The Montreal Canadiens may have made up some ground in the race for a 2024 playoff spot, this last little while. However, they still face a long road before anyone can call them realistic playoff contenders. This isn’t meant to “poopoo” their 8-4-3 record over their last 15 games, only put it in the proper perspective: They’re only better off than they had been at the start by the slimmest of margins.
Related: Canadiens Still Have a Lot to Prove as Legit 2024 Playoff Contenders
To illustrate, the Canadiens are now a respectable four points out of the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot, which the Tampa Bay Lightning currently own. The Habs also have two games in hand, meaning to a degree they’re in charge of their own destiny, which is all anyone can reasonably ask of them at this point of their rebuild. By all accounts, things are on track in that regard, in other words.
However, if you go back a month or so to when the run in question started? Back on Nov. 21, they were also four points out of a playoff spot, albeit six back on the Lightning, with one game in hand. So, they have gained ground on them at least. However, the Carolina Hurricanes were in the second wild-card spot then, with 20 points to the Canadiens’ 16, having also played one fewer game.
Canadiens Showing Signs of Improvement
There’s obviously no denying the Canadiens are in a better spot now, but the ground they’ve made up is minimal at best, which must be discouraging if anyone were to look at the situation objectively. Furthermore, the Habs were supposed to go on a run this last month, with 10 of the past 15 games coming against teams outside of the playoffs at the time.
Only the Los Angeles Kings (2X), Florida Panthers, Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets were playoff teams at the time. The Canadiens admirably beat the Kraken and Jets. However, the Kraken have since fallen on hard times and far out of a playoff spot in their own right. Furthermore, the Canadiens also gave up critical points in the standings to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Wild and Detroit Red Wings.
All that to say, the Canadiens’ recent 8-4-3 record, while impressive on paper, is misleading. They certainly could have done far worse, but, to make a legitimate dent in the Herculean task before them, i.e., to make the playoffs this season (if that’s in fact the goal), they needed to do far better. And they could have too. They just failed to take full advantage of what was arguably the easiest portion of their schedule this season.
Canadiens’ Priorities Should Be Clear
To be clear, the Canadiens don’t need to make the playoffs this season for 2023-24 to be considered a success. And fans witnessed undeniable positives over the last 15 games to justify the emotional high on which the Habs hit the holiday break. For example:
- Former first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky has started to develop as hoped and emerge as a top-line mainstay with five points in his last four games.
- Several other Canadiens who had been struggling to score, like Josh Anderson, have finally started to contribute offensively.
- Goalie Cayden Primeau won three of four starts to potentially force general manager Kent Hughes’ hand to keep him (potentially over Jake Allen, who’s more and more been the subject of trade rumours).
- The Habs started off the stretch with a 3-1 record on their road trip to the West Coast, which has traditionally been a black hole in the standings for them.
- Ditto for their annual holiday road trip, on which they are currently 2-0-1.
However, the Canadiens still visit the Hurricanes (Dec. 28), Panthers (Dec. 30) and Lightning (Dec. 31), before the end of the year. For good measure, they also play the Dallas Stars (Jan. 2) on the road before the current trip is all said and done. Those are all tough opponents against whom the Habs haven’t exactly fared well in the recent past. Dating back to the start of last year, they have only a single combined victory over those four teams… and things don’t get any easier moving forward.
Canadiens: Buyers or Sellers at Trade Deadline?
Including the Hurricanes coming up, only seven of the Canadiens’ next 15 games are against non-playoff teams. The same goes for the next 15-game segment after that, which coincidentally takes them up to the March 8 trade deadline. So, as great as an 8-4-3 record looks, the Canadiens are going to have to be significantly better over the next 30 games or so for them to give Hughes a good enough reason to make them buyers (as foolish as that arguably is in the grand scheme of things).
Again, this piece is just meant to put things in the proper perspective. At this point last season, when they were nine points out, the mere concept of the Canadiens being buyers at the deadline was completely bonkers instead of just foolhardy. So, by that measure alone things are trending in the right direction. By this measure too: The Canadiens are in a good position to play meaningful games down the stretch for the first time in years. They likely won’t make the 2024 postseason, but the road back to respectability is looking like a pretty good commute these days.
