ESPN: 20 out of 22 analysts pick the Hurricanes over the Canadiens

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
ESPN: 20 out of 22 analysts pick the Hurricanes over the Canadiens
Credit: Ben Ludeman/NHLI via Getty Images

Does the Habs deserve to be in the third round? Yes.

Some people may want to rewrite history, but that's not how it works. You can't say that if the referees had acted differently, the situation would be different, since the Habs were also on the receiving end of… questionable calls.

At this point, if Colton Parayko had said yes to the Sabres, things might have turned out differently too. Since we're rewriting history…

The fact that the Habs aren't a division winner (they're the only team still in the playoffs in that position) and that the club is just emerging from a rebuild are factors that seem to make people doubt them.

Note: I'm not saying the Habs are guaranteed to win or lose. But the Canadiens have a good team, and I think the series against Carolina will be close.

But not everyone thinks that way.

When you look at ESPN, you see that the (overwhelming) majority of analysts have the Hurricanes as series winners. Only two out of 22 experts see the Habs winning, and the rest don't all seem to believe it will be a long series.

It's pretty much the same story at The Athletic. 22 out of 29 analysts see the Hurricanes (a team that struggles in the third round) advancing to the finals… and none of them have the Habs as Stanley Cup champions.

The Avalanche (21), the Hurricanes (7), and the Golden Knights (1) all received votes in this regard. And I imagine that if the Montreal players see this, it could motivate them.

We already suspected the Canadiens were being overlooked heading into the next round, but we can see just how glaring it is right now. As I said, it's not illogical to place Carolina in the final, but…

But it won't be a walk in the park for them either. If Zachary Bolduc, Josh Anderson, and company decide to go on a scoring spree, the favorites won't find it funny.


In a nutshell

– Better than Jaroslav Halak?

– Read this.

– Yvon Lambert is 76 years old.

– Do we like the name?

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!