The Montreal Canadiens’ magical run to the Eastern Conference final ended with a sour taste after a five-game series loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Recency bias is normal, but there aren’t many Habs fans who would have expected a trip to the third round of the playoffs when training camp started last fall. The Canadiens still have holes to fill, but showed impressive progress, making the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
It will surely be a busy and important summer for the team, but for now it is the time of year where players get one last chance to look back at their season.
Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes started the morning off.
Hughes said that if you told him how this season would go, he wouldn’t know if he’d believe you.
They also admit they have a lot of work to do.
Kent Hughes says the team isn’t the best defensively right now.
Oliver Kapanen’s usage in the post-season doesn’t change how the team views him going forward after his first full season in North America.
The trade that almost happened at the deadline is still active, but will depend on the other team per Hughes.
Brendan Gallagher
Brendan Gallagher talked about his time in the Canadiens organization in past tense before becoming emotional and said he was thinking of his mother.
Slafkovský refused to use injuries as an excuse.
Samuel Montembeault says he would like to stay in Montreal. He said he was going into games not saying he was going to make saves but that he wanted to avoid making as many mistakes as possible and that you can’t perform at your best in that mindset.
Patrik Laine said he was healthy by the end of the season, but with the way the team was playing knew it was unlikely he would play as they were fighting for a playoff spot. Said that playoff runs don’t come around often, and was still happy to be with the team.
