Preseason Preview: Montreal Canadiens

Whoa! Halfway there! It's time for another Preseason Preview. This is where we check out the teams going into the season.

Now, the Montreal Canadiens.

Team M.O.: The Canadiens like to ice a balanced team that is complete by design. Their top-six produce, their bottom-six has character guys, the defense is versatile and the goaltenders are skilled. They're also by and large incredibly young, though there were some off-season changes made to help correct that.

Last Season: While the expectations were high for their Centennial season, the Canadiens literally crawled over the finish line for the last playoff spot in the East last season (their overall record of 41-30-11 for 93 points was tied with the Florida Panthers; it was the Canadiens' 247 goals to the Panthers' 234 that put them over the top.) It didn't get better in the post-season, as they were eliminated by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, which ended with goaltender Carey Price giving the Canadiens fans a mock salute as they jeered him in the stands. That's not the image you want to have capping your Centennial season, but I also feel that the Canadiens fans deserved it, too.

Offense: They've got the mullet offense going on: small in the front, big in the back. The guys who are tentatively set to be the team's top three forwards are Scott Gomez (billed at 5'11" with sources saying that's "generous"), Mike Cammalleri (5'9"), and Brian Gionta (5'7"). All the while, physical dudes like Travis Moen and Georges Laraque will provide the opposition with a high level of intimidation. The rest of the roster starts to look a big more fortified in the middle, and I'm thinking that Tomas Plekanec, Guillaume Latendresse, and Andrei Kostitsyn will comprise the second level while all of the young players, including Sergei Kostitsyn, will develop their game around veteran forward Glen Metropolit. To me, its not a matter of the team needing to sign anyone else but for them to act like big boys and take that step forward. Hopefully the new components can make that possible.

Defense: Andrei Markov is one of the best defenders in the league yet for this year, Roman Hamrlik will be the only familiar face in their top five defenders, as the team went out and acquired Jaroslav Spacek, Paul Mara, and Hall Gill for those spots. However, Josh Gorges is developing at an excellent level and Ryan O'Byrne can come out of this as a number seven option, so as I said earlier, they just need to take their game to the next level.

Goaltending: The only problem with the Carey Price/Jaroslav Halak tandem is that they anointed Price the starter when Halak is just as capable. What ended up happening was disruptive to both players. I say let them platoon it out like good teammates, let them start 35 games a piece, and let the guy with the better results get the other games. Throw in Curtis Sanford as a solid Number 3 option and you've got something that doesn't need to take their game to the next level as they just need better management.

Expectations: It's on Jacques Martin to get these guys to work right. If the team fails and the players aren't out closing the bar every night of the week, then coaching is the issue. Luckily, this is a pretty talented team so if they're managed right, they can get back to the form they showed two seasons ago.