Fairly recently the Eastern Conference-champion Florida Panthers were in the same boat as the rebuilding Montreal Canadiens… haplessly losing, gaining no traction at the bottom of the standings. However, this isn’t in reference to their about-face over the last decade, if you’re thinking the suggestion here is the Habs should see that as a success story. This is as recently as last season They were literally haplessly losing at literally the same time as the Habs.
Panthers Acquire Chiarot During Presidents’ Trophy Season
The Panthers may have won the 2022 Presidents’ Trophy (in sharp contrast to the last-place Canadiens). However, after gearing up for a long run those playoffs (with help from the Habs and one Ben Chiarot) and falling well short, they struggled out of the starting gates the following season (when the Habs ended up finishing fifth from last).
It’s little exaggeration to suggest Canadiens fans quasi-realistically dreamed of drafting both Connor Bedard and, say, Adam Fantilli with both their pick and the one they earned from the Panthers in the Chiarot trade. As late as Dec. 12, 2022, the Canadiens actually ranked higher in the standings, albeit with the same amount of points (14-12-2 vs. 13-12-4), good for fifth and sixth place in the Atlantic Division.
By Jan. 1, 2023, the Panthers had pulled away from the Canadiens. Considering how injury-plagued the Habs were, it was far from a Herculean feat though, as evidenced by how the Panthers had still fallen in the standings to fourth from last in the entire conference.
In fact, it was a minor miracle the Panthers rallied to make the playoffs as eight seeds. It only grew in size from there, or, forgetting they had been the best team in the league one season earlier, that was the perspective, as the Cats knocked off the record-setting Boston Bruins in Round 1, the Toronto Maple Leafs in Round 2 and the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 3.
Canadiens Can Be Panthers
So, this is their second consecutive Stanley Cup Final and a testament to the talent they have on their roster (and perhaps general manager Bill Zito despite how close he came to trading away a lottery pick in the Bedard draft). The point is, if you can look past the Presidents’ Trophy and really squint, they could be the Canadiens.
They each missed the playoffs the two seasons before the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign (three seasons in fact for the Panthers). The Canadiens even made it out of the qualifying round that season, whereas the Panthers did not. Then everyone in Montreal remembers what happened in 2020-21, as the Habs collectively channelled Cinderella to reach their own Stanley Cup Final (while the Panthers got bounced in Round 1).
Obviously, it would have taken a great deal of luck for the Canadiens to be in the Panthers’ place instead. It was more so bad luck that prevented the Panthers from continuing on as a force in the East to start 2022-23, whereas the Habs have faced having to fill a lot more holes in their lineup since their magical run three years ago. One trip to the Stanley Cup Final is a remote possibility for a heavy underdog. Sustained success under those circumstances is too much to ask, especially with their No. 1 defenseman and star goalie effectively having “retired” afterwards.
Regardless, the Canadiens should view the Panthers as inspiration for what still can be as their rebuild continues. It’s not that they’ve got the same calibre of roster, but many of the pieces are there: effective if not elite goaltending in Samuel Montembeault (Sergei Bobrovsky), a No. 1 centre in Nick Suzuki (Aleksander Barkov), the makings of perhaps a better defensive corps, considering how that of the Canadiens’ is made up of a slew of talented prospects, while, beyond former-No. 1-overall-pick Aaron Ekblad, the Panthers’ is more makeshift in nature.
The Anti-Oilers?
In that way, the fact that, despite several high draft picks, the Panthers only have the one No. 1 overall, maybe consider them the anti-Edmonton Oilers, who infamously picked first a handful of times in the recent past: Connor McDavid (2015), Nail Yakupov (2012), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011), Taylor Hall (2010). Granted, two of the above are no longer with the team. However, no one can deny that the road back to the Stanley Cup Final for the Oilers, who lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, has been long and rocky and characterized by long stretches at the bottom of the standings, proving that tanking for the purposes of stockpiling talent does work, even if the success of the strategy has taken a long time to bear fruit for the Oilers.
It’s not necessarily “tanking” in its purest form. Oilers management probably didn’t see themselves consistently finishing at the bottom of the standings, let alone plan for it to happen, similar to with the Canadiens, one has to think. However, the end result is the same, with the Habs having secured high draft picks for a few seasons in a row now. In a way, they’re built similarly to both teams, admittedly minus the same widespread elite talent. So, in the eyes of Habs fans, any of the two teams could be seen as a worthwhile winner.
Related: What Canadiens Can Learn From 2024 Stanley Cup Semi-Finalists
Canadiens fans arguably had more reason to cheer for the Panthers earlier these playoffs. However, it’s hard to envision many feeling too badly about the Oilers, similar to the Panthers last season, clawing back from a rough 2-9-1, tied-for-last-place start to this season to finally help earn McDavid his first championship.
Canadians in general may feel like their team must be the one to end the country’s 31-year Cup drought. It’s an understandable sentiment. However, it’s fair to suggest the Canadiens are at least on their way to establishing themselves as contenders in the not-too-distant future, based on the present success of the Oilers and Panthers.
Whoever wins the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, the Canadiens and their fans literally can’t lose. Don’t let the fact they’re not actually competing get in the way of a good narrative. True, there are no guarantees they themselves get there eventually, but there’s good reason to believe. In the absence of a winner, that’s all for which you can really hope.
However, the Habs’ steady year-over-year progress in the standings is a good start… well, progression by its very definition. No one is so far removed from the 2021 Stanley Cup Final to have forgotten how fast things can change, for the worse in the Canadiens’ case. Some might say they’re due, for a change at least on the luck front. Their fans are at least ready for one, and this specific series presents a good case they are too.
