Are the Montreal Canadiens a legit Stanley Cup contender?

[Lshap]

Another thing to take in consideration is that we have a lot more depth this year. Long gone are the days where we have Dumont and Blunden playing in a playoffs game. We have Bourque (if he plays the same way he did in the playoffs, bench White and put Prust at center and have Bourque on the RW on the 4th line), Weise, Bournival. On defense we have Beaulieu and Tinordi. That will make a big difference compared to last year...

Well... Blunden and Dumont were desperate injury replacements only a year ago, so not that long gone.

But you know what -- I prefer White to Prust. Yes, really. He's become smarter and more confident with the puck. He's healthier, he generates more chances than Prust and he's a real C, in fact one of our best on the faceoff. That and his chemistry with Weise.

White, Weise, Moen are a great 4th line. Honestly not sure where to play Prust now.

 

[Habsfan18]

I will keep this short and sweet. Absolutely not.

 

[Deluded Puck]

Therrien is the coach. /thread

 

[Wats]

Nope, but at least now the Habs have a shot at having 2 scoring lines like a real playoff team.

 

[Galchenyuk4habs]

With the acquisition of Vanek.. I think we will get past the 1rst, but Pittsburgh is gonna be once again a big problem, so is Boston. Good thing is, we've proven in the past that we can get through teams like that with good goaltending so all hail Carey... As for the west, I'm really scared of LA and Chicago. There is practically no way we get past those 2

 

[Stripper]

Let's be honest, if Montreal does good, it's because the East is really weak. They can also go "far" in the playoffs since other than the Penguins and the Bruins, there is no "real" contenders in the East.

We've added Vanek, but there are still pieces that are missing to the team. Plus, I still believe that with Desharnais as our "1st center", we won't be able to win the cup. He's adding up numbers and it's cool, but until Galchenyuk finally becomes that #1 Center, we won't be contenders.

I just hope that by the time he does become one (in the up following years), Bergevin will have added the missing parts to make this team a real contender.

We're close, but yet so far.

 

[HabsQC]

I knowour luck, Vanek will get injured and will not play in the playoffs

 

[Sorinth]

It's hard to say if we are legitimate contenders. There's no team in the East we can't beat but can we beat three of them in row?

 

[Smokey Thompson]

With the acquisition of Vanek.. I think we will get past the 1rst, but Pittsburgh is gonna be once again a big problem, so is Boston. Good thing is, we've proven in the past that we can get through teams like that with good goaltending so all hail Carey... As for the west, I'm really scared of LA and Chicago. There is practically no way we get past those 2

Not worried about the Pens. Plek and Subban will get Sid off his game, leaving them with 1 scoring line. Their defense is lacking and we have 3 better goaltenders than them .

Boston would be a fun series and would probably go to 7. Would be a coin toss imho.

I'm more worried about Tampa and Philly tbh.

 

[Scintillating10]

With the acquisition of Vanek.. I think we will get past the 1rst, but Pittsburgh is gonna be once again a big problem, so is Boston. Good thing is, we've proven in the past that we can get through teams like that with good goaltending so all hail Carey... As for the west, I'm really scared of LA and Chicago. There is practically no way we get past those 2

The west have to battle each other...whoever comes out of there will go thru 2 really tough wars. They may not have much left

 

[Lshap]

Not worried about the Pens. Plek and Subban will get Sid off his game, leaving them with 1 scoring line. Their defense is lacking and we have 3 better goaltenders than them .

Boston would be a fun series and would probably go to 7. Would be a coin toss imho.

I'm more worried about Tampa and Philly tbh.

Exactly right. The playoffs are all about health and matchups. Philly neutralizes us. I'd put Tampa and Toronto on the same tier of difficulty for us -- we can beat 'em, but we can lose just as easily. Detroit's another toss-up.

 

[Sorinth]

Not worried about the Pens. Plek and Subban will get Sid off his game, leaving them with 1 scoring line. Their defense is lacking and we have 3 better goaltenders than them .

Boston would be a fun series and would probably go to 7. Would be a coin toss imho.

I'm more worried about Tampa and Philly tbh.

Tampa just traded their Captain and heart and soul player. Callahan is good but they just got worse. I'd be more worried about the Rangers who have all the pieces it's just a question of whether they can put it together.

