3-2 overtime win<\/a> over the Buffalo Sabres in Game 7 of the teams\u2019 second-round series. \u201cWe just won two seven-game series. It\u2019s really impressive. These guys are resilient, and they never give up.\u201d<\/p>\nTo kick off the rebuild, Molson parted ways with the team\u2019s general manager, Marc Bergevin, who is now the right-hand man to Sabres GM Jarmo Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen. Bergevin left behind some key pieces, though, having acquired Nick Suzuki and Josh Anderson via trade and Cole Caufield via the draft. His most important parting gift was signing Suzuki to an eight-year deal with a $7.875 million cap hit in the fall of 2021, some six weeks before his exit from Montreal.<\/p>\n
All of that was noted by Bergevin\u2019s successor Monday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of good hockey players here when we arrived,\u201d Canadiens GM Kent Hughes said moments after his team\u2019s win. \u201cI think people know that. Certainly hockey people. Not just good hockey players, but really good people. You don\u2019t rebuild a team from scratch, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took what was here, and we added to it. So hats off to (Bergevin). He deserves credit, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Classy of Hughes to note that. But the work of Hughes and Jeff Gorton, the team\u2019s president of hockey operations, has been nothing short of fantastic in making all of this happen so quickly.<\/p>\n
The Canadiens made the playoffs last season, one year ahead of schedule. Now they\u2019re in the NHL\u2019s final four ahead of schedule, too.<\/p>\n
Had it sunk in 20 minutes after Alex Newhook\u2019s overtime goal on Monday night?<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now? Still trying to recover from the second and third periods,\u201d Hughes said with a smile. \u201cBut I\u2019m proud of the guys. They\u2019ve come a long way. I think everybody \u2014 the coaches, the players \u2014 these experiences are invaluable as we continue to try to work toward something.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is what is so fascinating about these Canadiens: They are still working toward something, and yet here they are, halfway to a Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n
Viewed through the lens of being one of the last four teams alive in the playoffs, the Canadiens have arrived as contenders. But for management, this is simply a significant part of a journey that is not yet complete.<\/p>\n
Gorton and Hughes are the architects of the fast rebuild, and it is normal for them to view this run as something that remains in progress.<\/p>\n
Hughes is one of two outside-the-box hires at the heart of everything \u2014 an agent born and raised in the Montreal suburbs who was long viewed by Gorton as management material. But he needed convincing before leaving behind a successful career representing players.<\/p>\n
One of those players was Mike Matheson, for whom Hughes traded when he became GM.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hadn\u2019t given it much thought, really, until he called to tell me he had the opportunity to do it, because he was calling all his clients at that point,\u201d Matheson said after Game 7. \u201cAnd so I started thinking about it, and I think just his hockey mind, his knowledge, his ability to see potential where others might not is pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n
All of Montreal\u2019s goal scorers in Game 7 were also acquired via trade: Phillip Danault just before the Christmas trade freeze, Zack Bolduc in the summer and Newhook at the 2023 draft. Gorton\u2019s and Hughes\u2019 fingerprints are all over this run.<\/p>\n
So are the fingerprints of Martin St. Louis, the other outside-the-box hire who kicked the rebuild into overdrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a long journey for sure, from when we went to the Cup Final and finished in last place in the whole league to where we are now,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of different steps. We trade for (Newhook). We trade for (Kirby Dach). We drafted really well. We got some studs through the draft that had an impact right away.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that really put our process further in motion, and ever since Marty came, we\u2019ve had the belief we could be a really good team really quickly. Guys have really bought into how we play and everything Marty preaches. It\u2019s really cool to be in this situation this fast, being such a young team. We just have a lot of fun, and we just want to keep the journey going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Process is a very important word here. Management has one that is ongoing. St. Louis has one that has led the Canadiens to where they are today.<\/p>\n
The Canadiens are the youngest team in these playoffs and the youngest team to reach the conference final since the 1993 Canadiens, the last team in franchise history to win the Stanley Cup. St. Louis has never used that youth as an excuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s easy to just use the age as a crutch,\u201d St. Louis said. \u201cTwo years ago, we knew that we lacked experience, but that doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t advance and mature. So I feel like the process that we have in place and the environment and the mindset, I think it\u2019s allowed us to grow no matter what, how old, we are. Because I think, as an older team, you can still grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can learn anything if you put your mind to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
These have been St. Louis\u2019 greatest attributes: the ability to get his players to learn, and the ability to get them to put their minds to it.<\/p>\n
Molson, Gorton, Hughes and St. Louis have all played their roles in how the Canadiens got here. And the league has taken notice.<\/p>\n
Awaiting Montreal next round are the Carolina Hurricanes, an organization that\u2019s made the playoffs eight straight seasons dating back to 2018-19 and reached the conference final four times \u2014 the kind of sustained success the Canadiens hope they can now emulate.<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes, a perfect 8-0 this postseason, will most definitely be favoured, but they understand the growth of the young contenders they\u2019re about to face.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are a really skilled team that can make you pay for every mistake,\u201d Carolina GM Eric Tulsky told The Athletic via text message. \u201cIf we do not play a sound, disciplined game against them, it will cost us.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least Carolina isn\u2019t in the Atlantic Division, which is becoming a murderer\u2019s row, especially when one can safely assume the two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will be back to their contending ways next season after getting half their roster back from injury.<\/p>\n
They also see the Canadiens are here to stay. The Sabres, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cKent, Jeff and Marty have done a wonderful job of creating a plan and sticking to it,\u201d Bill Zito, president of hockey operations and GM of the two-time defending champs, told The Athletic via text message. \u201cThey\u2019ve built a wonderful team that can play so many ways. And they\u2019ll be good for a while. Same with Jarmo and Buffalo. This division is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tell the Tampa Bay Lightning about that.<\/p>\n
After losing to Florida in the playoffs two straight years, they were on the short end of an incredibly close, seven-game series with Montreal in the opening round.<\/p>\n
The Bolts aren\u2019t going away, either. But there\u2019s a respect factor for Montreal that\u2019s real.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a top-line centre, a Norris-calibre D and a big-time goalie,\u201d Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper told The Athletic. \u201cWith the youth, depth and commitment to defending, Canadiens fans will be attending hockey games in the spring for years to come. Kent and Marty have done a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four years after the rebuild began, the Canadiens have arrived on the other side of it. A trip to the NHL\u2019s final four cements it beyond a doubt.<\/p>\n
And the beauty of it all is that the job is not even finished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 The owner took a deep breath and collected himself. He looked exhausted. How could he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1787,385,99],"class_list":["post-652518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}