Carbonneau expects ‘fun and exciting’ team as Habs open season vs. Leafs
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The Montreal Canadiens have endured a pair of tough seasons since falling in the Stanley Cup Final to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021. The team has finished last in the Atlantic Division and bottom five in the league in each of the past two seasons.
The departures of Carey Price and Shea Weber following the finals appearance due to injury forced the Habs into a rebuild despite their best finish since 1993. General manager Kent Hughes has kept the club on that path and committed to the young core of the team, giving captain Nick Suzuki and sniper Cole Caufield eight-year extensions.
Ahead of Wednesday’s season opener against the Toronto Maple Leafs, RDS analyst and Canadiens legend Guy Carbonneau said he believes the organization’s patient approach is the right one.
“I like what Kent and [executive vice-president Jeff Gorton] are doing. They’re taking their time,” Carbonneau said on TSN’s First Up on Wednesday. “That’s hard in Montreal. They want to win quickly and that’s hard with the salary cap. They’re doing the right things. I expect a fun season and an exciting team.
“They’ve got some young kids that are growing, and if they stay healthy, the growing part is going to be a little bit easier and more fun for them.”
A key part of the Canadiens rebuild will be the development of 2022 first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky. The 19-year-old winger played 39 games last season, recording four goals and 10 points but missed the latter half of the season due to a lower-body injury.
Carbonneau said he expected a little more from Slafkovsky’s rookie season but did see signs of improvement from the Slovakian before injury ended his campaign.
“I think you’d expect a little more from the first-overall pick. I was watching the game yesterday, and not to compare Slafkovsky to Bedard, but you [always] know that Bedard is on the ice. With Slafkovsky, that wasn’t the case last year,” said Carbonneau. “I started to see a little bit more before he got hurt, but I haven’t seen that in training camp. He’s still 19 years old, but at one point you want to see that step up and hopefully this is the year.”
Carbonneau said he expects head coach Martin St. Louis will play a key role in Slafkovsky’s continued development.
“I know Martin and the organization are going to be there,” Carbonneau said. “[Slafkovsky] will have all the tools and time necessary to develop. I don’t judge a career in the first couple of years, so we’ll see.”
On the other side of the ice, the Maple Leafs enter the season as one of the league’s top teams and are looking to build off a second-round playoff appearance last season.
New general manager Brad Treliving added grit to the team’s talented lineup this summer, signing Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, and Ryan Reeves.
Carbonneau says the Atlantic Division is the Leafs’ to lose and the new additions will play a role in producing playoff success.
“Definitely,” Carbonneau said when asked if the Leafs were the favourites to win the Atlantic. “Boston lost a couple of their guys in [Patrice] Bergeron and [David] Krejci. I think Buffalo and Ottawa are going to take a few steps, but Toronto has experience.
“Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander are great players. They’ve got superstars on that team but need to understand they need more than talent on that team. If you want to win, you have to want it more than the guys in front of you. They’ve got a great power play and got a few guys that can play and rub it up a little bit, so it’s going to be an interesting year.”