Canadiens need to find a way to give Samuel Montembeault more defensive support

It is now the fourth season since the Montreal Canadiens made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in their surprise run in 2021, and since then, the Habs have been a bottom five team in the league pretty much every season. They were hoping to take another step forward this season, but they’ve been mediocre out of the gate again with a 4-5-1 record, particularly due to their struggles in the defensive end.

Frank Seravalli talked about the Habs start to the season and how bad they’ve been defensively on Daily Faceoff Live.

Frank Seravalli: Another team that’s really been spooky to start that also starts with the play in their own end is the Montreal Canadiens. The rate that they’ve given up goals is 28th in the NHL, that actually is demeaning and makes it look wrong how well Sam Montembeault has played in front of them. Like he’s actually been really good, and yet, this is where the Habs are at in terms of goals against.

They give up way too much. I don’t know if there’s any cleaner way to say it than that. They’ve been able to score. There’s been some bright spots. Cole Caulfield has been an amazing story to start the season. I think there are tons of reasons for optimism for the Montreal Canadiens because the defense that you see now is not the defense that you will see in a couple years from now, this is sort of like one of those transition years and stages.

But nonetheless, the Montreal Canadiens expected to take a massive step forward this year. They wanted to be more competitive. They haven’t been to this point, and it’s because of the way that they’ve played defensively that’s been their sole biggest contributor to that.

You can watch the full episode here…