New Faces, New Questions: My "New" Montreal Canadiens Review

Now I'm certainly hoping that Thomas Plekanec and Guillaume Latendresse, both restricted free agents, come back next year. Plekanec had a horrible year, as did most of the team last season. He was progressing at a steady pace up until last year so let's hope the bad luck has passed.

As for Latendresse, he's young and improving. A big guy at 6'2 and 230 pounds and also he's one of the only french speaking players left!

I agree with Bob Gainey when he said "We have been an average team for far too long. We need to get much better now." And I also agree the "veteran core" of the team needed to be changed as well.

But I don't think spending so much so quickly and on so many small players is a good idea. Maybe the Lecavalier deal was not to be, but the team still needs a big first line center and that player is still missing.

In the end, the team might look better on paper but reality might be very different. I'm not expecting much change or maybe marginal improvement next year. Gainey still hasn't been able to take care of the most pressing and important problem this team has had for years, a first line franchise player.

I like Mike Cammalleri, who could arguably be considered the team's new best player, but he's not the "franchise defining player" the team desperately needs.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?