Rather than telling you who I thought were the keys to their success, I wanted to know who you all think will help make or break the Habs' season.
Well, the feedback was overwhelming!
I posted the article on Hockeybuzz.com, HabsAddict.com, The Bleacher Report, while also posting it on Twitter and Facebook.
In all, I received over 85 lists. While many of them were complete five-player lists, some only had three or four selections but I included them none the less.
I took these lists, entered them into excel based on ranking, and assigned a point value—five points for first and one point for fifth—to produce the final results.
After all of the tabulation, here are your top five picks—in reverse order for dramatic effect—with a little summary of why each one was selected:
No. 5 - Andrei Kostitsyn
Andrei seems like a pretty obvious pick to me. Why? Well, he is supposed to be a top-six forward and moreover, a 30+ goal scorer. Despite his obvious skill set, AK46 has yet to put to all together and tends to suffer long stretches of complete ineffectiveness.
If the Canadiens—who were 30th overall in 5-on-5 scoring last season—are going to make the playoffs and have a chance at challenging for home-ice advantage, they will need Andrei to finally break the 30-goal barrier.
With his troubled brother recently shipped out of town and his contract expiring at the end of the season, it is do or die time for the older Kostitsyn brother.
No. 4 - Andrei Markov
Andrei Markov is without a doubt one of the best puck-moving defensemen in the NHL.
With Markov in the lineup last season, the Canadiens had a comfortable 22-11-5 win/loss record good for 49 points. Compare that to the Habs' 15-20-3 record without him in the lineup—good for 33 points—and his value to the team is obvious.
As has become the problem for Markov the last few years, he must stay healthy. The healthier Markov is this season the better the Canadiens will be and the better chance they have of challenging for home-ice rather than the last playoff spot.
No. 3 - P.K. Subban
Speaking of Markov being injured, it currently looks like he will miss up to and maybe more than the first month of the season. In his absence, it is clear that Habs fans are looking to young Subban to carry the load.
Rapidly thrust into top-line minutes during last year's playoff run, Subban responded with calm and poise.
He will need to display the same kind of character as well as offensive skills to fill the void that will be left by Markov's early season absence.
Moreover, Subban will be expected to carry the powerplay load and keep the ship floating until "The General" is back.
If, for whatever reason, Subban is not up to the challenge, the Habs could be in trouble, early, while Markov is out.
That being said, with an additional 15 pounds of muscle and an eye on the Calder Trophy, I think that Subban will deliver and then some.
No. 2 - Michael Cammalleri
Finishing the 2010 season with 26 goals and 24 assists, Michael Cammalleri was at one point on pace to score 40 goals.
A late season injury that kept him out of the lineup for 15 games also put a massive dent in his scoring pace as he scored zero goals over his final 12 games of the season.
But Cammalleri returned with a vengeance during the Habs' surprise playoff run, scoring 13 goals over 19 games and cementing Habs' fans love for the diminutive sniper.
This season, Cammalleri will be expected to continue scoring on a 30 to 40 goal pace, and be the offensive go-to guy on the powerplay. Another strong, injury-free campaign from Cammy should help put the Canadiens in a good position heading into the playoffs.
Like Markov, however, Cammalleri must remain healthy as there is a serious drop off in scoring talent once Cammy is out.
No.1 - Carey Price
No big surprise here. Price actually received 51 first place selections in the polling (see table below) and was the run-away selection as the key to the Canadiens success this season.
And why not?
Ever since GM Pierre Gauthier traded playoff hero Jaroslav Halak to St. Louis, Carey Price has been in the spotlight.
Price struggled to a 13-20-5 win/loss record last season but we have to remember that the team in front of him could, for some reason, not score enough to give him the victories even when he played well enough to deserve them.
Last season was and has to be a write-off for Carey Price. He has to look to the future and his two-year deal that cements him as the undisputed No.1 goaltender in Montreal.
There will be a ton of pressure on Price, seeing as Halak was a fan favorite and many people feel that the wrong player was traded.
But that is all irrelevant now.
What is important is that Price plays 60+ games and secures at least 30 wins in the process.
A tall order? Perhaps, but I feel that Price has all of the tools to get the job done. He has seen it all in Montreal now and hopefully has learned enough that he can truly become the No.1 goaltender that his pedigree says he should be.
Price has no choice but to deliver the goods this year. With Alex Auld backing him up, there is little margin for error as Gauthier has put the teams fate 100% into Price's hands.
As Price goes, so does the team and I, personally, think that Carey is ready for the task.
In a few short weeks, we'll find out if I'm right!
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For your information, I have included the tabulation grid with all of the players that were mentioned even once, and the ranking/point table below:
So do you agree with these consensus picks? Disagree? Was someone left off of the list that you feel should be there? Let us know what you think!
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