The Montreal Canadiens are in the midst of their third straight season without playoff hockey. It will be the fourth time in five years that they miss the postseason altogether and they haven’t won a playoff series since they defeated the Hamburglar-led Ottawa Senators in 2015.
Five straight years without appearing in more than one playoff series is usually grounds for dismissal for general managers around the National Hockey League. We did see head coach Michel Therrien get fired midway through the 2016-17 season and his replacement Claude Julien has not been able to bring the team back to the postseason.