2023-24 Top 5 Canadiens Disappointment – Hockey Writers – Montreal Canadiens

The playoffs may not be a realistic goal for the Montreal Canadiens in 2023-24. However, fans still had some expectations heading into a season that could have been a losing team. More often than not, the Hubs have met and even surpassed them, despite finishing in the same spot in the standings two years in a row.

Related: Top 5 Canadian feel-good stories of 2023-24

After all, if you don't make the playoffs, you might as well set yourself up for a high draft pick. Plus, it's not as if the Canadians, who have made some progress in their scoring, haven't improved. Given that general manager Kent Hughes dealt Sean Monahan early and effectively threw in the towel a month before the trade deadline, the relevant context suggests that even better than the Habs' current record is, perhaps worth a big hit in 2024-25.

It's still hard to call 2023-24 a big success in and of itself, when the Canadiens lost more often than they won. The first post on our list of the team's top five disappointments delves into this one undeniable fact:

5. Canadians have a terrible, terrible, no good, very bad January

Perhaps missing the playoffs will resonate as a tough situation for many, especially considering the Canadiens were within striking distance in late December. They used an easy schedule to go 8-4-3 going into the holiday break, at which point they were four points out of the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot.

It wasn't to be, as the schedule got a lot harder. The Canadiens lost their remaining three games in December and were off pace in January when they decided to trade Monahan. It wasn't their mediocre 5-5-3 record, though, with .500 hockey only to lose in the playoffs as they scored 10 points on February 1st. It was their luck. lost:

• They lost 6-1 to the non-playoff Buffalo Sabers on January 4th.
• They lost 6-2 and 4-1 to the non-playoff-bound Ottawa Senators in five days.
• They lost 3-2 at home to the last-place San Jose Sharks on January 11th.
• They were upset 9-4 by the Boston Bruins on Jan. 20, the same night the opponents celebrated their one-game playoff victory over the Habs in 1988.

They also won at times in a very awkward manner, all of which ran counter to the culture of competition that head coach Martin St. Louis seems to have instilled from the whistle to the final whistle. For example, on January 25, they nearly blew a 3–0 lead over the New York Islanders in the first period, with Monahan scoring a late 4–3 game-winning goal.

Needless to say, Hughes could be forgiven for trading him a month before the deadline because based on how the team started the calendar year, they simply didn't want to compete. left a sour taste in some fans' mouths.

4. Demotion of Justin Barron

Objectively speaking, there is no shame in going down as a future prospect. However, tell that to Arber Hekage or, worse, Justin Barron, who for all intents and purposes were sent out of training camp after making the roster.

In Hekaid's case, after returning to the NHL a few months later, he seemed to become a complete player. Barron, recently recalled in response to injuries to Hekage and Kaiden Goulet, has a lot to prove in that regard. Given that Barron also plays right tackle, which has much less depth, the decision to let him go in January could easily be explained as a development setback relative to the former first-round pick (and Hekay wasn't drafted).

However, Barron is still only 22 years old. Defenders usually take longer to develop. While it's still a time to make mistakes, Canadians continue to rebuild and they could easily be forgiven for looking the other way in the name of “letting the kids play.” another point of view and sending it instead. In other words, there's still time for Barron to land a permanent spot. You'll probably want to do it before the Habs have no choice but to keep him, since he's no longer waiver-exempt in 2024-25.

3. Target production by Cole Caufield

When you score more than 50 in your first 82 games in charge of St. Louis, you make a lot of noise. Fans were hoping/expecting Cole Caufield to pick up where he left off in 2022-23 when he scored 26 goals (and 36 points) in 46 games before his season was cut short by injury. In 82 games in 2023-24, he scored two more goals (28).

Forget Caufield's similar rate (65 points in 82 games). Fans wanted to see him become the team's first 40-goal scorer since Vincent Damfuss in 1993-94, maybe even 50. And it would be great to feature Caufield's scoring struggles in the race for the top spot on this list.

However, these struggles are too much. In the grand scheme of things, there's little to worry about when it comes to Caufield, especially when other aspects of his game, like his playmaking and defensive awareness, have improved dramatically. If you want to see signs that he's been more unlucky than usual, his development into a complete hockey player is actually a positive that should pay even more dividends once his scoring returns.

2. Only Josh Anderson

With a cap hit of $5.5 million through 2027, Josh Anderson should deliver more than the intangibles he did as a speedster with his size and strength. He needs to produce more often than he has… and that goes for his entire Canadian tenure. He scored 21 goals and scored 32 points in 69 games.

This season has been much worse, with nine goals and 20 points in 78 contests. Anderson seemed to turn it around in December, after opening the season with two assists in the first 1.5 months, he had six goals and three assists in 13 games to close out the calendar year. However, the rest of the way he scored three goals and nine points, the same amount in a month, for which he won the Molson Cup.

Anderson's nine points in December were incredible. However, former GM Marc Bergevin signed him to a long-term contract, largely in response to a 27-goal, 47-point season in 2018-19 (with the Columbus Blue Jackets). Hence, it should always produce at this rate. It should not be an extreme figure to receive an award.

To be fair, Anderson spent most of his time in the top six alongside Jake Evans and Brendan Gallagher. However, it would be unfair to argue that he hasn't had his fair share of opportunities after starting the season alongside Caufield and Nick Suzuki in the front row. For a while, when Kirby Dach went down with a season-ending injury, he played on the wing alongside Alex Newhook and Juraj Slafkowski in a back-six that didn't make any shots.

The latter two have since turned their seasons around, showing Anderson as the weak link. With zero empirical evidence to suggest otherwise, Canadiens fans are faced with two less-than-ideal scenarios to start next season: Either the Habs pay him as much to continue playing a bottom-six role, or they give him another chance, once healthy, out of his contract. will be with Dach in hopes of saving something.

1. The Lost Season of Kirby Dutch

No one knows how much a healthy Dutch has changed the look of this season. However, after a breakout campaign last season, it's fair to say he's had a positive impact in providing depth and stability to give the Canadiens two legitimate center sixes for the first time in decades.

Now Suzuki is legit #1 center this season. Many have previously speculated that Dutch has enough good sides to finally pull it off, a holiday where you can forget about food and indulge in contemplation. As such, Dach's injury in Game 2 was a major blow to the team's prospects for the season, not to mention his development as a 23-year-old who had already spent significant time on injured reserve. He only suited up for 212 of the 410 possible games he could theoretically play in his five NHL seasons (mostly as a result of injury).

So it's not just that, the Canadiens could have made more of a run in the playoffs if Dach was healthy. Especially since the Hubs are now in line for a high draft pick, his ceiling is at risk of irreparably rising.

However, to put it in perspective: Dach is a former third overall pick who is just starting to reach his potential. Habs fans will happily accept both, but if it's one or the other, they need a healthy Dach first. Now they'll have to wait until next fall (along with playoff chances in 2024-25) to be sure he's there.