The winner of the Penguins-Canadiens qualifying-round series will advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs. The loser of the series will have a 1-in-8 shot at the No. 1 overall pick and drafting Alexis Lafreniere.
Given the Canadiens' .500 regular-season record, it would be fair to say that the Canadiens have less than 1-in-8 odds at winning the Stanley Cup this season. As a result, there are more than a few Canadiens fans who are hoping their team loses to the Penguins in the qualifying round so Lafreniere, who grew up less than an hour away from Montreal, ends up in a Canadiens sweater next season.
Canadiens coach Claude Julien said on a conference call Thursday that he doesn't see it that way, though.
"I think we have a great opportunity here, honestly, to grow as a team, and the only way to grow is go out there to try to win and move forward here," Julien said. "I know there are a lot of comments going around that say, my gosh, we should lose in the first round so we have a chance at the first pick overall and have a chance at a local boy, Lafreniere. Trust me, I'd love to have this player on my team. But there's no guarantee even if we go out in the first round that we would have that player.
"If we win (against the Penguins), we're getting better as a team. If circumstances go the other way, then maybe we do get a shot at him. But at the end of the day we're built to win. We're professional athletes, we're competitive. There's no reason in the world to think otherwise. That's the direction we're going."
The Canadiens had the worst regular season record of any team in the 24-team format. They lost 40 of their 71 regular season games, including five of their last 10 games before the shutdown. They ended the regular season on a three-game skid, during which they were outscored 12-3. Julien believes his team will benefit from the long layoff.
"The good part about that, honestly, is that every other team is in that same situation," Julien said. "It's great. It's a level playing field when it comes to that. For us, it's really taking advantage of this situation that's been given to us. A few months back our minds were probably in an area where you're saying, 'Oh boy, it's another long summer here,' and all of a sudden you get an opportunity to get in the playoffs.
"There's excitement there, an opportunity to grow. We need to take this situation and really run with it. We need to take advantage of what's been given to us right now. In those two, three weeks (of training camp preparation), you build your team up, prepare them and excite them to be facing a team that has a lot of experience in the playoffs and go from there. We have a lot of potential. We have an opportunity to do something really great. It's up to us to take advantage of it."
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