The Dismantling of the Canadiens

It was just four years ago that the Montreal Canadiens were on the doorstep of making the Stanley Cup Finals. Sure, it was because Carey Price had been carrying the team and they didn't have much else, but guys like PK Subban, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, and Max Pacioretty weren't scrubs. Today, only Price and Gallagher remain, as the Canadiens continue their dismantling and further head into laughingstock territory. Today, the Canadiens traded Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights and will get Nick Suzuki, Tomas Tatar, and a 2nd round pick in 2019 for their troubles. How did it come to this? What does the trade mean for both teams? Let's attempt to answer those questions.

First, how did it come to this? To understand how it got to this point, let's look back to the summer of 2016, when Subban was traded to Nashville for Shea Weber. Rumors circulated that Pacioretty and Subban didn't get along, and given that management didn't care for Subban, that was step one. Pacioretty, while he did play well in the 2016-17 regular season, disappeared in the playoffs that year. There was also the matter of Pacioretty's inability to play on a line with Galchenyuk, who also suffered from being moved around a lot by the coaching staff, thus leading to his move to Arizona this summer. As for Pacioretty, he needs a capable center to produce, and Montreal's long standing problem dating back to Saku Koivu's time has been finding a top line center. In short, the losing culture that has been fostered in the last year or so wore on Pacioretty, as did the swarm of locusts known as the Montreal sports media.

What does the trade mean for both teams? For Vegas, they realize that their window of opportunity is wide open, and signing Paul Stastny to a four year deal signifies that. Getting Pacioretty to potentially play alongside only helps their scoring. For some irony, Pacioretty is also going to play alongside a Subban in Vegas, as Malcolm is the backup goalie. Montreal actually did well in this trade, as they get a 20-goal scorer in Tomas Tatar, another good center prospect in Nick Suzuki, and a draft pick. Montreal will need to rebuild, and what they got for Pacioretty was nice...that is, if management, specifically General Manager Marc Bergevin, doesn't mess it up.