Atlantic Teams - Part 1

Boston - The Boston Bruins did not build a Stanley Cup contender with what has essentially become the standard model over the past decade. Unlike the Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings (and what teams like the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames hope to become), the Bruins did not procure a core of top-10 draft picks as a result of finishing at or near the bottom of the NHL standings. The Bruins did finish poorly enough to pick in the top 10 on merit twice in the past decade, and one of those selections (Phil Kessel) led to two more top-10 picks in a rather famous trade. Instead, the Bruins have built one of the NHL's best rosters in a variety of ways. The two previous administrations before Peter Chiarelli arrived did an incredible job of landing premium talent beyond the first round in the draft. The 2006 NHL Draft, which occurred during a unique period for the Bruins because Chiarelli had been hired as the new general manager but wasn't allowed to officially leave the Ottawa Senators for the position, produced Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand as second- and third-round picks. David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron were second-round selections before Chiarelli arrived. Boston also proved adept in the free-agent market, with high-profile signings (Zdeno Chara) and under-the-radar moves (Tim Thomas). Jeff Gorton, who served as GM during the interim before Chiarelli arrived, pulled off one of the best trades of the decade when he shipped goalie Andrew Raycroft to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a prospect named Tuukka Rask. Chiarelli, like Ray Shero in Pittsburgh and Dean Lombardi in Los Angeles, made the necessary moves to flesh out a championship-worthy roster. He traded for Nathan Horton, Dennis Seidenberg, Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly. The Kessel trade landed Tyler Seguin, Dougie Hamilton and Jared Knight, and trading Seguin (along with Peverley) has added Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith, Matt Fraser and Joseph Morrow. There were more defections this offseason than there had been in the previous two, but the core of the 2011 championship team remains, and the Bruins are expected to contend for the Cup again in 2013-14. Boston was two wins shy of a second title in three seasons, and the way the 2013 Stanley Cup Final ended figures to still be fresh in the players' minds when training camp begins next month. Chiarelli had more work to do this offseason, but the changes made have ensured another season of high expectations in Boston. The Bruins lost both of their top two right wings from the postseason lineup, Horton and Jaromir Jagr, to free agency. To replace them, Chiarelli landed Eriksson in one of the biggest trades of the summer and signed free agent Jarome Iginla. Seguin was on the team's third line for much of the postseason, so losing him and Peverley creates a couple of holes to fill. There are several candidates to replace them, including players Chiarelli's staff drafted (Jared Knight, Ryan Spooner, Jordan Caron) and ones they traded for (Smith and Fraser). Carl Soderberg, who was acquired by a previous administration but was finally convinced to cross the Atlantic Ocean by Chiarelli's group, is a favorite for one of those spots. The other big moves the Bruins made this offseason were all about keeping the franchise as a Cup contender for years to come. Rask produced a season that had him in the Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy conversations, and he earned an eight-year, $56 million contract. Bergeron also signed a long-term extension (eight years, $52 million). Adding Chara changed the franchise, and the defenseman is one of the most indispensable players in the League. He, Rask and Bergeron can be the backbone of the Bruins for several more runs at the Stanley Cup. Bergeron in many ways exemplifies everything Julien wants his Bruins to represent. A Selke Trophy winner and likely annual contender for the award, Bergeron has become one of the top players in the League. He plays excellent defense and drives possession on offense. He would be an easy choice as captain if the Bruins didn't have a Cup-winning one already, Chara. The ultimate example of Bergeron's value could come in February at the Winter Olympics. Canada likely will bring a roster loaded with natural centers, No. 1, franchise-type centers, to Sochi, Russia. Bergeron has a chance to be one of the few who actually get to stay in the middle. There are a couple of new faces to work in, and one of the young defensemen Chiarelli has stockpiled needs to replace Andrew Ference in the top four. Rask needs to prove he can repeat 2012-13. The Senators are trending upward, and the new kids on the block, the Detroit Red Wings, also look formidable, but the Bruins will enter the 2013-14 as not only a favorite to win the Atlantic Division but also to return to the Cup Final for the third time in four seasons. That level of expectations, more than anything, is what the work of Chiarelli and Julien has fostered in Boston.

