Complete Preview for the Montreal Canadiens' 2014-15 Season

It's probably easy for the Montreal Canadiens and their fans to still wonder about what might have been last year, even with the new season less than a week away.

After their first 100-point season since 2007-08, the Canadiens upset the Boston Bruins in Round 2. But before the horn sounded on Game 1 of the conference finals, goaltender Carey Price was lost for their series with a knee injury.

Without Price, the Canadiens succumbed to the Rangers in six games.

What if Chris Kreider hadn't crashed into Price and the goaltender had remained healthy?

What if Thomas Vanek, the team's big deadline acquisition, hadn't played like wet, floating dumpster garbage in that series and scored more than his zero goals?

What if the Canadiens could have forced a Game 7 against the Rangers back at their presumably raucous building on a Saturday night in Montreal?

Those thoughts (sorry if you spent the summer in therapy putting that behind you) are understandably torturous, but the Canadiens are poised for an equally deep playoff run in 2015.

What We Learned in 2013-14

Not that this was a doubt that plagued the organization or fans, but the biggest takeaway from last season was that Max Pacioretty has arrived as an elite goal scorer.

After scoring 31 goals in 2011-12, Pacioretty dipped to 15 in 44 games during the silly, goofy, stop-taking-it-as-seriously-as-you-should 2013 lockout season. After a normal offseason, training camp and preseason, he built on those 2011-12 totals by pouring in 39 goals last season.

And with no disrespect to David Desharnais, Tomas Plekanec and others, Pacioretty nearly had a 40-goal season without an elite center.

The issue, which the Habs tried to address with the Vanek addition, was that no one else on the team could score. The Habs finished 21st in goals and had the fewest of any Eastern Conference team to reach the playoffs. Plekanec was the only other Hab to reach 20 goals last season.

As so many offensively challenged teams do, the Canadiens got by on defense and goaltending, and when you have two of the best in that area, good things can happen.

With P.K. Subban coming off a Norris Trophy season and Price having his best season in the NHL, the Habs finished eighth in goals allowed and figure to be a top-10 team in that regard again. Price won a career-high 34 games with a .927 save percentage, which was four points better than his previous best of .923 in 2010-11.

Subban's 38 points in 42 games in 2013 was by far his best points-per-game production, but he followed that with a personal best of 53 points in 82 games last season. He raised his game in the postseason, with five goals and 14 points in 17 games.

With Pacioretty, Subban and Price carrying the load, the Canadiens just need to fill the rest of the roster with support players who can supplement the scoring and strengthen the defense.

Despite the loss of captain Brian Gionta, Vanek and Josh Gorges, the Canadiens have a shot to be better this season.

Francois Lacasse/Getty Images

Outlook for 2014-15

The splashiest move by the Canadiens this summer was the contract extension for Subban, who will get $72 million over eight years. But it was all the little moves by general manager Marc Bergevin that could make the difference in April, May and June.

Daniel Briere, after looking like he had nothing left in his first season with the Canadiens, was sent to Colorado for PA Parenteau, who lacks Briere's playoff experience but is a legitimate top-six forward. He played just 55 games a season ago but had 14 goals and 33 points.

Defensively, Tom Gilbert isn't going to become a fan favorite, but he's a nice replacement for Gorges and with Douglas Murray no longer an option, the defensive depth automatically is upgraded.

There's also the potential for in-house improvement, as Alex Galchenyuk, Lars Eller and Brendan Gallagher can get better in third seasons.

Here's what the Habs' forwards could look like on opening night.

Left wing	Center	Right wing
Max Pacioretty	David Desharnais	Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk	Tomas Plekanec	PA Parenteau
Michal Bournival	Lars Eller	Rene Bourque
Dale Weise	Manny Malhotra	Brandon Prust
Jiri Sekac, Travis Moen

There are some caveats, as Galchenyuk could see extended time at center, as that was his position when the Canadiens drafted him. Jiri Sekac, signed out of the KHL this summer, has been impressive during the exhibition season, so he may be more than an extra forward.

It looks pretty good on defense as well, assuming Andrei Markov can play another full season.

Left defense	Right defense	Goaltenders
Andrei Markov	P.K. Subban	Carey Price
Alexei Yemelin	Tom Gilbert	Dustin Tokarski/Peter Budaj
Nathan Beaulieu	Mike Weaver
Davis Drewiske

There's a good mix of size, speed and experience on the blue line. If Bergevin feels the team needs a lift there or anywhere, really, he can always try to upgrade at the deadline like he did last season with Vanek.

This is the Eastern Conference, where it's wide-open and full of mediocrity. It's the teams with goaltending, defense and just enough offense that can excel come playoff time. The Habs may not have a better regular season that Boston, Tampa Bay or Pittsburgh, but they have the ability to get back to the conference finals no matter their seeding.

If Galchenyuk, Gallagher and Eller take steps forward, Parenteau brings more to the table than Briere and Price stays healthy, this team has a chance to do special things this season.

All statistics via NHL.com.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLozo.