What the Puck: Regardless of a Twenty eighth-place end, Canadiens followers are upbeat

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The Canadiens’ season ended Thursday night time not with a bang, not with a whimper, however somewhat with one other all-heart effort from a crew chock-full of rookies, American Hockey League regulars and some veterans. It was fairly nicely the Habs’ season in a nutshell.

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They fought laborious, they gave it their all and so they misplaced. And the followers nonetheless cheered them on. Usually ending fifth from the underside of a 32-team league is a badge of dishonour, however within the upside-down world of the 2022-23 Canadiens, many followers Thursday had been desperately hoping that the CH would lose to this epic Boston Bruins crew to ensure they might “clinch” Twenty eighth place.

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And they also did, giving them an 8.5 per cent probability of profitable the primary decide within the draft lottery and a 41.8 per cent probability of nabbing a top-five decide. A method or one other, they’re nearly sure to snare an excellent younger participant with that decide.

So how are all of us feeling about this season? Properly it’s the twelfth time since that final Cup win in 1993 that the Canadiens have missed the playoffs and any method you slice that statistic, it ain’t nice. However the followers are nonetheless cheering as a result of fairly nicely everybody agrees there’s extra optimism within the air in Habs Nation than there was for fairly a while.

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After all there was pleasure on the streets when le bleu blanc rouge went on that astonishing run to the Cup remaining in 2021, however let’s be trustworthy and admit there wasn’t really all that a lot optimism that the crew was really going to beat Tampa and win that Cup, nor that they might be a terrific crew the next season. And so they weren’t.

They achieved the unlikely feat of creating the Cup remaining after which ending useless final the next spring. Like I all the time say, the Canadiens by no means go in for half-measures. They prefer to maintain it fascinating … and excessive, a technique or one other.

Clearly there’s a lot to be upbeat about proper now. Nick Suzuki had one other excellent season, hitting profession highs with 26 objectives and 66 factors, and the captain did that with out his sniper wingman Cole Caufield, who went down with a season-ending shoulder harm in January. Talking of Caufield, he remained the crew’s main goal-scorer, tied with Suzuki with 26, though he solely performed 46 video games. Does he rating 50 subsequent season if he’s wholesome? I’d assume so.

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The rookie blueliners largely did higher than anticipated and can solely be higher subsequent season. Mike Matheson was one of many nice surprises of the season, approaching sturdy when he got here again from his harm and I’m certain many followers in Pittsburgh are questioning why the Penguins gave up on this man. There shall be some main adjustments going ahead. It’s a must to determine Thursday was Jonathan Drouin’s final recreation as a Hab and the excellent news is that frees up US$5.5 million in cap area.

Sadly, Mike Hoffman nonetheless has one other 12 months left on his contract and I can’t think about anybody stepping as much as take him off the Canadiens’ fingers. There’s 4 extra years at US$6.5 million for Brendan Gallagher, who solely performed 37 video games because of accidents, and that’s simply one in every of many questionable Marc Bergevin offers that may proceed to hang-out common supervisor Kent Hughes going ahead.

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My perception is the CH can’t find yourself in lottery territory a 3rd 12 months working. They should get considerably higher subsequent season and that received’t be simple, significantly given the robust division they’re in. Hughes should beef up the squad at the very least slightly bit within the low season and this problem goes to be an actual check for a GM who has seemingly performed no fallacious to this point.

The identical goes for head coach Martin St. Louis. All of us love the golden boy, however the strain shall be ramped up large time subsequent 12 months when he’ll really need to win.

However chatting to of us exterior the Bell Centre earlier than the Bruins recreation, even Bruins followers had been saying they assume Montreal is shifting in the suitable path.

Joseph Buccheri, an Italian Bostonian from the North Finish, was proudly carrying his Bruins sweater Thursday and waxing eloquent about Bs captain Patrice Bergeron. However he admitted Montreal is likely to be coming again within the seasons to return.

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Tyler Jenkins from Labrador Metropolis stated he really wasn’t that dissatisfied by the Habs’ poor displaying this 12 months.

“It’s nothing I didn’t count on with all of the accidents we’ve had,” Jenkins stated. “After that Stanley Cup remaining run (in 2021), I bought a few years that I can deal with slightly little bit of disappointment. However hopefully subsequent 12 months it is going to change slightly bit.”

That’s a great way to take a look at it. What different Canadian crew has been within the Cup remaining recently? However right here’s suggesting that ’21 run won’t be sufficient to maintain followers pleased if the losses maintain piling up subsequent season.

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