The Boston Bruins have represented the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final twice in the past three seasons, and 13 of the 20 players who dressed for Game 7 in 2011 against the Vancouver Canucks remain on the roster. That type of stability doesn't leave a lot of questions, but there was some turnover this offseason and a few issues the Bruins need to sort out if they intend on contending for the Cup again. Jarome Iginla rebuffed the Bruins at the NHL Trade Deadline in April, was shut down by them in the Eastern Conference Final after being dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and likely will slot in on one of the team's top two lines after signing with Boston as a free agent this summer. It was an interesting few months for Iginla, to say the least. The longtime Calgary Flames captain figures to have a fresh start in Boston, but at age 36 he brings some questions with him. Iginla scored at least 31 goals in every season from 2000-01 to 2011-12; his 14 goals last season project to 24 over 82 games. Iginla's regular-season numbers with the Penguins (five goals and 11 points in 13 games) looked more like his usual work. He had nine points in six games against the New York Islanders in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, then had three in the final two rounds, including a zero-point showing with five shots on goal in the sweep by the Bruins. Iginla will play on an elite line for Boston, but can he continue to produce like an elite player? Tuukka Rask finished fifth in voting for the Vezina Trophy and probably somewhere between second and fifth on an unofficial list of top candidates for the Conn Smythe Trophy. It was a remarkable run for someone in his first full season as an unquestioned No. 1 goaltender. Rask signed a seven-year, $49 million contract this offseason, which makes him the joint leader with Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators as the most expensive NHL goaltenders in 2013-14. It wasn't Rask's first great season in the NHL, he took the No. 1 job from Tim Thomas during 2009-10, but 2013-14 will be the first time Rask is expected play at least 55 games, if not more. The Bruins have had the same four players at the core of their defense in the playoffs for each of the past three seasons: Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg, Johnny Boychuk and Andrew Ference. But Ference left Boston to sign a four-year contract with the Edmonton Oilers, and the Bruins did not add a defenseman who played in the NHL last season. Late-season addition Wade Redden also was not retained. That means it is likely one of the team's young defensemen will be in line for a promotion. The candidates are Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug, with Matt Bartkowski and Joseph Morrow as the dark horses in the mix. Hamilton has the pedigree. He was the No. 9 pick in the 2012 NHL Draft and played 42 games for the Bruins last season. He projects as a potential No. 1 defenseman, and getting to spend the season with Chara or Seidenberg as his partner would help him fulfill that promise. Krug, an undrafted free-agent signing from Michigan State, has three games of regular-season NHL experience but passed Hamilton on the depth chart during the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Bartkowski could end up on the third pairing with Adam McQuaid, another candidate for top-four duty, but doesn't offer the same upside as any of the others. Morrow was a first-round pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins who was traded twice in a span of a few months, first to the Dallas Stars for Brenden Morrow, and then to Boston as part of the Tyler Seguin-Loui Eriksson mega-deal. He most likely is ticketed for Providence in the American Hockey League. Seguin and Rich Peverley each spent time on the third line last season, especially after Jaromir Jagr arrived from Dallas before the trade deadline. Chris Kelly is back and will center the team's third unit, but his linemates remain to be determined. Carl Soderberg, who signed with the Bruins late last season after playing for years in his native Sweden, appeared in six regular-season games and two during the Stanley Cup Final. He seems like a favorite for one of the two spots next to Kelly. The other opening (or both) could go to someone from a collection of young players who will come to training camp vying for a spot. Jordan Caron has the most NHL experience but hasn't been able to secure a permanent place in the lineup. Reilly Smith saw regular action for the Dallas Stars last season and could move into Peverley's place after being traded for him. Other candidates include Matt Fraser (also from the Seguin-Eriksson deal) and homegrown prospects Jared Knight and Ryan Spooner. Coach Claude Julien could break up the "Merlot Line" and place Daniel Paille on the third line, as he did near the end of the postseason. Fraser, Knight or Spooner then could end up on the fourth line next to Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton. Campbell missed the end of the team's postseason run because of a broken leg. Patrice Bergeron spent the days following the Cup Final in a hospital with a variety of injuries, most notably a collapsed lung. Other players on the team were playing through injuries, serious or not. At this point, it seems plausible everyone will be healthy and ready to play on opening night. Even if that is the case, several (especially Campbell and Bergeron) will not have had a "normal" offseason. It already was going to be a short one because of last season's schedule. Boston's last game was June 24, the latest an NHL game has been played (the 1995 Stanley Cup Final also ended June 24). The 2013-14 season is starting about a week early because of the break for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Hockey players are typically creatures of habit, so the atypical offseason could have some sort of effect in the early stages. This admittedly is a minor nitpick; the Bruins won the Cup in 2011 with an awful power play during the postseason. It was better in the 2013 playoffs, when they converted more than 17 percent of their chances and figured out the Chicago Blackhawks' previously impenetrable penalty kill in the Final. But the Bruins have finished tied for 14th or worse in power-play proficiency every season since finishing tied for fourth in 2008-09. That was the last full season Marc Savard played, and the last before Phil Kessel was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Iginla scored at least eight power-play goals in 12 straight seasons before 2012-13 and hit double figures 10 times during that span. Krug and Hamilton are offensively gifted and could help with the extra man. The Bruins consistently have been excellent at even strength and on the penalty kill, so even a little bit of improvement on the power play would help their bid to win the Atlantic Division and finish first in the Eastern Conference.

