MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens are nowhere near content after qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in four seasons.
The Canadiens (40-31-11) clinched the second wild card in the Eastern Conference in their regular-season finale April 16, a 4-2 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes, after three straight last-place finishes in the Atlantic Division. They then lost the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round against the Washington Capitals in five games.
“There’s a lot of benefits from what the players were able to do this season but we’re certainly not done,” vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton said Monday. “There’s a lot to do here.
“It’s been a really good year, it’s been a fun year for everybody to be a part of and we’re going to use it as a huge steppingstone to where we’re going.”
There are multiple reasons for the Canadiens to be optimistic after what transpired this season, led by the emergence of Lane Hutson. The 21-year-old led all NHL rookies with 66 points (six goals, 60 assists) in 82 games and was one of four Montreal defensemen to get their first taste of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, along with Kaiden Guhle, Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj.
Sam Montembeault established himself as a No. 1 goalie. In his fourth season with the Canadiens, he played 62 games (60 starts) and was 31-24-7 with a 2.82 goals-against average, .902 save percentage and four shutouts.
Cole Caufield played all 82 regular-season games, and the 24-year-old forward had an NHL career-high 70 points (37 goals, 33 assists).
“I think when you have the good fortune of living through the playoffs and chasing winning a Stanley Cup one day, I think that really helps young players take more and more ownership of the team and not just themselves,” general manager Kent Hughes said. “So, our hope is that that will be the case here.
“We’ve got a lot of young players who lived it for the first time. Some of them are big players; they just have to learn how to use their physical attributes to impact the game more in a playoff environment, and that’s new for them.”
They had assistance from David Savard, who retired after a 4-1 loss at Washington in Game 5 on April 30. The 34-year-old helped groom the Canadiens’ younger defensemen over the past four seasons and appreciated the opportunity to reach the playoffs with them after Gorton and Hughes were swayed by captain Nick Suzuki’s appeal to keep the team intact prior to the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7.
“If we had traded some of the players we were talking about trading, I don’t think we would have made it,” Gorton said. “So, there’s no regrets.”
