Montreal Canadiens may not advance in 2021-22

Marc Bergevin did a colossal job during the short offseason. He lost some big pieces, like Corey Perry, Phillip Danault and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, not to mention that Shea Weber won't be donning skates in 2021-22, but he quickly turned to a 10 coins.

To fill the major losses in his core, including Paul Byron who will miss much of the upcoming schedule, Bergevin has grafted Mike Hoffman, David Savard, Cedric Paquette, Mathieu Perreault and Christian Dvorak to his roster. Dvorak is a major addition, an upgrade from KK and/or Danault. David Savard will fill in some of Shea Weber's play, but not his "aura". Hoffman will score goals on the massive offense, while Paquette and Perreault will be two quality depth pieces.

But, really, I have two "buts" as the rookie medical and physical testing opens... Who has replaced Corey Perry and Shea Weber to maintain such effective leadership through 2021? By committee! This cliché tickles me a bit, I must admit. A committee is all well and good, but the absence of the two leaders does not make up for it. On top of that, stability often allows for progress toward the common goal.

Perry, Weber and Danault, if they had come back, we could have talked about stability with a few small additions here and there. These guys made memorable history in 2021. They were together. They saw that they didn't need much to achieve the impossible. If that core had remained intact and Marc Bergevin had added one or two, it would have been a case of stability to allow the club to move forward.

Except that, logically, Shea Weber is dealing with serious injuries, so a return was not possible for him. In the case of Danault, obviously, he wanted to leave Montreal' environment. In the case of Perry, I still don't understand... If he had been back, just him, it would have changed my vision of the Canadiens. With him, the progression could have continued and the Habs would have had its interim captain.

In short, these may be just words, but my vision of leadership (and stability at that level) will not change until proven otherwise!