Buffalo - It's a rebuilding year for the Buffalo Sabres now that the club has changed direction. The gap between Buffalo and the competition, which widened in 2012-13, resulted in general manager Darcy Regier releasing two organizational pillars last season. Coach Lindy Ruff, who spent much of his 30-year career as a player and coach in Buffalo, was the first victim when he was fired Feb. 20 after a 6-10-1 start. Captain Jason Pominville was next; the career Sabres forward was traded to the Minnesota Wild for prospects and draft picks at the NHL deadline. Defensemen Jordan Leopold (St. Louis Blues) and Robyn Regehr (Los Angeles Kings) also were traded for picks. By April 4, Buffalo owned the youngest roster in the League and is only getting younger, with 20 players selected in the past two drafts. Who better to lead a young, inexperienced team than a young coach. After dropping Ruff, the Sabres promoted Ron Rolston from the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League on an interim basis. In 31 games, his first in the NHL in any capacity, Rolston finished with a 15-11-5 record. The improvement in record and chemistry earned Rolston the permanent job May 7. In one of Rolston's first offseason moves, he added Joe Sacco as an assistant. Sacco brings a long NHL resume as a player and coach to the staff. Sacco coached the Colorado Avalanche from 2009 through last season. Rolston may be an NHL newcomer but his prospect-development chops extend over two decades at the NCAA, U.S. National Team Development Program and AHL levels. Rolston said he feels this experience will help him take a young team to the next level. With many of Buffalo's starters maturing, and a bevy of prospects beating down the door, Rolston will have his work cut out. The coach will use training camp as a competition, with players fighting for spots on a team that finished in the League basement in almost every major statistical category. Though many of the prospects, Zemgus Girgensons, Mark Pysyk, Brayden McNabb, Joel Armia, Matt Hackett, may be relatively unknown, one most will know is Mikhail Grigorenko. The Russian played 25 games for Buffalo as an 18-year-old last season, scoring a goal and four assists skating mostly as a third- or fourth-line center. For all the change wrought by the organization -- a new coaching staff, a pool of NHL-ready prospects, an injection of youth, the team that will take the ice Oct. 2 against the Detroit Red Wings is not unrecognizable. Goalie Ryan Miller and forward Thomas Vanek, for example, are two veteran stars who survived the purge, but the emergence of younger players is further proof no job is safe in Buffalo. Miller struggled last season, posting the poorest stat line of his career and occasionally allowing his frustrations to spill over. Trade rumors swirled at the deadline and this summer, but it looks like Miller will be the starter opening night. Should his play continue to falter, backup Jhonas Enroth, who finished strong in 2012-13 then won gold with Sweden at the World Championship, would jump at the No. 1 job. Vanek scored 20 goals in 2012-13, the eighth straight season the Austrian wing scored at least 20, but faded for stretches. As he enters the final year of his contract, Buffalo is hopeful forwards Drew Stafford and Ville Leino, who each struggled last season, along with wing prospects Armia and Johan Larsson, can develop into viable alternatives. Rolston said Vanek's production, he accounted for more than a sixth of the Sabres' 118 goals and nearly half of the power-play scores, was aided by the continued emergence of center Cody Hodgson. At 23, Hodgson scored 15 goals in 2012-13 and had 19 assists skating on the top line with Vanek. As the overhauled Sabres enter their first full season, that future remains uncertain, but the plan is fully in motion.

