The Montreal Canadiens may well be the team of the hour in the National Hockey League, but that does not at all impress the experts from The Athletic.
Invited each month to revisit their predictions, they delivered their January predictions.
Thus, no respondent chose the Canadiens to take part in the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, while the Ottawa Senators (51.9%), the Detroit Red Wings (37%), the Blue Columbus Jackets (29.6%), New York Rangers (22.2%) and Pittsburgh Penguins (3.7%) all received votes.
“If I had known that the Canadiens were not going to receive any sympathy in the poll, I would have given them a pity vote,” conceded Sean Gentille, one of the experts covering the NHL for the website.
Since December 17, CH has a 12-3-1 record, the best on the Bettman circuit. The Habs are just one point behind the Blue Jackets in the playoff race in the East after 46 games.
-Before Monday evening’s matches, CH’s chances of making the playoffs were estimated at 47% by the specialized website playoffstatus.
The New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabers and Philadelphia Flyers are the only teams in the East that, besides the Canadiens, did not receive a single vote.
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