{"id":531,"date":"2016-09-16T09:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T13:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=531"},"modified":"2016-09-12T13:44:53","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T17:44:53","slug":"puck-drop-preview-2016-17-montreal-canadiens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2016\/09\/16\/puck-drop-preview-2016-17-montreal-canadiens\/","title":{"rendered":"Puck Drop Preview: 2016-17 Montreal Canadiens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to\u00a0Puck Drop Preview 2016-17, where LastWordOnHockey.com gives you a detailed look at each team from around the NHL leading to the start of this hockey season and offers our insight and analysis. Make sure to stick around until the end of the series, where we\u2019ll offer our full predictions for the standings in each division, and eventually our 2016-17 Stanley Cup pick. You can check out all our articles on our\u00a0Puck Drop Page<\/a>. Today the series continues with the Montreal Canadiens.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Puck Drop Preview: 2016-17\u00a0Montreal Canadiens<\/h2>\n

Last Season<\/h2>\n

The Montreal Canadiens\u00a0<\/b>were active in the off-season leading up to the 2015-16 season. In an effort to continue their trend of making it to the post-season,\u00a0g<\/strong>eneral manager Marc Bergevin<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>sent\u00a0Brandon Prust<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>packing to the\u00a0Vancouver Canucks\u00a0<\/strong>for a younger, bigger, cheaper version of the same player in\u00a0Zack Kassian<\/a><\/strong>, and\u00a0a fifth-round pick. Along with some signings for the farm team, Bergevin signed forwards\u00a0Alexander Semin<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Tomas Fleischmann<\/a><\/strong>, and defenseman\u00a0Mark Barberio<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The preseason also saw a significant change in goaltending duties, as\u00a0Mike Condon<\/a><\/strong>‘s play was more than enough to convince management that he deserved the backup role over\u00a0Dustin Tokarski<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The season kicked off on a high note, with the Canadiens going 9-0-0 to start the season, their best start to a season in franchise history. Their first loss came in the 10th game, a 5-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.<\/p>\n

The season took an unfortunate twist from there\u00a0for the Habs as starting goaltender\u00a0Carey Price<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>went down with a knee injury. Though he did return for a brief stint, the injury was too much to handle and the reigning\u00a0Vezina\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Hart\u00a0<\/strong>winner was forced out for the remainder of the season. If one image could describe the Canadiens 2015-16 season, look no further than @MoeninGlory<\/a><\/strong>‘s contribution:<\/p>\n

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For those who missed the first part of the season for the #Habs<\/a>, here's a quick recap pic.twitter.com\/NysxZ0egVl<\/a><\/p>\n

— Manu (@MoeninGlory) February 16, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n