Montreal Canadiens 2010 Preview & Predictions

Montreal Canadiens 2010 Season Preview, Predictions Picks & Odds

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MONTREAL CANDADIENS

2009-10 record: 39-33-10
Shootout Record: 7-5
Division Finish: 4th, Northeast
Conference Finish: 8th, Eastern
Goals For: 217
Goals Against: 223

Montreal Canadiens 2010 Preview

The hockey world won’t soon forget the giant-killing exploits of the Canadiens in the playoffs.

But now the Canadiens have to remember what elements took them from eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, past the highly favored Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins to within seven wins of the Stanley Cup.

As was the case with other teams who pulled off playoff upsets, the question is whether Montreal’s lineup should be allowed to return as intact as a result or should the changes that management was contemplating near the end of the season, such as adding big bodies, be resurrected?

But the post-season handshakes with Philadelphia in the conference final were hardly finished when the club altered its goaltending situation.

Jaroslav Halak was unquestionably the Habs’ MVP in the playoffs, having solidified the position after Carey Price went through another hot and cold regular season. At one stage, Halak stopped 90 of 92 shots. But he was traded to St. Louis for more depth at forward, in the person of Lars Eller and Ian Schultz, and the goaltending reins handed to Price.

Eller, a first round pick in 2007, scored twice in just seven games last year and at 6’1″ is already one of the tallest in the dressing room. Schultz is a third-rounder from ’08. They also added 6′ center Dustin Boyd in a trade from Nashville.

Behind the disappointment of not seeing Halak capitalize on his spring success, general manager Pierre Gauthier knows he has a younger goalie in Carey Price (23), who is well aware of the pressures of working in a hockey hotbed and who just needs a bit more experience to realize his first-round draft pick potential.

Halak had twice as many regular season wins as Price and a better save percentage, yet has never been a starter from wire to wire in an NHL season.

Questioning of the goaltending tandem was just the tip of the iceberg for the Canadiens, who were life and death to make the playoffs up to Game 82.

They went with a smaller lineup much of the season with Brian Gionta (5’7″), Mike Cammalleri (5’9″), MarcAndre Bergeron (5’9″), Tomas Plekanec (5’11″) and Scott Gomez (5’11″) making up their top five regular season scorers.

But that was more than enough to win 39 games, come back from a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate Alex Ovechkin’s Capitals and another rally to dethrone Sidney Crosby and the defending champion Penguins. They even threw a scare into the Flyers before the goals ran out and the power play hit a wall.

It was still the furthest Montreal had pressed in the spring since 1993, when they won a series of overtime games en route to an unexpected Cup. They also became the first NO.8 seed to beat a NO.1 from the depths of a 3-1 hole and would have been the first ever to win a third best-of seven series in one ‘playoff year. Naturally, the hockey-mad city had begun to think this would be another team of destiny.

Also emerging in the playoffs were other youngsters such as PK Subban, called up to help on the blueline to fill the big skates of Andrei Markov, who will miss part of 2010-11 recovering from that severe knee injury he suffered in the Pittsburgh series.

2010 Montreal Canadiens Offense:

Unfortunately, the late-playoff struggles of Plekanec, Gomez and Andrei Kostitsyn were the memory that many fans carried into the summer. But that couldn’t entirely dampen enthusiasm for how far the Canadiens were able to go on 217 goals in the regular season and 19 goals in the Pittsburgh series. Cammalleri didn’t slow down with a team-best 19 points in 19 postseason games, after 50 points in 65 regular-season contests. Gomez still led the Habs in helpers in April and May with 12. Gionta’s 28 goals were two more than Cammalleri in regular season, while Plekanec and Gomez were 1-2 in scoring with a total of 92 assists.

2010 Montreal Canadiens Defense:

Markov, a team-best plus-11, played only 45 regular-season games before his second major injury occurred in the playoffs. The team already’ did without Paul Mara for much of the year. But Gill, who had made great strides in . his game after winning the Cup with Pittsburgh, performed brilliantly. Bergeron had four game-winning goals to tie for the team lead, but the excitement for this year is regarding Subban. After being summoned in the Washington series, the 2007 second round pick had eight points in 14 games and was a plus-two. Josh Gorges had an opening night overtime goal and went on to have 10 points and be a plus-two, the only Hab besides Plekanec to play all 101 games.

2010 Montreal Canadiens Goaltending:

Price’s three-year record in Montreal is 60-48-18, with last season being the first time he didn’t win 20-plus games and time is now on his side. He won 13 games and lost another five in overtime and badly wants another chance at the playoffs after the Habs lost the two series with him between the pipes, no doubt leading to the doubts he could handle the NO.1 job. With Halak gone, Gauthier tried some options to beef up depth such as trading for the rights to Dan Ellis, before settling for the underrated Alex Auld and ex-Blue and Canuck Curtis Sanford.

Montreal Canadiens 2010 Special Teams

This was another area that had been a source of pride in the regular season – a power play that was second in the League to Washington and first on the road at 28.3% – only to conk out in the spring, In the Philly series, Montreal was denied on 21 of 22 chances. Gionta and the surprising Glen Metropolit each fired 10 power-play goals in the regular season, after the latter had just eight in 338 previous games. Montreal was also top lOin road penalty killing at 83.4% and top five in the playoffs. TWo of its top defensive forwards, Dominic Moore and Travis Moen, fired two short-handed goals each.

Montreal Canadiens 2010 Season Predictions

The Canadiens must be careful not to slip as their regular-season points total has dropped from 104 to 93 to 88 the past three years, the first time that’s happened since the late 1980s. The Habs were also two games’ below .500 in the Northeast Division last year and struggled to beat lesser teams throughout the League, all of which must be corrected.

We predict that the Montreal Canadiens will finish 3rd in the NHL Northeast.

Montreal Canadiens Betting

Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup Odds: +3000
Montreal Canadiens Eastern Conference Odds: +1400

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