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The bottom line for me is that they are making progress. Last year they ended up 14 games below 500, right now slightly past the 1/2 way mark they are 1 game below 500. Rome wasn't built in a day. Monty is emerging as a #1 goalie, the young defense is gaining experience (painful at times as expected), Slaf is progressing and maturing. We need to find another young offensive dynamo at the draft and hope that Dach can emerge and stay healthy. A lot of positive signs if you want to look at the glass as half full.

Xhekaj and Mailloux pairing is eating up huge minutes and have transformed Lavals season since being put together. I would just leave that pair in Laval to continue to grow, develop and play big minutes in all situations this year.

Yep. Always agreed with this perspective. And I'd add that for most of my life as a Habs fan, I've heard Habs teams' achievements diminished because of our goaltending. "They're not real contenders, they're just lucky they have Roy." "Boy, it's a good thing they have Price." Blah blah blah. I never once heard anyone say the Penguins don't "deserve" to win because they have Crosby... In fact - while I'm holding forth - the Habs are probably the franchise whose achievements after 1980 are the most chronically denigrated and dismissed. 1986 and 1993 were both scorned as "the worst teams ever to win a Cup." No one ever says boo about the 2014 team that was artificially kept out of the Finals by Kreider's knee job on Price. The 2021 team is routinely dismissed as a fraud because it had a terrible OT/SO record in the regular season. A lot of this flows from the perceived illegitimacy of not having a superstar offensive talent. Somehow, if you rely on a model that doesn't include a McDavid, your wins don't "count." And never mind if you have a great goalie. On the other hand, I very seriously doubt that if the Leafs or any other Canadian team had equivalent successes, we would hear such dismissals routinely spouted.

I hadn't seen your post when I wrote mine up but obviously agree.

I agree we are not a wild card team yet but I am always a little confused when people say we overachieved because of goaltending. A goalie is part of the team! That's like saying the Oilers overachieve because of McDavid or the Leafs overachieve because of Mathews. Sure that may be true but they are part of the team. Monty is part of the team and yes one of the reasons the Habs have been somewhat respectable but he is part of team.

I’m hoping he gets us a first at the deadlines. If that happens, that’s what I’d be most thankful about Savard for.

Sheesh, they beat Colorado, the Rangers, win in New Jersey, lose in OT to Edmonton and now the world is falling apart because of 1 game. Weren't we expecting some nights like this with a young team?

He's a pretty good fit in theory. But they don't have a 2nd rounder until 2026 and are out a first rounder this season as well. Plus, their prospect pool is lousy and cap space is an issue. Knowing that, it's hard to find a fit that's a good enough return for the Habs and keeps Boston cap-compliant.

They have a young blueline, it's growing pains and just one game. They have been very competitive against some really good teams recently. I am not going to lose any sleep over this one.

While I agree that Struble has struggled recently, I think it's worth noting those struggles have only come since he was moved into the top four. They're still trying to find that fourth top-four guy and clearly, he's not ready for the role. (Which isn't a bad thing, he's 20-some games into his career, he shouldn't be ready for that role.) Is it regression or him being overmatched against better opponents in less sheltered minutes? I'm hoping they put him back with Harris, a third pairing that was doing quite fine before the blueline shuffle happened.

If he can do that he should get his jersey retired

If Roy can turn Armia into a goal-scorer he may be earning a full-time spot in Montreal.

WiFi is there to develop his game for the long-term benefit of both the player and the Habs ... rushing him back because other players are not performing does not support those goals.