With just five weeks left in the 2011-2012 NHL season, no club has been a bigger disappointment thus far than the Montreal Canadiens — commonly referred to as the Habs — who find themselves in last place in the Eastern Conference after dropping Tuesday night's match against the lowly Tampa Bay Lightning.
It was the team's fifth straight defeat. The Edmonton Oilers, another Canadian team buried in the standings, have not been much better. They continue to remain largely irrelevant and will soon face their sixth straight season without a playoff appearance.
The Habs entered this season with high expectations after finishing with 96 points in 2010-2011 and taking the Bruins to seven games in a thrilling conference quarterfinal series. In the offseason, Montreal had a chance to improve its team dramatically and put itself in a better position to challenge the top-tier teams in the league. But the Canadiens essentially struck out, signing only one free agent of note in former Carolina Hurricanes left-winger Erik Cole, who ranks second on the team in scoring with 22 goals on the year.
Finding the net has been the biggest problem for the Habs all season. The Canadiens rank 19th in the league in goals, averaging just 2.5 per game. Left-winger Mathieu Darche only has 12 points so far after recording 12 goals and 14 assists for the Habs in 2010-2011. Similarly, center Tomas Plekanec has only scored 12 times this season after netting 22 goals last season.
With their chances at contending for the Eastern Conference title this season all but gone, the Canadiens have begun dumping some of their top players to clear up salary cap room for the long rebuilding process. Young forward Brock Trotter was one of the first to go, traded to the Phoenix Coyotes in November. Left-winger Mike Cammalleri was next, as the Habs sent him to the Calgary Flames along with goalkeeper KarriRamo on Jan. 12. The final big trade Montreal has made this season sent veteran defenseman Hal Gill to Nashville for young center Blake Geoffrion and a prospect.
The Habs should receive some credit for swallowing their pride and making roster moves that will hurt them in the short-run but may benefit the development of the team in the future.
Despite their recent stretch of losing seasons, the Edmonton Oilers also seem to be assembling a stable roster of young NHL talent that may be able to finally lead the franchise back to glory — or at least relevance — in the near future.
Few NHL teams have been as consistently bad as the Oilers. Since they reached the Stanley Cup finals in 2006, Edmonton has not even reached the playoffs and has finished no higher than third in their division. Over the last two seasons, Edmonton has twice finished in the cellar of the Northwest division, with a combined 52-92-20 record over that span.
But things may be looking up for Edmonton, especially with the improvements shown by some of its young forwards. Right-winger Jordan Eberle is arguably one of the top young players in the league; at just 21 years old, Eberle has scored 28 times this season and is an overall plus-five in just his second full season in the league.
Across from him is 20-year-old left winger Taylor Hall, who has put up 48 points in what is also his second season in the NHL. The last piece of this puzzle is 22-year-old center Sam Gagner, who five years into his career has become a consistent 40-point scorer, doing an especially good job distributing the puck to his teammates.
While Montreal and Edmonton are both struggling Canadian franchises, they are lucky to have incredibly passionate fan bases. While both teams may be going through rough stretches now, their fans should understand that the future does in fact appear bright for both the Habs and Oilers.
