A very early look at the Montreal Canadiens season thus far

Yes, we're still in October, and there are still 75 games to go, but it's time to take an early look at the Montreal Canadiens season, and what could potentially happen going forward.

The Canadiens currently sit dead last in the Atlantic division and tied for second-last in the entire NHL with a record of 1-6-0 through their first seven games. Their lone win on the year has come against the Detroit Red Wings, a 6-1 blow out that occured last Saturday night.

On Tuesday, the Habs rolled into Seattle for the first time in 102 years to kick-off a four-game road trip. There was a bit of optimism in the air throughout the day on Tuesday despite the team sitting at an 1-5-0 record. It felt like this road trip could turn around the season, but then the Habs laid an egg, losing to the Kraken 5-1.

It's hard to pinpoint what is going on with this team right now. Could it be a lack of leadership because captain Shea Weber is out for potentially the rest of his career? Is it a coaching issue? Or is it something more obvious, that the team is missing their star netminder Carey Price?

Whatever it may be doesn't excuse how the Canadiens have been playing thus far. In their seven games, they've only managed to score eleven goals, six of which came last Saturday against Detroit. They've also allowed 25 goals, and it's hard to blame all of that on Jake Allen, who has started six of Montreal's seven games and has a G.A.A. of 3.04 and save percentage of .890.

With all that being said, where do the Canadiens go from here? Well for starters, juggling the lines would be a start. The only line that has remained intact for all seven games is Drouin-Dvorak-Anderson. They've shown glimpses of chemistry, but it's time to break that line up and start fresh.

Head coach Dominique Ducharme also has to find a way to get some of his guys going including Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, both of whom are yet to score a goal this season. During last season's playoffs, the trio of Toffoli-Suzuki-Caufield proved to be the Canadiens best line, but failed to produce anything in the first few games of the 2021-22 campaign, which led Ducharme to break them up. Caufield started the game against Seattle on the third line with Toffoli and Mathieu Perreault, while Suzuki centered the top line with Mike Hoffman and Brendan Gallagher as his wingers.

Last week, Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin told reporters that he wasn't going to make a trade just for the sake of making a trade and believed that his club has the capability to break out of this slump. But, if the rest of Montreal's road trip doesn't go well, will Bergevin make a move to salvage this season, or will he set his attention towards the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, which the Canadiens are hosting in early-July?

Personally, I don't like to judge a team until American Thanksgiving. The holiday that means so much to families, where they get together for a big dinner, and to watch football, but for the NHL, it's a lot more than that and has playoff implications.

If you aren't in a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving, well, I hate to say it, but your odds of making it aren't great. Unless you're the 2018-19 St. Louis Blues, of course.

Between the years of 2013 to 2017, 77.5 percent of teams that were in a playoff spot on American Thanksgiving went on to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The good news for Montreal? They have fourteen games between today (October 28th) and American Thanksgiving (November 25). But regardless of how they play, they will be looking above in the standings at teams they have to chase for a playoff spot, and that comes back to their poor 1-6-0 start.

If Montreal is going to push for a spot, then it begins with the remaining three games on their road trip in California. Tonight, they'll take on San Jose, Saturday the Kings, and Sunday they'll battle the Ducks.

But if they continue to falter then the sad reality is, they'll more than likely end up being a lottery team. But I'll use the word 'sad' loosely, because of how deep the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft could be. Names like Shane Wright, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Brad Lambert, Juraj Slafkovsky and Joakim Kemell will be available in the top ten.

As a Habs fan, I still believe in this team. Two key players are missing, Carey Price and Joel Edmundson. The latter of whom played a key role on the Canadiens' defensive group throughout the entire 2020-21 season and during their run to the Stanley Cup Final.

The effort level has to be better, players who are known to be goal scorers need to start putting the puck in the net because without Carey Price (no disrespect to Jake Allen), the Canadiens aren't going to win games by only scoring one or two goals.

Montreal has an opportunity to prove that their 1-6-0 start doesn't reflect who they are as a team, and that they can be much better than that record indicates. Puck drop for tonight's game at the SAP Center in San Jose is set for 10:30pm ET on TSN2 and RDS.

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