The Montreal Canadiens enter a critical offseason in 2019. Here’s a look at five predictions of what could happen.
By all accounts, the Montreal Canadiens had a successful regular season in 2018-19. They did far better than anyone thought they would, as they nearly made the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Also, the Canadiens saw their young players grow and several players grow into cornerstone players.
Max Domi made a flawless transition to center, scoring a career-high 28 goals and 72 points in his first season in Montreal. Tomas Tatar, acquired in the Max Pacioretty trade, did a terrific job, posting 25 goals and 58 points. The Canadiens blue line stood out, as they treaded water even while Shea Weber was injured early in the season.
Despite all the positives, Montreal is under a ton of pressure this summer. It’s been 26 long years since the Stanley Cup has been won by the Canadiens. That’s a long time for the franchise which has won the most Stanley Cups.
The Canadiens issues are obvious. They no longer have depth issues. Rather, their issues are tied to their overall skill. The Canadiens were a fun team to watch last season and were among the league leaders in most underlying stats. However, at the end of the day, they couldn’t score enough goals.
Also, the Canadiens have to do something about their power play. There’s no reason a man advantage featuring options like Weber, Brendan Gallagher, and Max Domi should be converting on only 13.25% of their opportunities. That’s simply inexcusable and changes have to be made there.
In order to improve, the Canadiens are going to have to upgrade their roster. Luckily for them, they’ll have plenty of cap space to do it and tons of roster flexibility. Let’s take a look at five bold predictions of what will happen in Montreal this summer.