They are a great 5 v 5 team. Goaltending is below average.

They have a legit shot. As long as we don't get killed with Injuries and KK bounces back we will make it.

I meant in 2019-2020. There is talk of a 24 team playoff and Montreal would be in the last spot that makes it

God I hope not

why not

because this team isn't going to go far. It's just going to hurt our draft position. I'd rather get a good pick in this draft.

As much as I'd like to, we are not a playoffs team at all right now.

How would a 24 team playoff work?? Top 8 teams get first rd byes???

If you followed the habs you’d realize that Price wasn’t the problem. We simply weren’t consistent in our own end and give up way too many odd man rushes and hang Carey out to dry. Become more consistent and the results would be much different.

I do follow the habs and the numbers show that the habs were above average defensively and price let in too many low danger chances.

yea

If you look at the east next year, it’s safe to say Tampa Boston Washington toronto Pittsburgh and Philly SHOULD all be better than Montreal. That’s 6 teams right there. So Montreal will be fighting for the last two spots with NYR, buffalo (if they can finally turn things around), Florida, isles, Columbus. They have a shot but depending on how the offseason goes I still think it’ll be tough for them. They’re still a bubble team

Tampa - Agreed
Boston - Agreed
Washington - Agreed

Pittsburgh - Not totally agreed. They are an older team and who knows when Malkin/Crosby/Letang will start regressing. It also doesn't help them that Murray is very inconsistant and there's no guarantee Jarry plays like he did this year. They also have cap problems so there's no telling what they will look like next year. If Schultz leaves, they have a gaping hole on defense.

Toronto - Completely disagree. There's virtually 0 chance they are as good as they were this year. They are losing Ceci and Barrie and replacing them with ELC players who no doubt are going to make their defensive problem even worse. They are simply too top heavy and are easily exploitable.

Philidelphia - Not even sure why they are a lock and would like your explanation here. They had multiple players with Career years and odds are they will fall back down to earth. I'm sure they will be in the wildcard fight, but I don't agree that they are a lock.


I think it will be no different than this year, Tampa and Boston will dominate the division and it will be a fire fight for the 3rd spot.

Dude, Pittsburgh still has Crosby/Malkin/Letang who are all elite players. We have tremendous depth with guzental, rust, Zucker, hornqvist, McCann, etc... and our D is very underrated with dumo Marino and petterson rounding out our top 4. Schultz did nothing for us this year. Losing Schultz’s 5.5 million cap hit is addition by subtraction. We’ll bring in a cheaper guy like TVR to replace him. Pens don’t have cap issues, they’ll be just fine. Pens easily finish ahead of habs.

Toronto still has so much more star power than Montreal. They have elite talent which is the hardest part to acquire, something MTL doesn’t really have. Let’s see how they replace Barrie. If they role a D core of:
Rielly-DeMelo
Muzzin-Holl
Sandin- whoever
It could surprise a lot of people and potentially be better than their current D core, dependent on Sandins progression.

Philly- you’re right they’re not a lock, I take that back, but I still think they’re a much better team than MTL. They FINALLY have a goalie they can trust in carter hart, they have a lot of depth, some young players who can contribute like Frost, and Faboree, etc... while they’re not a “lock” I expect them to finish ahead of MTL. They really don’t have any holes on that roster.

I'm not knocking on Pittsburgh, I'm just saying they are going to be good as long as Crosby/Malkin/Letang remain elite. I'm from Cole Harbour so I hope Crosby can remain one of the best players in the league. Still doesn't help that there's no guarantee with Murray and Jarry.

Toronto has star power, but they also have 3 players making over 10 Million dollars are cannot afford to roll 4 lines like Montreal can. That defense has to be among the leagues worst. I'm sure they will sign or make a trade to replace Barrie, but it still remains that they were barely in a playoff spot at game 65 of the season.

I just think if Price can even become 1/2 the goalie he once was, Montreal are going to be scary.

Not too long ago fleury was looked at as a shaky inconsistent goalie. Pens will be fine with Murray in net. He’s got a mental roadblock currently. Goaltending is such a mental thing.

Toronto will get value out of their bottom 6 especially if Robertson makes the team and barbanov has a good season. Let’s wait and see how the leafs handle the offseason before we judge them for next season. A third line of:

Robertson-Kerfoot-Barbanov
Could end up being very good, and they could trade Kap/Johnsson for help on D

Yeah, it's pretty early to be saying who will make the playoffs, but I can only go off what we currently have. We have 3 second round picks this year + all of our current prospects who who knows what trades we will make.