Lessons The Canadiens Can Learn From NHL Playoff Teams

But talent alone won’t get the job done.

The Seattle Kraken don’t necessarily have the most talented lineup. As it stands, they only have two players who have earned more than 10 points in the playoffs, Yanni Gourde and Jordan Eberle.

And yet, they’ve already knocked out the reigning Stanley Cup Champions in the first round, and are entrenched in a hard-fought second-round series with the Dallas Stars.

Their secret? First off, they’re one of the most intense teams in recent memory. During almost every shift you’ll witness Kraken players apply a relentless forecheck, which flusters opponents while robbing them of all momentum.

They look like they have 12 Rafael Harvey-Pinards in the lineup, which means they tend to outwork their opponents by a significant margin.

They’re also incredibly fast in transition, turning their impressive defensive prowess into scoring chances on a regular basis, yet another area of weakness for the Canadiens.

Brass Tacks

We’re oversimplifying things by saying the Canadiens simply need to add elite talent, relentless play, and fantastic speed in transition to their arsenal.

But they can start taking steps to improve their long-term Stanley Cup odds. We’ve already discussed the importance of drafting an elite player at the 2023 Draft, but in the meantime, the club can focus on their current biggest downfall: speed in transition.

Kirby Dach and Nick Suzuki are fantastic at controlling the pace of the play, but they’re some of the few players on the roster with can make a positive impact.

Beyond the forwards, we can also consider that the vast majority of scoring plays start roughly 200 feet away, in the defensive zone.

Finding players with a strong penchant for quick puck retrieval and controlled distribution, as we see from Mike Matheson, is key, and those players must be given developmental priority over their counterparts.