Are the Habs ready to take a BIG STEP!? Sportsnet's Eric Engels with an Off-Season Report 

Healthy Kirby Dach please.

It's funny to hear Engles say "Be careful what you say". Years ago Anthonny Ducalir was killing it as a rookie in a few pre season game et Engels was calling him unreal. I basically told him to "be careful what you say" after a few pre season games and he answered something along the lines of "I did not get where I am by not having certitudes". Guess his narrative changed. Good for him. Caline Dion also went in the Bruins locker room to read the lineup and cheered them up. Habs fan number 1!

I am predicting a bottom 7 finish this season. Montembeault will not play over his head like last season, we will have potentially 3 new players on D, Dach will get injured like always so our center line will be atrocious. Also carrying 2 bullets in anderson and gallagher. We need an elite center in this years draft and hope that we get a 11-15th pick with the Monahan trade

stop saying 2 year rebuild, we got slaf, reinbacher, demidov, 3 years

You got it - the Canadiens stole the show with Celine making the 5th place selection - a touch of class the other teams just couldn't match. Surprisingly nobody congratulated the Florida Panthers on their first Stanley Cup - that was a great series final.

Goalie development? Tim Thomas. Hab killer that one. Moog too. There's no one-size-fits-all formula. Goalies are a breed apart. Management has a plan and they're sticking to it. Who fits in and who leaves depends ... Every decent fan is expecting more and better.

No they aren't ready, a healty Dach is the only change from last year, like him but he isn't enough.

playoffs playoffs I just hope we win another game

The Habs are still young and are progressing well, patience is the key. But we need results next season.

Marty's success did not come with the Habs so he doesn't have that pressure and history weighing on him as a coach. He's also a not so taciturn a person when compared with a Mario Tremblay or Guy Carbonneau....

Maybe they’ll be in the playoffs run but this team is not ready yet to make it

Voodoo is a religion. Goal tending is not.

IMO the way St.Louis coached the Habs we were already in try hard mode last year. That is however imo NOT the way to do a rebuild because the coach is severely limiting the chance for other players to assume better roles.A perfect example is a player Gignac who wa playing and skating very well for Laval but when he was called up he was given no chance to prove anything he was played few minutes and in a very small role he was simply given no chance. SO you have to ask WHY was was St,louis coaching the team in that fashion over playing matheson to the point he was top 5 in the league for ice time?Well his ego wanted to prove his worth he wanted to prove the team could improve in the standings under his coaching but we did NOT improve so it was a mistake to coach in try hard mode we accomplished nothing.

Montembault adequate? Sure hope that’s a joke! Poor fundamentals, bad rebound control =too many soft goals. Can’t steal games!

they won't make the playoffs

Nope, still too small, blueline is sus and full of smurfs, goaltending blows

Montreal needs help with coaching they have to bring in a defensive system get away from this Man to Man system Marty wants to play it will never ever win playoff hockey you need to give your goal tender a structure on the defensive side to have the best chance to stop the puck there is no structure on the defensive side of the puck now and the goal tending pays the price

Get rid of Matheson.

Habs will finish bottom 5 again next year. There is not a single player from the pipeline that will make the team next year and will help them get more points.