The Buffalo Sabres are rebuilding. That much is known. Everything else is uncertain. The Sabres are the youngest team in the NHL. As of early August, the average age of the roster is 26.17. Tyler Myers and Cody Hodgson, each 23 years old, rank among the veterans. Ron Rolston, who stood behind an NHL bench for the first time when he was promoted to interim coach last season, is being asked to lead Buffalo back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in his first full season in charge. Buffalo's on-ice leader for the better part of four seasons, captain Jason Pominville, was traded in April, and rumors of a similar outcome for goaltender Ryan Miller and right wing Thomas Vanek have swirled since the end of last season. Ron Rolston's first game as interim coach of the Sabres, a 3-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, was his first game behind an NHL bench. A former assistant around the NCAA, Rolston spent seven seasons coaching the USA Hockey National Team Development Program before taking over as coach of Buffalo's American Hockey League affiliate, the Rochester Americans, in 2011. Promoted at midseason to replace Lindy Ruff, Rolston performed well enough over the final 31 games of the season (the Sabres went 15-11-5) for the organization to remove the interim tag on May 7. Now Rolston faces a simple challenge: Lead the rebuilding Sabres back from the brink in his first full season as an NHL coach. Despite lofty expectations, Rolston assured NHL.com he was up to the challenge. Offensive impotency made it a very long 48-game schedule for the Sabres last season. They suffered in all situations, most glaringly on a power play that ranked 29th out of 30 NHL teams. The Sabres managed 118 goals overall, one of many offensive statistics that found them in the bottom-third of the League. Vanek scored 20 goals, and Hodgson broke out for 15, but no one else on the team scored more than 10. Rather than adding any free-agent forwards in the offseason, the Sabres are hopeful scorers on the roster and in the system can step up. Drew Stafford and Ville Leino have proven scoring records, and second-year forwards Brian Flynn and Marcus Foligno will be expected to produce at a higher rate. There are forward prospects on the NHL cusp, Mikhail Grigorenko, Joel Armia and Johan Larsson, who could boost the attack should it struggle like it did last season. Expect those same players and prospects to be rotated in on the power play, where Buffalo's 14-percent conversion rate looks even more one-dimensional when you consider Vanek scored nine of the team's 23 goals with the man-advantage. For all of Buffalo's offensive struggles in 2012-13, the defense might have been worse. The Sabres gave up more shots per game than any team (33.8) and killed penalties 79.2 percent of the time. The Sabres often seemed to capitulate well before the final whistle, witnessed by their 1-10-1 record when trailing after the first period. At one point early in the season, Buffalo allowed four or more goals for six consecutive games. This season, in addition to familiar faces Myers, Mike Weber and Christian Ehrhoff, a couple of veteran acquisitions will be battling for top-six spots against a slew of eager prospects. Buffalo acquired Henrik Tallinder, who paired with Myers in his Calder-winning season, and Jamie McBain, who had a goal and seven assists in 40 games for the Carolina Hurricanes last season. Those two will be competing with prospects Chad Ruhwedel, Mark Pysyk and Brayden McNabb, all of whom have spent stints with the senior Sabres. Don't be surprised when Rolston tries a few different pairings in October, looking for the effective combinations that eluded Buffalo last season. Miller, for seven straight seasons the undisputed starting goalie in Buffalo, saw his grip on the position slip slightly last season. Miller started 40 of the 48 games but posted the worst stat line of his career: 17-17-5 with a .915 save percentage and 2.81 goals-against average. The best evidence of his struggles, whether due to age, lack of motivation or unhappiness, was when he allowed four goals on 14 shots against the New York Rangers on April 19, a loss that officially eliminated Buffalo from the postseason. It was the 14th start of the season in which Miller allowed four or more goals. But the No. 1 job is still Miller's to lose. Should those poor performances seep into this season, 25-year-old backup Jhonas Enroth may be asked to assume a larger role, and the Swede appears primed for a chance to show his skills on a nightly basis. Enroth took advantage of limited minutes last season to post career-best numbers and earn a two-year contract extension this summer. After the season, Enroth earned best goaltender honors at the World Championship, where he posted a .956 save percentage and 1.15 GAA and helped Sweden win the gold medal. Ville Leino signed a six-year, $27 million contract with Buffalo in the summer of 2011, months after helping the Philadelphia Flyers eliminate the Sabres