Canadiens Tank Tracker: Habs Receive Big Help, Drop To 28th

The Montreal Canadiens’ NHL Draft Lottery outlook improved a great deal last night, and they didn’t even play a game.

The Canadiens started Friday in 27th place with 60 points in 69 games, while the bottom of the NHL Standings continues to fluctuate; now creating two tiers of teams in the bottom-9.

The Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, Arizona Coyotes and St. Louis Blues were all separated by four points as of last night, but some timely wins from the Canadiens’ rivals changed the outlook.

First off, the Philadelphia Flyers finally stopped their losing streak, ending their slide at four with a convincing win against the Buffalo Sabres.

The Flyers dropped the Sabres by the score of 5-2, but, in doing so, leapfrogged the Canadiens up the standings to take possession of 27th place with 61 points in 68 games.

Owen Tippett scores hit first career hat trick on the one year anniversary of Claude Giroux’s last game as a Flyer. pic.twitter.com/olWQAlxxJI

— James Iacovone (@JimIkeHW) March 18, 2023

Then the St. Louis Blues further created separation with the bottom of the NHL Standings with their 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Friday.

With the Win, St. Louis is now five points up on the Canadiens at 24th place; giving the Canadiens a nice points cushion in case they upset a few teams in the coming weeks.

This has to be one of the craziest goals you've ever seen! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/h765cv9Y1I

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 18, 2023

Look Out

On top of creating separation from the clubs above them in the NHL Standings, the Canadiens are also seeing clubs under them thinning the gap as well.

Last night saw the Anaheim Ducks dispose of the Columbus Blue Jackets by the score of 7-4, and, in doing so, bringing their season point totals to 56 points in 69 games.

With the win, the Ducks are now just four points back on the Canadiens and still have a handful of games against rival bottom-feeding clubs like the Canucks(2X), Blues, and Coyotes in the next three weeks.

🔋 MAX POWER 🔋

A burst of speed from Max Jones (@Jones_Max19) to bury the GWG for the @AnaheimDucks! 🦆 pic.twitter.com/0SS9pmrEfC

— NHL (@NHL) March 18, 2023

The Montreal Canadiens now have 13 games left on their calendar with the likes of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes coming up in their next few games.

The odds of the Canadiens continuing their slide down the standings increase with each passing game; especially when you couple it with the late-season surge from a few of their rivals.

The next few weeks will be incredibly determinant of the Canadiens’ NHL Draft Lottery outlook and their selection possibilities for the highly anticipated 2023 NHL Draft.

After a season of misery that has been plagued by injury and back luck, the Canadiens faithful could certainly use the silver lining that is a high draft pick.