Out of all the teams that I’m curious about, the one that has be the most curious is the Montreal Canadiens. Anyone looking at things with a glass half-full mentality would tell you that the Habs can build off their magical playoff run from a year ago and avoid sneaking into the playoffs like they had to last season. The glass half-empty person will tell you that the Habs were an 8 seed for a reason and will be hard-pressed to even duplicate that.
Usually I would start by talking about the forwards, then the D and finally the goaltending, but the biggest story for the Canadiens this season will be the man between the pipes, for better or for worse. It was set up to be that way after Pierre Gauthier stunned the hockey world by trading away Jaroslav Halak instead of Carey Price.
Price is now the guy that the Canadiens will either sink or swim with. The obvious question is whether or not he can handle the immense pressure that is going to be thrust upon him because of the circumstances in which he received the starting spot. If he can’t, the Habs will have to rely on either Alex Auld or Curtis Sanford. For the sake of Habs’ fan, hopefully it doesn’t get to that point.
The magical run allowed for the emergence of not only Halak, but also the big three signings of this team: Mike Cammalleri, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta. After sub-par regular seasons, the three just about carried this team to the Stanley Cup finals. All three found their touch when needed the most, but can they keep this up for the 2010-2011 regular season?
The problem with the group of forwards is that it lacks natural talent past the top line and Tomas Plekanec. Andrei Kostitsyn was the fifth-highest scoring foward with 33 points last season. They will need to find some production from someone outside the Top 4 in order to have a chance to repeat their magical run.
Defensively, Montreal looks to be set up pretty well, so they’ll just have to hope for some good fortune with the injury bug. They have a good mix of talent and experience with Andrei Markov and Hal Gill leading the way. We’ll also get a chance to see what PK Subban can do as he should be in a position to play a full NHL season for the first time.
Two players to watch out for in camp are Price and Plekanec. It can’t be overstated enough. Price is the one guy that will be in the headlines every single night. Is he in the right frame of mind to handle this massive challenge? Plekanec led the team in points with 70 in the regular season last year, but wasn’t consistent enough to be a constant threat throughout the playoffs. Can he find that consistency this season to continue to be a scoring threat alongside the Big 3 to help the Habs?