Last season, the Vegas Golden Knights surprised everybody by making a run to the Stanley Cup Final. Could this year’s Montreal Canadiens do the same thing?
Last season, the NHL witnessed arguably the greatest underdog story in professional sports history when the expansion Vegas Golden Knights took the sports world by surprise. Not only did they finish the regular season with over 100 points, they also made an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final. Though fans thought it would be a while before a surprise of that magnitude would happen, the Montreal Canadiens are looking like a team who could surprise a ton of people.
Much like the Golden Knights, virtually nobody believed in the Habs before the 2018-19 NHL season began. Pundits and fans alike had them finishing closer to the bottom of the standings than the top of them, even in a best-case scenario. However, the Canadiens enter the beginning of November in third place in the Atlantic Division with 16 points in 12 games.
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Perhaps the lessened expectations in Montreal helped the team. After all, the Canadiens were expected to be a great team in 2017-18, yet didn’t come close to living up to those expectations. With virtually no expectations, the Habs are overachieving. Let’s take a look at their success and see how they compare to the Golden Knights.
First of all, the Canadiens aren’t an expansion team, so they won’t be able to surprise in that manner. But still, the Habs are a very young team and have had a bit of a roster turnover over the past few seasons.
Unexpected Production
Much like the Golden Knights, they’re getting contributions from unexpected sources. Forward Brendan Gallagher already has nine goals through 12 games. Much like William Karlsson of the Knights, his goal scoring has been a huge surprise. Also, he has a 21.4 shooting percentage, which is similar to Karlsson’s from 2017-18. However, it’s worth noting Gallagher is significantly more proven than his counterpart was before the start of last season.
This summer, the Canadiens traded Alex Galchenyuk for Max Domi. At the time, the trade was criticized. However, Domi leads the Habs with 12 points and has proven to be quite the center. This is especially surprising because Domi didn’t do well with the Coyotes last season as a center.
Perhaps their most surprising contributor has been Tomas Tatar, who has 11 points. Ironically, the Canadiens got Tatar from the Golden Knights as a part of the Max Pacioretty trade. The Habs have apparently solved their goal-scoring woes by trading their two most reliable goal scorers (Galchenyk and Pacioretty). That sounds so crazy, even a Hollywood scriptwriter would think that’s way too unrealistic to be in a movie. Sound familiar?
Surprising Defense
Last season, the Golden Knights were driven by their surprising defense. Nobody thought they had a number one defenseman. You could argue Nate Schmidt was their top defenseman, but probably wasn’t a true number one even if he performed admirably as one. Likewise, the Canadiens are having success with a young, mobile, and skilled blueline.
Reprising the role of Deryk Engelland is Jeff Petry. Granted, the latter has had far more success in his career than the former before last season. However, this doesn’t make Petry’s production (nine points in 12 games) any less surprising. Rejects like Mike Rielly, Xavier Ouellet, and Jordie Benn have each played key roles as well.
Goaltending
Surprisingly, the thing the Golden Knights and Canadiens don’t have in common is goaltending. Last season, the former probably had the nuttiest season as far as goaltending a team has ever seen. After having the worst season of his career, Marc-Andre Fleury put up Vezina Trophy-caliber numbers. They started five (!!!!) goaltenders and still won games.
Had I told you the Canadiens were surprising everybody back in September, you’d probably bet your life savings on Carey Price playing a huge role in it. Guess what? He’s not. While Price has been serviceable, he hasn’t been nearly as good as he has been in the past. The Canadiens are no longer relying on Carey to do all the work. Had Price gotten this kind of play in front of him back in 2013-14, the Canadiens’ Stanley Cup drought might have ended that season.
Verdict
It’s still early in the season. However, it’s clear the Canadiens are a much better team than everyone thought. Considering how bad everyone thought Montreal would be this season, it would be nearly as surprising if they make a Stanley Cup Final run than it was when the Golden Knights did. Not quite as surprising, but a huge (and fun) surprise nontheless.