from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Thus far with the Sabres, the forward has shown none of the killer instinct that earned him that lucrative deal. After scoring eight goals in 71 games in 2011-12, Leino was slowed by injuries last season and played in eight games. When general manager Darcy Regier chose to not buy him out this summer, questions turned to whether Leino can finally earn his salary-cap charge of $4.5 million in 2013-14. Barring another injury, things are shaping up for the Finn's return to form. Before he went down with a collapsed lung that ended his season, Leino had two goals and four assists in those eight games. More than the points, Leino gave fans a glimpse of the talent and fire he can bring to the Sabres. This year's projected lineup also suits him; Leino had played his entire NHL career on the wing before arriving in Buffalo, where he was slotted at center to fill a need. With the emergence of Hodgson and the rise of prospects Grigorenko and Zemgus Girgensons, Leino should again be given the freedom to create offense as a top-line wing. There were individual disappointments up and down the Buffalo roster last season, but Drew Stafford might have been the most troubling. Formerly part of the core group along with Pominville, Vanek and Miller, the forward has one 30-goal and two 20-goal seasons to his name. However, last season (the second of a four-year, $16 million contract), Stafford managed six goals, none of which came on the man-advantage. He had a team-worst minus-16 rating, the first time he's finished with a minus rating in his seven-year career. Even when one considers the decline of the Sabres as a team, Stafford's lack of production is a concern. He obviously has the talent to be a dynamic second- or third-line wing, and just a couple of seasons ago scored 31 goals, 11 on the power play. As an alternate captain on the League's youngest team, Stafford will need to set an example.

Montreal - The Montreal Canadiens are one of the NHL's most difficult teams to read entering the 2013-14 season. On the one hand there's the team that got off to a 20-5-5 start last season under a new coaching staff led by Michel Therrien, effectively erasing all memory of a nightmarish 2011-12 season that saw the Canadiens finish 15th in the Eastern Conference and 28th in the League. But the Canadiens finished the regular season on a 3-5-0 slide, and the slump continued in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs when Montreal was eliminated by the Ottawa Senators in five games. So which team does general manager Marc Bergevin believe he has? The one that dominated opponents through the first 30 games, or the one that struggled once the games became more important and the level of competition went up a notch? Bergevin appears to want to wait and use the 2013-14 season as a litmus test, leaving his team largely intact and avoiding any long-term commitments to players during the offseason. He allowed unrestricted free agents forwards Michael Ryder and Colby Armstrong to walk, and waiver pickup Jeff Halpern remains unsigned. In their place, Bergevin signed Daniel Briere to a two-year, $8 million deal after the Philadelphia Flyers used one of their compliance buyouts to set him free, and acquired veteran enforcer George Parros in a trade with the Florida Panthers. Bergevin was spurned, however, in his attempt to lure another star player who was bought out by his team when Montreal native Vincent Lecavalier chose to sign with the Flyers for five years and $22.5 million. Bergevin said he was unwilling to match the term and dollar figure on the Lecavalier contract because the GM has an eye on the future and the money that eventually will be needed to keep his young talent in Montreal. A big part of the future of the franchise already is on the roster, and the financial cushion Bergevin referred to ultimately will be used to keep that young core intact. In the meantime, the Canadiens' hopes for 2013-14 rest on those players taking another big step in their development. Defenseman P.K. Subban, 24, won the first Norris Trophy of his career last season, and forwards Max Pacioretty (24), Lars Eller (24), Alex Galchenyuk (19) and Calder Trophy runner-up Brendan Gallagher (21) are on the upside. They will be surrounded by veterans Briere, Tomas Plekanec, Brian Gionta and Rene Bourque, with David Desharnais looked upon to bounce back from what was a difficult 2012-13 season and return to the form that saw him score 60 points a season earlier. That group of nine forwards should allow Therrien to enjoy the same level of offensive depth he had last season, when Montreal finished tied for fourth in the NHL with 3.04 goals per game despite not having a player among the NHL's top 30 in scoring. Much of the problem for the Canadiens late last season could be found at the other end of the ice. The Canadiens allowed 31 goals in their final eight regular-season games, then gave up 20 goals in the five-game playoff loss to the Senators. That’s 51 goals