Bet On NHL Hockey: Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are coming off a strong season in which the club made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Final, but general manager Marc Bergevin wants the team to put that in the rear-view mirror immediately.
NHL Predictions
Montreal Canadiens
Odds to win the 2015 Stanley Cup:
Odds to win the 2015 Eastern Conference:
Odds to Win the 2014 Atlantic Division:
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2014-2015 Montreal Canadiens Betting Preview:
The Canadiens lost to the New York Rangers in six games as they sought their first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 21 years last season.
The team will need to pick up the pieces and look to get over that hump, but they’ll do so without some key pieces of their leadership team as captain Brian Gionta and assistant captain Josh Gorges are both in Buffalo.
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Instead of replacing Gionta as captain, the organization has instead opted to go with a quartet of alternate captains in Andrei Markov, Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec, and P.K. Subban, with Pacioretty and Subban alternating as the third A-wearer throughout the season.
Offense
Pacioretty took some hear in the offseason for his poor postseason performance after he scored a career-high 39 goals and a team-high 60 points in the regular season.
In any event, he’ll look to continue to build on the momentum of last season’s impressive production. David Desharnais is back to center the top line, and P.A. Parenteau figures to fill in at right wing.
Alex Galchenyuk will again have a tough time finding a spot. A natural center, Galchenyuk figures to again be pushed off to the left wing as Therrien sticks with Desharnais, Plekanec, and Lars Eller up the middle. The team added Manny Malhotra on a one-year, $850,000 pact in the offseason.
He’ll center Brandon Prust and Dale Weise on the checking line.
Defense
The team’s top defense pairing will have a different look this season as the departure of Gorges will likely see Alexei Emelin move up to the top pairing to play alongside P.K. Subban, who signed an eight-year, $72-million contract in August.
Markov figures to play alongside free agent acquisition Tom Gilbert in the second pairing.
Gilbert signed a two-year, $5.6 million contract with Montreal in the offseason after a strong year with the Florida Panthers.
Mike Weaver will be in the third pairing with a group of prospects competing for that final spot.
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The success of the team will again run though goaltender Carey Price. It was a big year for Price as he backstopped Team Canada to a gold medal in the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, but his postseason was cut short when he hyperextended his right knee in the opening game of the Eastern Conference Final.
The team bypassed Peter Budaj in favor of Dustin Tokarski in that series once Price went down.
Tokarski’s performance was enough to earn him the backup job this upcoming season as the team dealt away Budaj.
The team’s decision to name four alternate captains rather than naming a replacement for Brian Gionta is likely an indicator that management would like to see Price step into more of a leadership role with the club.
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FREE Canadiens NHL Predictions 2014/2015
The Canadiens are going to go as far as Carey Price can carry them this season.
There’s been very little turnover on the rest of the roster. While some veterans have left town, that’s only going to free up minutes for some of the rising young talent on the club that was due for an uptick in ice time anyways. Finding a way to score the puck with more consistency needs to be their top priority.
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