You made me promises, promises, Knowing I'd believe, Promises, promises, You knew you'd never keep. Sorry for all the 80's references folks, just can't help myself and plug this old Naked Eye song.
But, truth be told, it's been a cruel, cruel summer for us Habs fans. Great expectations were set. This was to be the Summer of Kent. The year of the spending spree. Add a veteran, perhaps two. Ideally one on the wing to bolster the second line and in a perfect world, a third line C with size and some scoring (certainly more than what Dvo or Evans can provide).
But it wasn't to be. No Necas, no Ehlers, McGroaty or (my least favorite choice), Zegras (but perhaps still a Laine? fair to say at this point that beggars can no longer be choosers...). Instead, the status quo.
No doubt, the Canadiens will benefit (perhaps not immediately but in the longer term) from the injection of some talented youth this season in the name of Lane Hutson, potentially even Logan Mailloux. Joshua Roy, if all goes as planned, should be able to display his full array of skill and talent in the coming season as well. But the defense remains young, and wildly inexperienced. There will be growing pains for another year, perhaps even two.
Goaltending remains adequate, but both netminders remain unproven. At worse. Monty and Primeau are stop-gaps till the arrival of Jacob Fowler.
But the depth up front remains worrisome, the Canadiens will likely again be far too reliant on a select few high quality forwards, even if Dach returns to form. They also sorely lack size up front.
Demidov, Hage, perhaps others, will undoubtedly contribute in the not-too-distant future, but for now, expect the Canadiens to continue to struggle to manufacture goals. And in a division that got even stronger (nice additions on D by the Maple Leafs, and Boston significantly bolstered their offense, TBay also improved up front), one has to realistically expect the Canadiens to be a lottery team all over again.
As New Order sang it best our "True Faith" will be tested once again....
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