in 13 games, an average of 3.92 after allowing 2.32 per game over their first 40. A left knee injury to rugged defenseman Alexei Emelin on April 6 was the catalyst for the struggles, exposing a lack of depth on the back end that was not addressed during the offseason and which remains a problem with Emelin not expected to be ready to play before late November at the earliest. After Subban, Josh Gorges and Andrei Markov, the Canadiens' defense thins out quickly. Though Bergevin was unable to address his defensive depth, he did make an acquisition that could allow his team to keep more pucks out of its net and which doesn't count against the salary cap. Goaltender Carey Price will have a new mentor this season after the Canadiens decided not to renew the contract of goaltending coach Pierre Groulx; instead, they hired Stephane Waite away from the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. Price's performance suffered greatly down the stretch and in the playoffs, never recovering from an April 13 start at the Toronto Maple Leafs when he allowed three goals on four shots. Over his next 10 starts, including four in the playoffs, Price went 3-6-0 with a 3.20 goals-against average and an .878 save percentage. There are very few players in the NHL, if any, who have to live with the kind of scrutiny Price is under in Montreal, and he admitted following the season it can be a burden he struggles with at times. Teaching him to manage that pressure and feel confident in himself is something that will fall on Waite, making him perhaps Bergevin's most important acquisition. Price's ability to bounce back, and the play of the defense in front of him, will go a long way toward determining whether the Canadiens legitimately are one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference or if their late-season swoon was a better indicator of where this team fits in the standings.

 

The Montreal Canadiens enter the 2013-14 NHL season as a reigning division champion and second-place finisher in the Eastern Conference. But they are a team that lost nine of its last 14 games, including four of five in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So if there is one question that needs to be answered for the Canadiens, it is to find out which of those two facts best represent the truth Corey Price is certainly paid like one, topping the Canadiens payroll with a $6.5 million salary-cap charge, and he definitely has the talent to be among the NHL's best. However he has yet to reach the upper echelon of his profession, and having turned 26 this past Friday, Price is leaving the realm of being considered young. He had his best season in 2010-11, the first after the Canadiens traded Jaroslav Halak and made Price their undisputed No. 1. He led the League with 38 wins and was sixth in save percentage (.923), suggesting that at age 23 Price was ready to assert himself as one of the NHL's best. It hasn't worked out that way. His save percentage has dropped in each of the past two seasons to .916 in 2011-12 and .905 last season, placing Price 35th in a League where there are 30 No. 1 goaltenders. Even before finishing the season with an .856 save percentage in his final eight starts, Price had a pedestrian .916 mark in 31 games. Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin decided to drop Price's goalie coach Pierre Groulx in favor of Stephane Waite, who helped two relatively unheralded goaltenders, Antti Niemi and Corey Crawford, win the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks. Now Waite will be working with a prime talent who has yet to reach his potential, and he's excited for the challenge. The left knee injury that ended Alexei Emelin's season April 6 and will keep him out until at least late November showed to what extent the Canadiens lack depth on the blue line. Up to that point the unit managed to stay healthy, and the top four of P.K. Subban, Josh Gorges, Andrei Markov and Emelin were effective. But once Emelin went down, Markov's play slipped significantly at even strength as the rigors of a long season split between the Kontinental Hockey League and NHL began to show, and there was a severe trickle-down effect. In the 10 regular-season games Emelin missed, the Canadiens allowed 34 goals. In Emelin's continued absence, it's not clear how the defense will shape up to start the season. Subban and Gorges are likely to stay together, and Markov will get a lot of minutes, but after that there will be a battle between Raphael Diaz, Jarred Tinordi, Francis Bouillon, Davis Drewiske and perhaps Nathan Beaulieu and Greg Pateryn to fill out the remaining three spots. It's a group that shows to what extent the Canadiens are vulnerable to injuries. Over an 82-game season, injuries will be inevitable. The prior time Daniel Briere had as poor an offensive performance as he did last season with the Philadelphia Flyers, he was a 22-year-old second-year player with the Phoenix Coyotes, and the world was freaking out about the Y2K bug. That was 13 years