A long off-season for Montreal
The Habs organization will have a lot to think about this off-season
But slowly everything went downhill, and the Montreal Canadians managed to barely make the playoffs. After losing four straight and not even winning a playoff game, you have to ask, what was the point of even making the NHL playoffs? Add on the fact that it was the 100th season of the Habs organization; it was a truly disappointing season.
The Season and the Struggles of Price
The sad thing was, it was not even a close series. They were outscored 17-6 in four games. Last year after they exited a lot of positives were taken from the post-season. Carey Price may not have been dominant, but it looked like the future was bright for the Canadians future goal tender. But Price struggled during this season and the post-season and although the defense was never stellar in particular, he made simple mistakes when the team needed him desperately. Even though he played 11 more games this year, he had one less win than last year.
Late in the fourth game, when it was 4-1 for the Boston Bruins, there was a routine save by Price on a dump in. The fans of Montreal mockingly cheered, and Price responded by putting his hands up in the air as a sarcastic sign of celebration. Worst of all, Price did not apologize for his actions.
“I made that particular gesture to remind people that booing doesn't always help,” Price said yesterday. “We're out there trying our hardest, guys are playing hurt and we're doing everything we can and things weren’t going our way and we started having people turn on us in our own rink. It's kind of hard to put up with.”
If he wants to continue playing in Montreal, he has to get used to it. Montreal and Toronto are not like the Nashville and Phoenix fans, they live and breathe hockey and to survive in that kind of environment, a player needs to have extremely thick skin to absorb all the criticism.
Those who have ever been to the Bell Centre know how raucous the fans of Montreal can be, but especially in hockey. They are not so forgiving. Add insult to injury, Kovalev and Koivu may have played their last season in Montreal. The two are free agents in the summer and there services are required by many teams.
The Troubles
It’s hard to imagine that the team was excelling at the all-star break but when things turned bad, they turned really bad. Kovalev was asked to sit out for a bit by Bob Gainey and although he may have been struggling the team’s chemistry and momentum was halted. Then in the same month, there was the crime fiasco surrounding the Kostitsyn brothers and Roman Hamrlik. Guy Carbonneau was then fired in a very surprising move.
That’s a lot to absorb for a couple of months. Gainey will have a lot of work to do and so will the Montreal management as Gainey may be gone by the beginning of the next season. He’s signed all the players that are having troubles and was the one who hired and fired Claude Julien and Bob Gainey.
The 100th season had high hopes, but the 101st has just the opposite. It’ll be a season full of criticism, rebuilding and questions over the team’s long term future. The 101st season will be a difficult one for Hab fans and perhaps so will the 102nd.
What do you think about this article?
Latest Articles