Can Canadiens Recover From a Disappointing Season This Summer?

Most people forget that the Montreal Canadiens are the most decorated NHL team of all time. Yes, they have a record 24 Stanley Cups, together with 8 Conference Championships and 24 Division Championships. However, reality check—their last Stanley Cup was the 1992–93 season and the last time they went to the finals was 2021.

Their glory days are long since over, and currently, the club appears to be in a perpetual state of rebuilding. This can be seen from the disappointing 2023/24 season, which saw them place last in the Atlantic Division.

Sports betting fans certainly have nothing to look forward to when placing wagers on the Habs. Despite having access to some excellent offers like the Stake sign up bonus. Your moneyline bets are probably better used on the opposing team. Placing props bets on the Canadiens to keep a clean sheet is nearly a guaranteed loss! You would be better placing bets on over/under goals for the opponent!

Joking aside, why was the previous season so disappointing and what can the Canadiens do to recover and improve? This is what we’ll discuss below.

The 2023–24 Season

Sure, the Montreal Canadiens are the most decorated team, but their 2023–24 season was terrible. Let’s look at the different aspects, including stats, notable losses, and what went wrong.

Montreal Canadiens—2023–24 NHL Statistics

The Canadiens ultimately finished last in the Atlantic Division and had one of the worst records in the NHL. They were not good. Final season stats include

Wins: 30
Losses: 36
OTL: 16
Points: 76
Goals For: 236
Goals Against: 289
Difference: -53
Standing: 8^th in the Eastern Conference Atlantic Division

So, we have a below 0.500 record, one of the worst goals against records in the league, and one of the worst goal differences in the league—only better than the horrendous Blackhawks (-111), Ducks (-91), and Sharks (-150). It doesn’t get much worse than that!

Notable Losses

The Canadiens suffered some epic losses during the 2023–24 season and not only against the top NHL teams. It’s important to look at these to show the scope of their misery.

6–1 loss to the Sabres on the 5^th of Jan
6–2 loss to the Senators on the 19^th of Jan
7–2 loss to the Blues on the 11^th of Feb

If you follow the results, a slight shining light is that these beatings all came in the first half of the season. From mid-February onwards, performances appeared to improve, and the Canadiens also handed out some brilliant wins, including the 5–1 thrashing against Kraken and the 9–3 beating of the Flyers.

With a GA (goals against) of 289, which is one of the worst in the league, it’s clear that the team has an issue protecting the goal and keeping clean sheets.

What Went Wrong?

We have to remember that the Canadiens are still technically in their rebuilding phase after their glory days have long since ended. The team isn’t exactly meant to be a top contender with the roster they have. Aside from that, other issues that have plagued the team include

Poor scouting
Subpar management
Injuries
A lack of goalscoring
A lack of defence
Overachievement

Many people (the fans included) perhaps have an overexaggerated opinion of the Habs because of their 2021 Stanley Cup final run. Yes, they reached the final, but some would argue that they had the perfect conditions to achieve this, including a favourable division run, the playoff format, and amazing performances from Carey Price in goal. In any other season, they wouldn’t have got that far.

Other issues are nothing new and have been experienced by many other teams. It’s just that the Habs seem to have them all at once. This includes changes to their GM, poor team cohesion, and somehow having one of the worst goal-scoring and goal-defence records in the NHL. Things like that don’t lead a team to success.

It’s Time to Make Changes and Re-build the Roster

The team needs a big-name free agent. They haven’t really signed an NHL star for several years, and this is one of the main reasons the club lacks any oomph. A reliable secondary scoring option is also vital as they can’t continue to rely on Nick Suzuki.

The Habs also have an excellent range of draft picks to work with and while some people think they should continue to be patient and build through the draft, others think that using their picks to trade for promising young players who are already making a difference in the NHL could be the way forward.

The discipline of the team also needs an overhaul as they have consistently been one of the leading teams in penalties in the NHL. Penalties make a huge difference and when games are decided by one goal, a stupidly given penalty could sway things either way.

Hopefully, things will start to pick up for the Canadiens and they can start to improve in the off-season and build for a promising 2024–25 season—ultimately, only time will tell.