And so ends the 2022-23 Montreal Canadiens season, with a 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Boston Bruins. It was more of a fight than most would have expected the Habs to put up, particularly against a Bruins team that elected not to rest their stars. They even held a third-period lead before two quick Boston goals turned the tide and sent the Bruins into the playoffs on a high note.
Ending the year with a win would have been nice for Montreal, but it also would have pushed them to sixth-last in the standings.
With the loss, the Tricolore are locked into their lottery odds. They’ll hold an 8.5% chance to draft Connor Bedard, and can find themselves no later than seventh-overall with their first pick. Now, the real work begins for a team looking to continue its rebuild.
Their decision is remarkably easy if they win the lottery, but if they land fifth, sixth, or seventh, it becomes significantly more complicated. Even if they move up to second, the only spot other than first to which they can hypothetically climb, there appears to be a real debate between Adam Fantilli and Leo Carlsson at this stage. It is imperative that the scouting team have a plan for every pick, because it is extremely important for them to get an impact player in this draft.
For now, we can all circle May 8 on our calendars, and pray to whatever gods we believe in that fortune finds the Canadiens as it did last year.
Click the play button below to listen to your final Bottom Six Minutes of the season. Don’t forget to subscribe, because like the Habs, we’ll be looking very hard at the lottery as well as draft prospects from here, so we’ll still be putting out regular episodes through the offseason.
