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The Habs’ chances of winning rest on two players
Credit: YouTube

The Montreal Canadiens won’t be dancing again this spring, as the rebuilding process is still not fully mature. To the naked eye, it’s easy to see that the group’s learning curve has reached a second level. On the scoreboard, it’s also clear that the Tricolore has five more points than last year at this time.

This increasing pace certainly allowed Kent Hughes to indicate, via l’Antichambre last week, that his team would be participating in the spring tournament in 2025 (at least that’s the objective). That’s hardly a prediction from left field, but Hughes may be a tad too optimistic.

According to Marc De Foy, if we do a simple mathematical calculation, following the current progression curve, the blue-white-red team has two more years to go before it returns to spring ball.

That’s a long time. Without saying I’m in tune with De Foy on the subject of the playoffs, I must point out that he’s right on the money when he says this, “The chances of victory rest mainly on the shoulders of captain Nick Suzuki and Samuel Montembeault!”

When your chances of winning rest on just two players, it’s hard to sneak into the playoffs. It’s simply impossible to achieve such a feat… We have to let the players achieve their personal goals before admiring this group in the playoffs.

Among the players getting closer to that “finishing” point are Kaiden Guhle, Juraj Slafkovsky and Jayden Struble, who is progressing at an impressive rate. Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach are in a good place, but are currently on the shortlist.

In Cole Caufield’s case, whatever some may think and say, the game’s progression is well and truly underway… But as De Foy mentioned: Patience remains the key in his case. Believe me, it’s going to get better, as we could smell during the game against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.

In a gust

– No changes to the Habs lineup for tomorrow’s showdown with the Avalanche and Jonathan Drouin.

– Josh Anderson is always on the sidelines.

– Here’s a clip from the Tricolore’s training session.

– I love it!

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