Philly is a toss up, they aren't a very good team but they seem to have our number.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

...the East is soo wide open right now that anyone could do some severe damage on a hot streak at the right time...and with the powerhouses of the West kicking the crap outta each other, anything could happen in the Cup Finals...

 

[Born in 1909]

It's hard to say if we are legitimate contenders. There's no team in the East we can't beat but can we beat three of them in row?

In the PO upsets happen.

86 the Flames dumped Gretzky & the Oilers for us.

93 the Isles dumped Mario & Jagr's Pens for us.

The 14 Habs could get hot... its a possibility... especially with Vanek & the golden goalie.

 

[SB164]

I'm not saying the Habs are likely to make it to the Stanley Cup finals or anything, but if there's one Western conference team Montreal can match up well against, it's the reigning champs Chicago Blackhawks.

 

[Goldthorpe]

We have a lot of depth pretty much everywhere.
We have an elite goalie who just won a gold medal and will be rested for the remaining stretch.
We don't have an obvious weakness. Maybe size but I believe this is manageable with the acquisitions we made in the last year. Also will still rely too much on special team but Vanek should help our 5vs5.
Honestly if anything holds up with have as much chance as anyone in the East. Against the West that's something else, but there's no point in worrying about that right now.
Doesn't mean it's The Year, but we have a lot of good pieces.

 

[HuGo Sham]

big acquisition. large winger + game breaker to compliment pacioretty.
Wow, they can make some noise. would love to sign this guy.
If they can sign him and tinordi / galchenyuk emerge as bonafide pros next year, the Habs are a legitimate east beast

 

[24rings]

I'm not saying the Habs are likely to make it to the Stanley Cup finals or anything, but if there's one Western conference team Montreal can match up well against, it's the reigning champs Chicago Blackhawks.

Anaheim. Not saying we'd beat them in the finals but we definitely could, we did beat em twice this year. Only team from the East to do so... the other are Chicago-San Jose-Dallas but obviously they've played more games against them...

 

[JLP]

Still believe we are not built for the playoffs but Vanek is a seriously good addition that should impact and improve the entire top nine, so yeah why not contend, I'm sure the players want to so I'm on board.

 

[calder candidate]

Bos is still the favorite in the East than PIT, adding Vanek make Mtl the #3
Outside of Boston Mtl does have a 50/50 chance or better vs. all other teams if price get hot even better.
The West is going to be a epic battle STL, SJ, ANA, LA, CHI who ever make it out will be bang up so it might make it easier for who ever come out of the east...
The out look is a lot more positive than it was before the deadline.

 

[25get]

With the acquisition of Vanek.. I think we will get past the 1rst, but Pittsburgh is gonna be once again a big problem, so is Boston. Good thing is, we've proven in the past that we can get through teams like that with good goaltending so all hail Carey... As for the west, I'm really scared of LA and Chicago. There is practically no way we get past those 2

I do not think we are going to be ahead of Pens or Ruins.
At this point it would be against PHI, NYR or DET.

I would like to see us avoid NYR with MSL.
PHI started very bad but has been running very hard after November. So I think they will jave less gas in PO.
DET is the team I would hate to face in first round.

Adding Vanek makes us the most improved team in the East.
If chemistry is good during PO and Price is in healthy, we could certainly win in the first round.

In the last 30 games, we played against a few good teams:

• Win against the Ducks (OT 4-3);
• Lost against La (2-1);
• Win against the Pens (SO 6-5);
• Win against BOS (4-1);
• Lost against Pens (5-1);
• Won against CHI (2-1);
• Lost against STL (5-1).

So we are on the plus side with top teams in the East.
We are at par with top teams in the West.

Now, we added Vanek who is the best offensive asset traded in the East.

Let see how this pans out.
I certainly like the energy of the Habs today after learning that MB got Vanek...

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

yeah i'm more scared of the teams below us in the east than the ones ahead of us.

If we can re-sign Vanek and Andrighetto is ready to replace Gionta?!?!

As for this year...If Briere can turn into vintage playoff Briere and get some chemistry going with Eller and Galchenyuk we got 3 very solid scoring lines.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

I'll answer this when Price is back between the pipes and we see what MT does with his new toy

Would've been surprised if we won a round a week ago but we SHOULD be able to win a couple now at least

 

[FisherKing]

With the acquisition of Vanek, we've increased our chances of making it out of the 1st round. After that? Pretty iffy I think...

 

[WeThreeKings]

In the East? Sure.

All the legit contenders are in the West.