The Montreal Canadiens got off to a great start to the 2019-20 season. They had a few wild comebacks to win games late and held on for dear life in a few nail biters, but had defeated some real tough competition in the first six weeks of the season.
As of November 15th, when they handily defeated the Washington Capitals, the Habs were 11-5-3 and sitting 6th in the NHL standings. They were scoring goals in bunches, and though they could have stood to be a little better defensively, they were finding ways to win games.
It was around this time of the season that the rumour mill was starting to really churn.