ago, when Briere had two points in 13 games during the 1999-00 season. His production last season was better than that, but Briere's 16 points in 34 games represented his worst point-per-game output since fully establishing himself in the NHL. The Flyers may have bought out Briere's contract regardless of how he produced, but his difficult season surely made the decision a little easier for GM Paul Holmgren. Briere turns 36 Oct. 6, a few days after the season starts, and it's difficult to imagine a player his age reversing what appears to be a rather steady decline. Since recording the fourth-highest points-per-game average of his career in 2010-11, Briere's number has dropped in each of the past two seasons. But he is determined to prove he can do it, and playing for the team he rooted for as a boy adds to his resolve. The Canadiens are banking on the fact Briere is a clutch playoff performer, with 109 points in 108 postseason games. But Montreal needs him to produce in the regular season for that asset to be relevant. It is understood that Tomas Plekanec is the team's top center, really, it would be impossible to think otherwise, but it is not nearly as clear who will play the second-line role. David Desharnais is the incumbent, and his status as Max Pacioretty's preferred partner gives him the inside track. Except by the end of last season, it was rather evident Lars Eller was far more effective than Desharnais and he essentially took over the role over the final month. After Desharnais scored 60 points in his breakout season in 2011-12, he had trouble maintaining the pace last season and his play appeared to dip after he signed a four-year, $14 million contract extension March 15. He finished with 28 points in 48 games and continued to get quality ice time from coach Michel Therrien, used regularly for offensive-zone faceoffs and receiving consistent power play time. Eller finished last season with a career-high 30 points, two better than Desharnais playing two fewer games, receiving 88 fewer seconds of ice time per game and more than two fewer minutes per game on the power play. In even-strength scoring, no one on the Canadiens had more than Eller's 25 points except linemate Alex Galchenyuk (26) and Pacioretty (27). In April, Eller had 13 points in 14 games and, for all intents and purposes, had grown into more of a second-line role. Will that continue this season? Much of that will depend on Desharnais, who likely will get an opportunity to rekindle the magic he had with Pacioretty two seasons ago. Should Desharnais falter, it is hard to imagine Therrien sticking with him for as long as he did last season, especially with Eller ready to take on a bigger role. Alex Galchenyuk was the youngest regular player in the NHL last season, and as a result Therrien sheltered the 19-year-old a great deal by giving him 12:19 of ice time per game, tied for 612th in the NHL. He often watched from the bench in the third period of tight games and was almost never sent out for defensive-zone faceoffs. Galchenyuk's production of nine goals with 18 assists in limited ice time was impressive. According to behindthenet.ca, Galchenyuk's 2.83 points per 60 minutes at even strength was 13th in the NHL, better than Rick Nash (2.77), Martin St. Louis (2.77), Ryan Getzlaf (2.76), Patrick Kane (2.67) and Steven Stamkos (2.65). Galchenyuk went through a rough patch between Feb. 25 and April 1, with three assists in 17 games. But he finished with a flurry of 12 points in 13 games playing on Eller's wing. Over his final seven games, Galchenyuk averaged 11:17 of ice time and managed three goals and three assists. Therrien was annoyed by repeated questioning from the media toward the end of the season regarding Galchenyuk's ice time, and it's possible the coach will limit Galchenyuk again this season considering he's still eligible for junior hockey. But if Therrien decides to turn Galchenyuk loose, look out. It's easy to forget P.K. Subban's Norris Trophy-winning 2012-13 season began on the sidelines, waiting out a contractual impasse with the Canadiens that cost him the first six games of the season. Then, once he did join the team, Therrien was reluctant to mess with a winning formula; the Canadiens were 4-2-0 by the time Subban played a game. Subban began the season with Francis Bouillon as his defense partner on Montreal's third pairing, and was anchoring the team's second power-play unit with Raphael Diaz opposite Andrei Markov on the first unit. Subban did not play more than 23 minutes until his 16th game. He had six points in his first 10 games, but over his next 26 Subban would score eight goals with 22 assists. Subban will be entering training camp with his teammates and already has Therrien's trust, so his days on the third pairing should be long behind him. Add in the motivational factor of aiming for a spot on the Canadian Olympic team and playing for a lucrative, long-term contract he didn't get from the Canadiens last year, and you have the potential for a more productive season.