Last year, the Montreal Canadiens produced a 30-36-16 record and missed qualifying for a wild card spot by 15 points.
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One area in which the Canadiens struggled was overtime games. They tied the New York Islanders with 16 overtime losses, which means they left roughly 16 points on the table, preventing them from reaching a hypothetical 92 points.
Of course, every team loses in overtime, and no one is perfect during the extra period. But if Montreal managed to steal away 10 of those overtime losses, they would have collected 40 wins, a plateau the club hasn’t reached since the 2018-19 campaign.
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Now, a 40-win season wouldn’t have necessarily guaranteed them a playoff spot, but the Islanders snuck into the postseason with 39 wins. Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals grabbed the final wildcard spot with 40 wins and 11 overtime losses.
Out of the eight teams that didn’t advance to the postseason, only the Detroit Red Wings won 40 games (41 to be exact), while the Columbus Blue Jackets were the only club without 30 wins, finishing with 27.
Despite being one of the youngest teams in the league, the Canadiens are ahead of the Blue Jackets, Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks in terms of their respective rebuilds, with none of those clubs reaching 30 wins.
So, if there is one area that head coach Martin St. Louis and his staff can focus on improving for the 2024-25 season, it is reducing overtime losses and getting those extra points in the fourth period.
The message so far this offseason is to continue to improve.
With that in mind, the Canadiens are not on the same level as Tampa Bay, Florida, or even Boston, and that’s okay because Montreal’s time is coming with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.
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This core group will be deemed veterans when Juraj Slafkovsky, David Reinbacher, and Lane Hutson are their age (mid-20s).
While preaching patience, everyone wants to see improvements, whether minor or not. Setting a goal to win 40 games is a step towards becoming contenders. The playoffs might not happen in 2024-25, but battling for a final wildcard spot in the season’s final month will go a long way toward building confidence for 2025-26 and beyond.
Trying to determine whether a 30-win team can find an extra 10 victories sounds daunting, but realistically, the Canadiens could have been a 40-win team in 2023-24 if they had just picked up their game in overtime.
Considering that everyone is a year older and has more experience, plus the addition of sniper Patrik Laine, Montreal has a chance to win those 10 extra games this season and keep pace in the wildcard race until the final buzzer.
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