Dreger not sure Canadiens "measure up entirely" against best of East, West
/Darren Dreger was on Montreal’s TSN 690 on Thursday morning.
On what he’s hearing about the perception of the Montreal Canadiens from other league executives, and if the jury is still out on this edition of the team:
“Yeah, I think the jury is still out. I think that most NHL executives would consider the Montreal Canadiens obviously to be an elite level team. What you have to though, is when you get to this stage of the regular season and in this final push of the regular season, start analyzing Montreal versus the best teams in the East. For the moment, that’s Montreal.
“Is Montreal deeper up front than say Tampa Bay? Or Detroit, who’s having a wonderful and surprising season. Or the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Those are the comparisons you have to make.
“I like what Bergevin has done. I think that he’s added some interesting components. Obviously he’s got top-end goaltending in Carey Price, but when I compare Montreal to some of the other teams in the Eastern Conference, I’m not so sure that they measure up entirely. They’re close, but I don’t think that they’re at the top of the food chain, even though statistically by standings account, they absolutely are.
“And then you have to cross over and compare the Eastern Conference teams to the Western Conference teams. And it’s one game. Is the proof in the pudding, in terms of Anaheim beating Montreal last night, 3-1? Probably unfair. Over a seven-game series of the Stanley Cup Final, just about anything can happen.
“But again, on paper, when you compare Montreal to some of the best teams in the West, I’m not sure Montreal measures up entirely.”
Source: TSN 690/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey