Montreal Canadiens
- Thread starter Fun For All
- Start date
Unfortunately its getting close to impossible at this point to get all 7 CDN teams in the playoffs, even though all 7 have a fairly good chance of making it.
The reason is in the west the final spot is coming down to St. Louis, Calgary and Vancouver. There is a big gap between #7 and #8. Essentially only one of Calgary or Vancouver can get in, but not both.
The reason is in the west the final spot is coming down to St. Louis, Calgary and Vancouver. There is a big gap between #7 and #8. Essentially only one of Calgary or Vancouver can get in, but not both.
I'm going to do some research shortly to confirm, but I strongly suspect 7 teams made it a few years in the 80's, when it was a 21 team league - and 16 of 21 teams got in.
Leafs would get in fairly often as a terrible team in the Norris.
I seem to remember the Kings had some bad years, so the 4 Canadian Teams probably all made it from the Smythe a few years.
And the Nords were pretty good up to about 1985. so the Habs and Nords would consistently make it in the Adams for about 5 years straight.
I could find two instances of all Canadian teams making it in the 21+ team era... 1983 and 1986.
Looking at the 1980's when 16 of 21 made it.
1980 - Winnipeg, Quebec missed (fresh out of the WHA)
1981 - Winnipeg missed (they only won 9 games all year)
1982 - Toronto missed (Norris had 6 teams that year... they had 56 points, but in the Norris in the 80's that was sometimes good enough!)
1983 - All 7 Teams Made it (Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver)
1984 - Toronto missed (on the way to drafting Wendel Clark #1)
1985 - Toronto, Vancouver missed
1986 - All 7 Teams Made it
1987 - Vancouver missed
1988 - Vancouver, Quebec missed
1989 - Toronto, Winnipeg, Quebec missed
Since the 80's, it was very close in 2004. Edmonton missed with 89 points (2 points out of a spot) (there was only 6 Canadian teams at this point)
In 2017, 6 of the 7 teams made it.
In 2020, 6 of the 7 made it, but it was also the year that 24 teams made the playoffs.
Looking at the 1980's when 16 of 21 made it.
1980 - Winnipeg, Quebec missed (fresh out of the WHA)
1981 - Winnipeg missed (they only won 9 games all year)
1982 - Toronto missed (Norris had 6 teams that year... they had 56 points, but in the Norris in the 80's that was sometimes good enough!)
1983 - All 7 Teams Made it (Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver)
1984 - Toronto missed (on the way to drafting Wendel Clark #1)
1985 - Toronto, Vancouver missed
1986 - All 7 Teams Made it
1987 - Vancouver missed
1988 - Vancouver, Quebec missed
1989 - Toronto, Winnipeg, Quebec missed
Since the 80's, it was very close in 2004. Edmonton missed with 89 points (2 points out of a spot) (there was only 6 Canadian teams at this point)
In 2017, 6 of the 7 teams made it.
In 2020, 6 of the 7 made it, but it was also the year that 24 teams made the playoffs.
Regarding Demidov.
While I believe he could come over and play for the Habs now, I believe he would be ineligible for the playoffs.
I could be wrong, but I think players signed with other professional leagues to start the season, have to play in the NHL before the end of February (or some date around that) to be eligible for the playoffs. I do stand to be corrected though.
While I believe he could come over and play for the Habs now, I believe he would be ineligible for the playoffs.
I could be wrong, but I think players signed with other professional leagues to start the season, have to play in the NHL before the end of February (or some date around that) to be eligible for the playoffs. I do stand to be corrected though.
You could be right, I'm just going off of what Friedman reported on the matter. However after looking into it further there are other complications on the KHL side of things. Demidov's contract with St. Petersburg doesn't expire till May 31st, he does have the option to buy out the remainder of said contract but the team has to agree to it and given how St. Petersburg has delt with him after he rejected a contract extension with them it seems likely that they would make him wait till the 31st of May out of spite
All of a sudden the Islanders (who beat Montreal in OT last night) are the closest chaser to Montreal.
2 points behind, but they also hold the playoff tiebreaker.
Montreal generally outplayed the Islanders last night, but Islanders capitalized on their chances. That extra 1 point for the Islanders was huge for them. Makes it 74 vs 72, instead of 75 vs 71. That being said a brutal turnover by the Islanders allowed Montreal to tie the game up in the back half of the 3rd, so at least Montreal got one point.
8. Montreal 74
9. Islanders 72
10. Rangers 72 (2 more games played than everybody else)
11. Columbus 71
12. Detroit 70
2 points behind, but they also hold the playoff tiebreaker.
Montreal generally outplayed the Islanders last night, but Islanders capitalized on their chances. That extra 1 point for the Islanders was huge for them. Makes it 74 vs 72, instead of 75 vs 71. That being said a brutal turnover by the Islanders allowed Montreal to tie the game up in the back half of the 3rd, so at least Montreal got one point.
8. Montreal 74
9. Islanders 72
10. Rangers 72 (2 more games played than everybody else)
11. Columbus 71
12. Detroit 70
That was what or close to it that I thought...the Oilers brought Reijo Ruotsalainen and Kent Nilsson back for the playoffs and the NHL stopped that.
If you could play in the NHL when the European season ended, I wonder why every year there aren't a flood of guys coming over...
2 straight losses for Montreal and a tie before that.
Still holding on to the #8 spot, but its getting very tight between #8-#11.
#7. Ottawa 81 (11)
#8. Montreal 75 (11)
#9. NYI 74 (11)
#10. NYR 74 (10)
#11. Columbus 73 (12)
#12. Detroit 72 (10)
With the win tonight Ottawa is feeling quite comfortable - just avoid a long slump and they should be good.
Still holding on to the #8 spot, but its getting very tight between #8-#11.
#7. Ottawa 81 (11)
#8. Montreal 75 (11)
#9. NYI 74 (11)
#10. NYR 74 (10)
#11. Columbus 73 (12)
#12. Detroit 72 (10)
With the win tonight Ottawa is feeling quite comfortable - just avoid a long slump and they should be good.
The Hab's could have really used a win against the Flyers - bad timing that they played them right after Tortorella's firing.
The Flyer's got the "dead cat (or coach)" bounce after losing 11 of their last 12 games.
This is an audio/visual representation of me watching that game against the Flyers
The Habs beat Florida 4-2 to move back into the last wildcard spot (for now)
The Habs are 3-0 against the Panthers this season.
The Habs are 3-0 against the Panthers this season.
Good job beating Florida 4-2, keeps the Leafs in 1st place in the atlantic.
Reminds me of the time Daniel Alfredsson purposely fired a puck at Scott Niedermayer in the Stanely Cup Finals. One of the most classless things I've ever seen in the NHL.
Edit: I actually found the video.
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Habs sweep the season series against the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers.
They need every point they can get to hold onto the last wildcard spot.
Nick Suzuki scores the game tying goal with 8 seconds left and then the game winner in OT.
Lane Hutson with 3 assists continues to lead the rookie scoring race - he is looking pretty good for the Calder trophy and may set a new record for assists by a rookie defenseman. He is 4 assists away from breaking Larry Murphy's record (with 8 games to play)
They need every point they can get to hold onto the last wildcard spot.
Nick Suzuki scores the game tying goal with 8 seconds left and then the game winner in OT.
Lane Hutson with 3 assists continues to lead the rookie scoring race - he is looking pretty good for the Calder trophy and may set a new record for assists by a rookie defenseman. He is 4 assists away from breaking Larry Murphy's record (with 8 games to play)
Last week Mike Johnson told a nice story on TSN's Overdrive. In his first year with the Leafs he was nervously sitting in the dressing room worried about how he should play to make a good impression. All of a sudden, Larry Murphy sits next to him despite the fact he didn't know Johnson. Murphy then said to him "hey kid, whatever you did to get here, just do that". Johnson was relieved, first, because Murphy actually spoke to him, and, second, because it was good advice. A class act.
