Where the Montreal Canadiens were headed, it was not pretty.
It seemed every dollar was spent, and every idea exhausted, and yet, for the exception of a three-week stretch to open the season, it wasn't working. What Marc Bergevin had built in desperation, either in an effort to save his job or at least salvage something — anything — meaningful from his nine seasons as general manager of the organization, appeared devastatingly faulty. Montreal proved to be nothing more than a mediocre team in a mediocre division throughout the regular season despite his aggressive efforts to upgrade, and the Canadiens only earned a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs because two temporary division rivals failed harder, while it seemed the Ottawa Senators only ran out of time to catch them.