Montreal has 42 points, 12 behind the third-place Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division.
Claude Julien, who coached the Bruins for 10 seasons before being fired on Feb. 7 and hired by the Canadiens one week later, knows a thing or two about Boston. True, the team may be different since he left, but he knows coach Bruce Cassidy well from having him on his staff. It should be an emotional homecoming for Julien, whose 419 wins are the most in Bruins history.
Minuses: Canadiens goaltender Carey Price has had such a high bar of being so good for so long, and when he's not able to erase a lot of Montreal's mistakes, I think we see the reality of what the Canadiens are. It has been a difficult first half of the season for Price, who missed three weeks with a lower-body injury in November and is 13-14-4 with a 2.95 goals-against average and. 908 save percentage. He needs more help in front of him and he hasn't received it to this point, which has been a huge challenge.
The Canadiens are a team in flux; I don't know what they are or who they are. I know when they were at their best three seasons ago, they were a skating team that played a speed game with skill. They have tried to become more physical, but aside from defenseman Shea Weber, there is nobody on the roster with as intimidating a presence, and he's out with a foot injury.
Lastly, the Canadiens have not been able to adjust without a No. 1 center. They had a No. 1 defenseman in P.K. Subban and traded him to the Nashville Predators for Weber prior to last season; they have a No. 1 goalie in Price and a No. 1 forward in Max Pacioretty, one of two NHL players (Alex Ovechkin) to score 30 goals or more in each of the past four seasons. But they need a No. 1 center. Forward Jonathan Drouin, acquired in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 15, 2017, was tried at center but has been more productive on the wing, and Alex Galchenyuk is more of a No. 2 center. They've had too much turnover and changes on defense. Can they really replace Andrei Markov, who signed in the Kontinental Hockey League, or Alexi Emelin, selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL Expansion Draft before being traded to the Predators?