It’s been a year of ups and downs for the Montreal Canadiens. They went from the Stanley Cup Final to being one of the worst teams in the league in less than six months. Well, the Christmas break is here, and the Canadiens could use some of Santa’s magic to turn this awful season around and give them — and their fans — some hope. Here are some Christmas wishes the Habs would like Santa to help come true.
Canadiens Going on a Winning Streak
The Canadiens are the only team in the NHL who has yet to win more than one game in a row this season. With a record of 7-21-3, The Habs are the second-worst team in the NHL, yet even the worst team, the Arizona Coyotes, have won at least two games in a row. The Canadiens have had several losing streaks, which lasted more than two games, but no winning streaks as of yet. Head coach Dominique Ducharme has tried everything to get the team going, and nothing has worked. The Canadiens have played some good games in a row but could not play well enough to string any wins together.
Habs fans would enjoy a couple of wins in a row so that they can celebrate for more than a night or two. Canadiens fans shouldn’t worry that the team is in a lose/win situation. If they keep only winning one out of three games, they have an excellent chance to get the first overall draft pick in an outstanding draft year, so not winning two in a row can’t be all that bad this season.
Canadiens Players to Get Healthy
The season could be known as the Canadiens’ worst season ever, or it could be known as the Canadiens’ unhealthiest season ever. So far, they have had just about everyone on the injured reserve (IR), and now with a new COVID outbreak, several players have been put into COVID protocols. The season started with superstar goaltender Carey Price, forward Paul Byron and defencemen Joel Edmundson and Shea Weber on long-term injury reserve (LTIR). As the season went on, more players started getting injured, such as Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli, Jeff Petry, Mike Hoffman, Christian Dvorak, Matthieu Perrault, and Joel Armia.
Hoffman returned to play a couple of times, but is now in COVID protocol with Brendan Gallagher, Artturi Lehkonen, Sami Niku, and Laurent Dauphin. As you can see, the list is so long that even players called up from the Laval Rocket are on it. If the Canadiens could go a week without someone getting injured or falling sick, that would be one of their biggest wins of the season. Hopefully, some of the wounded will be ready to come back after the Christmas break. If the Habs can get anything from Santa, it would be to have a somewhat healthy team; if that happens, maybe the first wish I wrote about can come true.
Canadiens to Start Scoring
The Canadiens are not only having injury issues. They also are having scoring issues. So far this season, the highest-scoring player is Nick Suzuki with 18 points, and Anderson has the most goals with seven. The team is near the bottom of the league in almost all offensive categories: 31st in goals, 31st on the power play, 32nd in shooting percentage and 23rd in shots on goal.
Related: Are 2021-22 Canadiens the Worst Habs Team of All Time?
With players like Suzuki, Hoffman and young up-and-comer Cole Caufield, the Canadiens should have no problem scoring goals. Add on Toffoli, Gallagher and Anderson, and the Canadiens have several players who could score 20 goals or more. However, with the injuries and the inconsistent shooting the team has been plagued with, they will be lucky if they can get one 20-goal scorer. If Santa could give them better sticks or a targeting system, maybe they can start putting the pucks in the net.
Can Santa Deliver for the Canadiens?
The Canadiens have a tall order for Santa. They could use many things to turn their season around, and Santa may not have enough room on the sled. There is a way he could probably fix everything with one wish coming true. If the Canadiens can get healthy, their scoring could rise, and the wins will come, maybe even several in a row. So I guess there is only one wish the Canadiens need, and that’s to get healthy. With COVID and all that’s going on, everyone’s health should be the biggest wish for anyone. Whatever Santa can do for the team will be greatly appreciated by everyone, and maybe, just maybe, there will be some hope in the air after the Christmas break. Until then, have a Merry Christmas and a safe holiday.