Can We Expect Continued Success in the Future For Les Habs?

Les Canadiens de Montréal

So the Canadiens lost the Stanley Cup to Tampa Bay last week. It was not a surprise, although it was, of course, disappointing.  

Now, though, the questions will be asked: can the Canadiens continue to contend at such a high level in the future? They made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals this year, but can we hope to see them there again in the relatively near future? Might they have a chance of bringing the Cup back to Canada, and specifically back to Montreal and Quebec?  

I think most fans of Les Habs are already asking themselves that question in the aftermath of a sobering Stanley Cup Finals series where the defending champion Lightning quickly put out the fire of passionate Canadiens fans like me, admittedly, who had dared to begin dreaming of the team hoisting the Stanley Cup.  

Clearly that did not happen this season. But we can ask if this team might have it in them to make that possibility viable in the bear future?  

To be sure, they have a lot of ground to make up if they want to compete with a team on the level of the Tampa Bay Lightning. To their credit, Tampa Bay is very talented and deep, and they have a ton of experience, as well. They beat the Canadiens this season, and next year, if the Canadiens qualify for the postseason and survive long enough, they would have to face the Lightning in the Eastern Conference playoffs at some point, which is to say that they would need to get through the Lightning just to reach the Stanley Cup Finals again.  

Plus, there are other teams that certainly appear to be strong contenders. The New York Islanders pushed the Lightning to the brink, forcing a Game 7, and then, like the Canadiens, containing that dangerous offense to just one goal in the final game of the series. In fact, the Canadiens could perhaps learn something from then way that the Islanders played the Lightning in their Conference Finals series, just before the Stanley Cup Finals.  

But I digress…

Yes, the Canadiens exceeded all expectations this postseason. The question, then, I think is how will they respond to this now? Will this run push them to see just how good they can be? Or will they sink back to the relative mediocrity that caused them to be overlooked and not at all highly regarded when they barely qualified for the postseason, and were rated number 16 out of the 16 teams to qualify for the playoffs?              

Here are a couple of links to articles that attempt to shed light on this question as to how good the team will be in the coming seasons.              

For my part, I believe that they will contend again, although it may take a while – hopefully not too long, though! – until they qualify for the Cup Finals again. But I do believe that they will be better for these experiences, overall.              

Go, Habs, Go!!

Les Canadiens de Montréal