The Montreal Canadiens are struggling through their worst season in nearly 10 years, but a close look at their nearest neighbors, the Ottawa Senators, provides a roadmap for a possible quick return to success.
The Canadiens are in a similar boat to the one the Ottawa Senators were in last year—with an embattled general manager, coach, and poorly structured team. They are projected to end the season with 75 points, a point total not seen since the 2002–03 season and well below what is needed to make the playoffs.
During a 20-game span a year ago, Ottawa only won three games. Senators general manager Brian Murray and then-coach Cory Clouston were both in the firing line. With over half the season gone, it was pretty clear Ottawa wasn’t returning to the playoffs.
Murray began the rebuilding process in earnest well before the trade deadline at the end of February. The Sens finished last season with 74 points and missed the playoffs by a good margin. Perhaps they wished they'd have finished with fewer points so as to get a higher draft pick.
In any case, pundits were saying it would be a multi-year process before the Sens were competitive again.
Now, lo and behold, Ottawa has righted the ship and are in fifth place in the Eastern Conference—firmly on pace for a playoff spot. They have benefited from their decisions last year and the good health of their key players.
There are some key similarities between Montreal and Ottawa—other than the dire straights Montreal is in now and Ottawa was in a year ago. So what steps Ottawa took to re-tool its squad could be a road map for Montreal.
Rebuilding a Team
In this day and age of the salary cap, NHL GMs have to get value for their money. Having vast sums of money tied up by a handful of underachieving players is a recipe for disaster. Both this year’s Canadiens and last year’s Senators suffered from this phenomenon.
What’s key is identifying a small core group of players and supplementing it with less expensive peripheral players bringing a mix of youth, experience, and any other characteristics sought by a GM.
The Senators marquee forward is Jason Spezza, a big, skillful centre in the prime of his career. Spezza is supplemented by captain Daniel Alfredsson and Milan Michalek. These three forwards’ combined cap hit is roughly $16 million.
Defensively, the Senators were going to get the experience from veterans Sergei Gonchar and Chris Phillips, but the future really revolves around the exciting young Swede Erik Karlsson and the steady Jared Cowen. These four defensemen eat up roughly another $11 million.
The most important position in hockey is between the pipes, a position having plagued the Senators for years. Prior to the trade deadline last year, Murray traded away inconsistent goalie Brian Elliott to Colorado for Craig Anderson. Anderson would have the rest of the season to show what he could do.
Anderson performed well enough to be rewarded with a four-year contract and would be Ottawa’s No. 1 goalie going forward. His cap hit this year is just over $3 million.
With this core, the Sens still have another $33 million of cap space to round out their roster.
In a rebuild, a team will seek to accumulate draft picks by trading away established players, give players from the farm team tryouts in the NHL, and in the process, slash the wage bill. This leaves some cap room for tactical moves in a playoff push or to respond to injuries.
Notable Sens trades last year included shipping Mike Fisher and his $4 million salary off to Nashville for a first round pick and what ended up being a third round pick; Alex Kovalev, Jarkko Ruutu, and Chris Kelly were all traded for picks, bringing a significant reduction in the cap hit.
And up from Binghampton came Colin Greening, Bobby Butler, and Zack Smith, who got valuable experience and now feature in the revitalized Sens squad.
The Sens signed GM Murray to a three-year extension at the end of the season. Murray then fired Clouston and his assistants.
A critical part of the rebuild is finding the right coach who can make progress with a team in transition. Paul MacLean came to Ottawa with a solid pedigree, having won a Stanley Cup as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings. He has, thus far, proven to be the right person for the situation specific to the Senators.
Montreal’s Tough Times
Montreal should get going with its rebuild in earnest. They need to write off this season and should be under no illusion that trying to make the playoffs this year is the right strategy.
Trading Michael Cammalleri to Calgary is a step in the right direction, mimicking the motives of Ottawa’s trades last year. Montreal also gets rid of a disgruntled player from the dressing room.
The best example of big bucks for little return in Montreal is 32-year-old Scott Gomez. With a cap hit of just over $7 million and no goals in his last 50 games, the Gomez acquisition is one that will be questioned for many years to come. Montreal needs to dump his salary in exchange for a draft pick, perhaps a third or fourth rounder.
This season, Montreal GM Pierre Gauthier fired assistant coach Perry Pearn back in October and veteran head coach Jacques Martin just before Christmas. While Montreal didn’t quite go through the extended swoon Ottawa did, upon promoting Randy Cunneyworth to replace the fired Martin, they lost six of their next seven games.
Cunneyworth likely won’t be the long-term coach due to his inability to speak French; however, Gauthier himself has to be unsure of his long-term future with the Habs given his questionable moves with his coaching staff.
Whoever is entrusted to rebuild the Canadiens will have to make signing goaltender Carey Price a top priority. He has to form the core of the squad along with newly signed Josh Gorges on defense and Erik Cole and Tomas Plekanec up front.
Tough decisions need to be made about the long-term futures of captain Brian Gionta, Tomas Kaberle, and even P.K. Subban, whose meteoric rise has hit several stumbling blocks. Will they fit in with the style desired by a potentially new coach and GM?
Younger players like Lars Eller and Max Pacioretty should be supplemented with talent from Hamilton if and when established players get shipped out.
But the key decision about keeping Gauthier needs to be made. He can win himself some points by following in Murray’s footsteps from last year.
Montreal had a bright future a few years ago but poor personnel moves and injuries have greatly dimmed it. A return to success has to be thought of as a multi-year project but with the right moves and an absence of the injury bug, the Canadiens could enjoy the kind of season the Senators are having right now.
Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports
