Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien has led the Habs to consistent regular season success during his tenure, but is it enough to ensure that he remains a member of the Canadiens franchise moving forward?
Sure, he got the team to the Eastern Conference Finals last year and the Second Round of the NHL playoffs this season, but he seemed to manage these feats despite fielding a Canadiens team that just wasn't as good as the talent on its roster would suggest it should have been.
The Habs, talented as they may be, were among the worst teams in the NHL in possession statistics, were abysmal on the power play and got absolutely trounced by the Lightning in their final playoff series.
"Teams often falter when they look at their roster and begin to believe they're better than they actually are," writes Ken Campbell of The Hockey News. "That often leads to them not making difficult decisions that carry some risk, but will make them better. That's what this situation looks like to these eyes. If their goalie wasn't the best player on the ice most games, the Canadiens would have been life-and-death to make the playoffs. And without a bold move, they're going to be in the same situation again next season."
It's not hard to envision that, without the consistent otherworldly efforts of netminder Carey Price, the Habs, despite their talent-laden roster, would have struggled to even reach the NHL postseason this year.
With Montreal GM Marc Bergevin having stocked the roster with speed and skill and Price producing Vezina and Hart Trophy-worthy results, it seems the only direction for the finger of blame to point is straight at Therrien.
Are there upgrades needed at forward for the Habs?
Yes, of course.
Tomas Plekanec and David Desharnais will always struggle due to their diminutive stature and Andrei Markov and Alexei Emelin are much closer to the end of their NHL careers than the beginning. Alex Galchenyuk must find a permanent home in the lineup and some of the more promising Habs prospects, like Nikita Scherbak, must prove they belong at the NHL level.
Roster changes, whether via trades, free agency, the draft or call-ups, must be made by Bergevin if the Habs are going to improve their possession and power play numbers next season.
"Even though Plekanec is very good on faceoffs and plays a responsible game, he disappeared offensively during these playoffs, as did Desharnais. And in the absence of any help on the free agent market and trades being too difficult to make, the time is now for either Therrien or his replacement to make Galchenyuk a full-time center," writes Campbell. "Perhaps he won't be the bona fide No. 1 guy for a year or two and that might mean the Canadiens take a step backward, but they're never, ever going to know whether Galchenyuk is capable of doing the job unless they give him the chance and stick with him for an extended period of time."
Still, it seems that Therrien's fate is the most pressing decision which awaits Bergevin and the Canadiens brass.
It will hurt in the here and now if they choose to part ways with him and may cause the team to suffer next season, but if the end result is a stronger, more powerful Canadiens team, it would be hard to fault them for making the move.
"So if they want to get over that hump, they're probably going to have to do it with a new man behind the bench and by trading some of their promising youth for players who can help them now," writes Campbell. "Even then, the Canadiens might have to take a step backward in the short-term to go forward in the long-term."
