forwards
Danny Briere – Tomas Plekanec – Alex Galchenyuk
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Brendan Gallagher
Rene Bourque – Lars Eller – Brian Gionta
Travis Moen – Ryan White – Brandon Prust
George Parros

Defensemen
Andrei Markov – P.K. Subban
Josh Gorges – Jarred Tinordi
Alexei Emelin – Raphael Diaz
Francis Boullion – Davis Drewiske

Goalies
Carey Price
Peter Budaj

2013 Montreal Canadiens Draft Results 

Montreal Canadiens Top Prospects

2012-13 Montreal Canadiens Player Stats

Some info, stats and video taken from NHL.com’s 30-in-30 series.