Could Montreal drop so low? I don't buy it...
The Montreal Canadiens' vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes were clear at last season's post-mortem; they want their team to stay in the mix longer this coming season. In other words, they do not want to be out of the playoff race by the end of the year. Now that the draft has come and gone and the biggest free agents have been signed, is this a reasonable objective?
JFresh Hockey Sees the Canadiens Finishing at the Bottom of the Standings
According to JFresh Hockey's standings projection, the Canadiens will end the season dead last in the Atlantic division and second to last in the league. Cleary, they do not believe in the Habs brass' objective.
Those are interesting standings to say the least. Will the additions of Jacob Markstrom, Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon to name a few, really take the New Jersey Devils atop the Metropolitan division? Time will tell...
Is This Likely to Happen?
Granted, none of the players the Canadiens picked up at the draft will come to the rescue this year. In free agency, Hughes only managed to sig Alex Barre-Boulet, which is a depth signing.
The acquisitions named so far might not help the Canadiens to improve on last season's performance, but the return of a healthy Kirby Dach (hopefully) should have an impact on the Canadiens' win total.
Furthermore, the offseason is far from finished and I would expect Hugh to pull yet another rabbit out of his hat.
Do you believe that projection stands a chance of happening? I don't, I've got Hughes rolling up his sleeves and getting back to business to improve his team before the puck drops on the new season.