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Canadiens need to be offensive in 2006-07

Analysis by Shawn P. Roarke
NHL.com Senior Writer
Sept. 20, 2006

Montreal's painful early exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs remains a constant reminder of the team's most pressing need heading into this season - a more consistent offense.

Montreal scored 12 goals in managing a two-games-to-none lead in their first-round series against Carolina, but then managed just five goals in dropping the next four games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes.

Montreal's 243 goals were the third-lowest total among the 16 teams that qualified for the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Furthermore, Alexei Kovalev's 65 points was the lowest team-leading total after only Chicago's Kyle Calder (59), Columbus' David Vyborny (65) and St. Louis' Scott Young (49). It will be the task of new coach Guy Carbonneau to find a way to inject some new offense into the club, a process that can only be helped by the importation of speedy sniper Sergei Samsonov from Edmonton. The Canadiens also have a core of young, still developing forwards who could help fill the scoring void. The team remains set in goal with the surprising Cristobal Huet and the dependable David Aebischer working in a platoon. The team's defense, spearheaded by high-scoring Andrei Markov and the young and rugged Mike Komisarek, should remain solid yet again this season.

Who's In:
Dan Jancevski, Sergei Samsonov, Mike Johnson

Who's Out:
Jan Bulis, Raitis Ivanans, Nicklas Sundstrom, Peter Vandermeer, Richard Zednick

2005-06 Leading Scorers:
Alexei Kovalev (23-42-65); Saku Koivu (17-45-62); Michael Ryder (30-25-55); Mike Ribeiro (16-35-51); Andrei Markov (10-36-46)

2005-06 Goaltending Leaders:
David Aebischer (29-17-2, 3.09 GAA. .899 save percentage, 3 shutouts; Cristobal Huet (18-11-4, 2.20 GAA, .929 save percentage, 7 shutouts