from Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette,

What if Canadiens management had continued to build on the core of that high-quality team that came within two victories of the Stanley Cup final in 2014, losing in six games to the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final?

In the years since then, general manager Marc Bergevin shipped out two of the leaders from that group, Max Pacioretty and P.K. Subban, and let a third, Andrei Markov, walk away in a huff.

Then the Canadiens moved into their infamous “reset” — a term coined in the summer of 2018 after a disastrous season in which they finished 28th overall in a 31-team league. Many figured the time was ripe for a full-on rebuild, but instead Bergevin came up with a plan that essentially involves stocking up on young players and draft picks while holding on to a core group of veteran players, including Carey Price, Shea Weber and Brendan Gallagher.

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