Montreal Canadiens: Up and Coming?

Well the first half of the season is over and the Montreal Canadiens are once again nowhere near where the so called experts had predicted.

Of course the real test now begins to determine who will be attending the big dance in the spring and if you recall last year the Habs destiny was decided on the last game of the season and they were left on the outside looking in with a total meltdown vs. the Leafs.

At the moment of writing this article, the Canadiens sit at fifth place in the eastern conference with 52points 1 less than the 4th place Penguins and 5 points ahead of the 9th place Rangers.

All the critics and sports analysts were saying that Montreal's powerplay will suffer this year due to the absence of Sheldon Souray on the point, but it has flourished picking up right where they left off last year and Russian Alexei Kovalev having a great start to the season with 19 goals and 22 assists for 41 points in 44 games and leads the league in powerplay points with 25 and is 3rd in goals with 11 only behind Ovechkin(13) and Iginla(12).

There has been other reasons behind the success of the Habs this season, major factors include the stellar play of their defencemen Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek; also the offensive contribution of Mark Streit and the acquisition of Roman Hamrlik has certainly stabilized the blue line.

Up front the Plekanec,Kovalev,Kostitsyn line has meshed well together combining for 104 points. Chris Higgins is on pace for a 30 goal season and Koivu is always a threat offensively although he is struggling a little right now finding the back of the net.

The position that gets the most attention here in Montreal is none other than that of goaltender of the most historic franchise of the NHL. Cristobal Huet has been solid enough between the pipes thus far with a save pct of .922% and 2.44 GAA.  Rookie Carey Price pitched in with 9 wins and a 2.90 GAA with a decent .907 save percentage and he can only get better. He was recently sent down to Hamilton to continue his development.

Coaching has been for lack of a better word, decent. Guy Carbonneau still makes rookie mistakes but he is getting better. I think he needs to improve on his player/coach relationship and learn how to communicate with his players. He needs to let go of the player inside him and become a coach, then and only then will he be truly effective.

In conclusion, I think Bob Gainey needs to make some moves in order to bring in some additional firepower, a forward with face-off winning skills. Veteran Brian Smolinski has not panned out and he and Steve Begin have reached the inevitable sunset of their careers.

Will the Montreal Canadiens make the play-offs? Yes they will, because I believe they are 2 points better than last year. Their powerplay is better and their defense and goaltending is better. Will they make a splash in the play-offs? It remains to be seen, but it all starts with the goaltending and I beleive, barring any unforseen circumstances, Cristobal Huet will be given one last chance by the organization to carry this team to a series win.