Post Mortem: Montreal Canadiens

It's time to put on the surgical gloves again and examine the corpse of the Montreal Canadiens after they were eliminated by the Ottawa Senators last night.

It's been a tough few seasons for the Habs, as they haven't won a playoff series since making their surprise run to the Eastern Conference final in 2010. They bottomed out last season, finishing 15th in the East and firing most of their front office staff, including the coach and the general manager, as a result. Enter Marc Bergevin as GM and Michel Therrien behind the bench for a second time, who brought with them a new culture that the team was desperately needing.

For the most part, during the regular season the changes worked,
as the Candiens captured their first Northeast division title since 2008. Despite a contract dispute to start the season, P.K. Subban had a breakout year from the blueline, picking up 38 points and earning a Norris trophy nomination. They also had some great contributions from their rookies as Brendan Gallagher was nominated for the Calder trophy with a 15 goals, 28 point season and Alex Galchenyuk was right behind him with 27 points.

However it was ultimately their goaltending and special teams that let them down. Starting netminder Carey Price, despite posting 21 wins, struggled at times this season with inconsistency and finished with a career worst .905 save percentage and a 2.59 goals against average. His numbers ballooned to .894/3.26 in the playoffs before he went down to injury and there was little that backup Peter Budaj could do in relief to stop the Senators attack. On the power play during the first round, the Habs could only muster 3 pp goals in five games (as opposed to Ottawa's 6), as well as allowing one shorthanded goal.

So, what's next? It's clear that the Canadiens remain a strong offensive team with speed to burn, but they simply must shore up their defense and add some size if they want to compete in the East. The good news is that the Habs don't have many free agents to sign this offeseason, but the bad news is that they're already over next year's cap. The blueline will be the largest area of concern, as they need to upgrade but also have 10 NHL defenseman signed already, including three on entry-level contracts. This is still at club in transition, as they bring in a new wave of younger players to take over the team, and should do well with Bergevin at the helm. However, if Carey Price is not able to return to his all-star form and play worthy of his $6.5 million dollar salary, it may be another early playoff exit next year.