The Montreal Canadiens’ run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final was the ultimate underdog story. Montreal barely got into the playoffs and stunned favored Toronto and Las Vegas before the dream run ended in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Montreal fans should hold onto those memories for as long as possible because it could be a while before the Canadiens return to the playoffs.
The acquisitions of Sean Monahan and Kirby Dach should help in the goal-scoring department.
Montreal has some experience on the blue line with Chris Wideman, David Savard and Mike Matheson, who are 28 or older. The season will begin without their most recognizable player, goalie Carey Price. Nick Suzuki and Brendan Gallagher are the holdovers with proven success but there just aren’t enough of those players.
The NHL playoffs odds are still not calling for a playoff appearance for the Canadiens and the rebuilding process could take a while.
There are five teams listed by the NHL betting lines at +50000 to win the Presidents’ Trophy and Montreal is the only one based in the Eastern Conference.
Let’s check the latest NHL picks, stats, injury reports, and NHL predictions. We’ve plenty of NHL expert picks for you to consider.
Montreal Canadiens Odds
- To win Stanley Cup +15000
- To win Eastern Conference +8000
- To win Atlantic Division +10000
- To make playoffs Yes +1000 / No -4000
Player to Watch
Monahan was a 30-goal scorer three times during his time with the Calgary Flames. Things headed in the other direction with 18 goals, 51 points and a -21 defensive rating over the last two seasons.
Monahan plays in all three zones and is strong in the faceoff circle so he will bring different dimensions to a young Montreal team.
Montreal paid quite the price to acquire Monahan. A rebuilding team doesn’t trade away first-round selections lightly so the expectations will be pretty high for Monahan.
Montreal fans will be anticipating Monahan resembling the player who had 34 goals and 82 points in 78 games during the 2018-19 campaign rather than the one who struggled to break into double digits in goals during the last two years.
- Player to Watch: C Sean Monahan
Breakout Player
No player benefited more from the change of coaches last season than Cole Caufield, who, much like head coach Martin St. Louis, is a speedy but undersized player that can take over a game.
Only five players had more goals than Caufield’s 22 from Feb. 10 on and that coincides with the time when St. Louis was calling the shots with the Canadiens.
Caufield scored just one goal in the first 30 games.
The former first-round pick is expected to provide the punch in an offense that needs to have Caufield scoring early and often.
The NHL predictions list Caufield at +6600 in the odds to win the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top goal scorer.
The next step for Caufield is to contribute more frequently on the power play as five of his last 22 goals came with the man advantage.
- Breakout Watch: F Cole Caufield
Canadiens Outlook
This could be a trying season in Montreal. The Canadiens are the last Canadian-based team to win the Stanley Cup. That happened in 1993 and just six players on the current Montreal roster were born at the time.
Jonathan Droiun, Christian Dvorak, Nick Suzuki, Mike Hoffman, Brendan Gallaghe, Joel Armia, and Josh Anderson are joined as forwards by Dach and Monahan. Suzuki and Armia are among the Montreal players dealing with injuries during the preseason.
There are plenty of questions in goal, and No. 1 overall selection Juraj Slafvosky has looked like he has plenty of work to do.
It can be dangerous to place too much stock in what happens in preseason games, but Montreal going 0-4-1 in the first five preseason contests has not helped the confidence level of Montreal fans.
