from Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette,

If you want to understand what’s happening with Les Habitants, you have to listen to the people who run the team.

It starts with general manager Marc Bergevin back in September, when the Canadiens gathered for their annual charity golf tournament. Bergevin noted the team had made some improvements over the summer, but injected a note of reality when he said: “We’re not there yet.”

Fast forward to last Monday, when head coach Michel Therrien talked about his slumping team. Therrien said his challenge was to convince his players they weren’t as good as they thought they were when they went on a 9-0-1 run in late November, and they weren’t as bad as they looked when they lost nine of 13 games to start the new year.

It might seem painful for older fans — who can remember when Stanley Cup parades were a rite of spring — and for younger fans — who are tired of hearing from their parents and grandparents about the good old days — but the Canadiens remain a team in transition, a rebuilding project.

continued