Montreal Canadiens
I think we’ll see the Canadians lose ground this year to the Sabres. This is as high as I predict Montreal goes in these rankings.
The Canadiens have Carey Price who is still the best overall goalie in the NHL, and who probably should have won last year’s Vezina.
But that’s about all they got.
They have some really nice prospects, but they are lacking elite players currently.
Shea Weber is awesome, but we can’t just assume he’s going to defy aging forever. Max Domi and Tomas Tatar stand to regress big-time and Jonathan Druin – while incredibly talented – doesn’t seem to be as good as looks like he could be.
Barring a big breakout from Jesperi Kotkaniemi, I don’t see a lot to love on this roster. I think they over achieved last year and will be closer to Detroit and Ottawa than Toronto and Tampa this year.
This ranking is a courtesy because they did just finish one point behind the Leafs last year. I could see them finishing behind Detroit, maybe.