The Montreal Canadiens have to be considered one of the surprising teams of the 2013-14 season. The NHL’s most successful franchise banished the higher seeded Lightning and Bruins in impressive fashion before falling to the New York Rangers in the conference finals.

Montreal did all of this despite having only a single player score more than 20 goals (Tomas Plekanec had 20). Their goal total of 215 was better than only two other playoff teams, Minnesota and (ironically) Los Angeles. The Canadiens were out to prove that their 2013 season was not a fluke, and almost landed in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Canadiens’ two best players Carey Price and P.K. Subban feature primarily in the defensive end so it’s no surprise that the Habs struggle to put the puck in the net. While the Kings may have proven that you don’t need firepower to win a Stanley Cup, they are chock full of veteran snipers that no how to pick their spots. (I’m looking at you Justin Williams, Mr. Game 7)

The Canadiens will have their work cut out for them this season as there are no upgrades on offense and only some mild tinkering on defense. The relief of signing Subban to a long-term deal will put the front office at ease, but they may have too much faith invested in their youth to do anything productive this season.

Offense

Montreal has two productive forward lines and a lot of hope that they can get some production out of the third and fourth lines. That’s not so much a knock on the talent pool as it is a determination of productivity. Max Pacioretty, Plekanec, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher and newcomer P.A. Parenteau will need to have a strong offensive showing if the youngsters don’t start holding their own.

Defense

The only addition to the defensive unit was Tom Gilbert a man known as much for his Twitter account as his play. He’s a serviceable right-handed shot that can work the power play if Subban ever comes off the ice. The Habs defensive unit is very much like the forwards: the top two units eat up most of the ice time with a significant drop in talent after the top four defensemen. Subban, Alexei Emelin, Gilbert and Andrei Markov pull the wagon with Jarred Tinordi, Mike Weaver and Nathan Beaulieu sharing the final two spots.

Goaltending

Carey Price had a Vezina caliber season in 2013-14, racking up 34 wins, six shutouts and a stellar .927 save percentage. He is backed up by Peter Budaj (for now) with Dustin Tokarski waiting in the wings. The Canadiens can match up with anyone in goal with Price on any given night, but they’ll need to score some goals too.

Special Teams

The Canadiens were predictably below average on the power play and elite on the penalty kill. Subban is as dangerous as anyone on the point when Montreal has the extra man, but the Canadiens lack a skill player with a big body that can create traffic and hammer rebounds on the power play.

When Montreal plays a man down, Price usually steals the show. The Canadiens can shuffle their top four defensemen through on the kill, and even youngster Tinordi has shown some potential as a decent penalty killer.

Coaching

Michel Therrien has shown that he can get the most out of a team that may be the second best team every night. They play within his system and all seem willing to skate through a wall for him. He has Montreal playing motivated hockey, which is good for five or six more wins than they may deserve given their limitations in the talent department.

Outlook

I list myself among the non-believers in Montreal. There are just too many other clubs that improved for the Canadiens to be in the playoff picture. While I believe that there are teams within the Atlantic Division that may have gotten worse, the Metropolitan Division has gotten stronger as a whole making the playoff race even tighter. As good as the defense is in Montreal, the offense needs to develop into something special if this team wants to go anywhere.