Are Montreal’s Minor Moves Enough To Lock Up A Playoff Spot?

The Montreal Canadiens have probably surprised a lot of people with their play this season and a playoff spot appears to be on the horizon. General manager Marc Bergevin has been relatively busy recently by making several minor moves to strengthen the squad. But are they enough to nail down a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference?

Bergevin still has a bit of time on his hands before the Feb. 25^th trade deadline and what he does between now and then could be the difference in just making the playoffs and winning a round or two. As things stand, it looks like the Habs have strengthened the fourth line, but the defensive corps and power-play could still use some help.

The GM has made a few minor moves to improve the situation as he acquired forward Nate Thompson and a fifth round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft for a fourth-rounder from the Los Angeles Kings. It looks like a no-lose situation really as Thompson should be able to step in and center the fourth line. To make room for the 34-year-old veteran Thompson, Bergevin placed Michael Chaput on waivers.

The 26-year-old Chaput had just five assists in 32 games this year and is a minus-4 while Thompson brings four goals and a pair of assists with him from the west coast and is a plus-3.

But Bergevin also worked on the fourth line a few days prior to dealing for Thompson as he reacquired 30-year-old right-winger Dale Weise from the Philadelphia Flyers. Weise has five goals and six helpers with a minus-6 rating. He was acquired by the Habs in 2013/14 from Vancouver and remained with the club until midway through 2015/16 when he joined the Chicago Blackhawks. Weise played 152 games for Montreal and posted 27 goals and 32 assists for 59 points and was a plus-25. He and Thompson are both expected to be used on the team’s 21st-ranked penalty-killing unit as well.

When Weise arrived, the Habs placed Kenny Agostino on waivers and it wasn’t long before the New Jersey Devils claimed the 26-year-old local winger and his two goals and 10 assists. Along with Weise, Bergevin also picked up Christian Folin from the Flyers and gave up fellow rearguard David Schlemko and minor-league forward Byron Froese.

The 28-year-old Folin is a 6-foot-3-inch native of Sweden who weighs in at over 200 lbs. He had two assists and was a plus-5 in Philly. The 31-year-old Schlemko had a pair of helpers in 18 outings with Montreal and was minus-1 while the 27-year-old Froese had 14 goals and 30 points in 46 contests with the Laval Rockets of the American Hockey League. Bergevin then made room for Folin by sending Karl Alzner to Laval after he cleared waivers.

After the the dust had settled from the flurry of activity it looks like Montreal’s fourth line will now consist of Thompson between 27-year-old Nicolas Deslauriers and Weise, who’s somewhat a cult hero with fans at the Bell Centre.

Bergevin has shored up the penalty killing with Thompson and Weise, but the power-play has also been in dire straits and has been a bit of an embarrassment for head coach Claude Julien. Montreal has scored on just 13.5 per cent of their man-advantage chances and are ranked second-worst in the league in that department. It’s certainly a sore spot, but the Nashville Predators have the worst power play in the league at 13.1 per cent and they’re a pretty successful team. By the way, the league average is 20 per cent.

All of the recent moves were made without Bergevin giving up any of the club’s core players, high draft picks and young prospects. So he did a pretty good job in that respect by not really affecting the present and the future of the club. However, the acquisitions should still be regarded as relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. What impact they have on the team remains to be seen, but at first glance they should be somewhat of an upgrade.

The Habs still have about $8 million of cap space remaining and another left-sided defenseman wouldn’t hurt. In fact, some more firepower up front could also be needed down the stretch. However, Bergevin has publicly stated that he isn’t interested in rental players with expiring contracts at the trade deadline.

Heading into Valentine’s Day, Montreal owned the first wild card playoff spot in the East, but were just five points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes and six in front of the Buffalo Sabres. Montreal still has 16 road games to play as well as five back-to-back games while the Sabres have 14 away contests and five back-to-backs. Meanwhile Carolina has just 11 road outings left, but six back-to-back affairs.

Nothing is guaranteed especially considering Montreal has gone 1-1 against Carolina this season and is  1-0-2 in games with Buffalo.

Making the playoffs will be seen as something of an achievement in Montreal after finishing with the fourth-worst record in the NHL last season. Times have definitely changed in the city though as fans used to be satisfied with nothing but the Stanley Cup. The Habs have captured the trophy record 24 times in total, but haven’t managed to pull it off since the 1992/93 season, which is over a quarter of a century now.

The team controls its own destiny from now until the end of the campaign, and Bergevin may be tempted to pull the trigger on another move or two. The season may or may not depend on it, but if the Habs enter the playoffs with the current lineup they likely won’t be considered legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.