With the rookie tournament ending and the Canadiens official golf tournament this past monday, we can officially say the Habs training camp is right around the corner for what should be a very exciting season for Habs fans as, for the first time in 3 years, competing for a playoffs spot isn’t completely unreasonable.
And after hearing the numerous quotes from the players about how much they want to prove the hockey world wrong and definitely think they can be a playoffs team this season, added to that the impressive performance of Lane Hutson and Logan Mailloux at the rookie tournament, should we all start to believe?
Then again…. Optimism in early September is sort of the norm every year. I think everyone remembers this gem:
For us, the rebuild was last year.,we are ready to move on to the next step
- Joel Edmundson, September 13th 2022
Not only has this quote from Edmundson aged even worse than his own back, it kinda helps put into perspective that every year, the players begin the season believing in themselves and in their group, no matter how bleak their chances actually are.
Now let’s be fair, there are far more reasons to be optimistic about the upcoming season than there were in 2022. Which also explains why management went from not even mentioning the “P” word to openly setting expectations to being “in the mix” until the end of the season.
The Montreal Canadiens clearly come into this season as underdogs, but I believe they’re also one of the hardest teams to project coming into next season. Why? Because they are currently filled with players at key positions having the potential of turning into great success stories… but almost all of them are accompanied with the same probability of failures.
Will Laine find his groove in the Montreal market and become a star player in this league once again?
Can Kirby Dach stay healthy? Which is probably the only thing preventing him from solidifying himself as a core piece for the future of this team.
Can Lane Hutson not only produce offensively but become a reliable option for the team defensively? Can Logan Mailloux be good enough to win a spot and keep it?
Will the team’s young defenseman, as a group, improve enough to stop the porous defensive results we’ve witnessed these past two seasons, which were expected of a team filled with defenseman under 25 years of age?
That’s far too many questions for that team to be considered anything else than a major surprise if they succeed.
Optimism is the norm in early September and answers to many of these questions will come in the upcoming weeks leading to the first game of the regular season. Some will unfold in the following months as well and that will be part of the fun of this edition of the Canadiens.
Let’s enjoy these potential stories and the bold predictions for now. Until the first puck is dropped, believing everything will work out great isn’t so bad.
Thanks for reading and have a nice day!
Hugo Brossoit (Scabeh)
Blogger • 
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