The Montreal Canadiens fate is essentially sealed at this point. They’ll finish bottom 10, but not quite bottom 5 and the summer will feel long. But there’s still months of hockey to be watched, so this week we ask our panel what storylines/teams/players they will be paying attention to the rest of the way. 

Kyle (@kyleroussel) – The Habs’ fate is NOT sealed!!!! Far from it! They have a ROBUST 0.5% chance to make the playoffs, and may I remind you that they have 10 games left to play! There’s plenty of time left to get this back on track and make the playoffs! If they started the season 9-0, there’s no reason why they can’t finish 9-0!

Oddly enough, there are some deranged fans who think this is possible, especially if Price comes back soon. Optimism, or meth? You decide!

For me, this has been an NHL season void of any compelling story lines. I think you can argue that the top 2 stories in the league this year stem from Tampa, with the Drouin and Stamkos situations. Snoooooooze. I honestly don’t know why I’d stick around for the rest of the season to be honest. Besides my love for hockey, nothing sticks out for me as worthy of following through the playoffs. If I had to choose, I’d say that I’ll be watching and pulling for the Caps, specifically Ovechkin. Considering how dominant Washington has been, and how Ovi is having another spectacular year while scoring is down across the board again, you have to think it’s their year. And if Ovi and the Caps fold early in the playoffs, where does the narrative go?

That’s all I’ve got. Hopefully someone can bring up some better reasons to hang around…

Sean (@TheONeillFactor) – I must admit to having somewhat checked-out on this NHL season – I’m still paying attention, of course, but at this point, I’m devoting just as much bandwidth to thinking about the New York Giants reconfigured front-four and how David Price is going to look pitching in Fenway.

There’s still no shortage of storylines, and I know once the playoffs roll around, my interest will be recaptured. So what is left to pay attention to during a lost season where the Habs have been the definition of meh:

– We still get to watch Jaromir Jagr every single night. That alone makes 2016 a fine time to be alive.
– Watching the Blackhawks assemble a modern-day dynasty in an era where that was supposed to be impossible.
– Patrick Kane will win the Hart Trophy and the resulting torrent of hot takes, think-pieces and Twitter outrage will literally break the Internet.
– Both the Stars and Capitals are trying to prove that you can play fun, free-wheelin’ puck and win in the playoffs. This is a copycat league – if they succeed, the NHL will become a more entertaining place for years to come.
– Ken Hitchcock is trying to prove that you need to play soul-sucking, life-numbing, pulse-deadening puck to win in the playoffs. This is a copycat league – if he succeeds, welcome to the Dead Puck Era 2.0
– Max Pacioretty is trying to prove that you can be an effective NHL captain while showing no discernible human emotion. This is a copycat league – if he succeeds, an army of bland Corpo-Humanoids may soon be wearing the ‘C’ across the league.
– The NHL is going to try reaaaaally hard to get us to care about the World Cup, a marketing exercise they drew-up on the back of a napkin roughly four-months ago.
– What if this is the year the Sharks finally break through?
– We will get to watch Leafs fans have a collective aneurysm when Steve Stamkos signs with Buffalo or Philadelphia.
– This may be the last Stanley Cup playoffs ever before President Trump drops the bomb.

Ian (@ihabs1995) –  Alex Ovechkin has a very real chance of capturing his first ever Stanley Cup this season, which is exciting to me. The Capitals are the only team in the East that stand a chance against the Western Juggernauts like the Kings and the Blackhawks. I love seeing new teams win the Cup, and anyone who can take the Cup out of the hands of party boy-degenerate Patrick Kane is a hero in my book.

Other than that? Just enjoying the playoffs from a distance is nice. When the Habs last missed the playoffs in 2012, I had the most fun flipping from game to game without having the Habs to give me heart attacks.

And the draft! Habs fans, do yourself a great service, and do your draft research. Find the guy you want Trevor Timmins to announce at the podium this summer. Watch some junior games if you have the chance to. You might find the next members of your Montreal Canadiens.

Antoine (@HabsoluteTruth) – I’d consider myself more a Habs fan than a hockey fan, so I won’t be as captivated by the playoffs as I would normally be if the Habs were part of it. I will be cheering for Washington (because I like Ovi and respect the squad they’ve built), any team that faces Boston in the playoffs and the Blackhawks in the West (for Weise).

Shawn (@CrimsonSkorpion) – One of the bigger storylines I’ll be paying close attention to is the battle between Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Detroit for the final two playoff spots in the East. As of this writing, the Flyers are one point back of eight place Detroit and three points behind the seventh place Penguins. Throw in the fact that Evgeni Malkin will miss 6-8 weeks and how hot the Flyers have been in their last 10 games (7-2-1), it makes the race of the Eastern Conference wild card an entertaining battle until the end of the regular season. Personally, I’d love to see Detroit extend their string of post-season appearances, but having both teams from Pennsylvania in there is too good to pass up. Especially with how well Shayne Gostisbehere has been playing all season long.

Speaking of the Ghost Bear, what about the Calder Trophy battle? He has to be in there. Artemi Panarin as well, despite the fact that he is a good chunk older than most other potential nominees and he has a bit of pro-level hockey under his belt as well. Then you have Connor McDavid, who despite missing a good chunk of the season, is still a point-per-game player and is looking like the player he was hyped up to be. Jack Eichel as well, who is currently second in rookie scoring. To make things interesting, you have Arizona’s pair of rookies in Anthony Duclair and Max Domi pushing for some loving in this race and Dylan Larkin has been a breath of fresh air in Detroit, in an organization that preaches slow-cooking their prospects in the farm system and only bringing them up to the big league once they are completely ready. Not to say Larkin isn’t, he’s proving to be the real deal.

If you look at the Central division’s first three teams, you have a dog fight between the Blackhawks, Blues and Stars. What’s hilarious is that if the playoffs started today, Chicago and St. Louis would be your first-round match-up. How fun would that be to be a Blues fan? I’m interested in seeing what Dallas does and if the addition of Kris Russell will be enough defensively to help push them through at least two rounds. They certainly have the potential on offense to make things happen.

And of course, there’s Washington’s excellent season and watching Ovechkin nearing in on 50 goals once again. This has to be their year, right?

On the Habs front, I’m using the remainder of this season to figure out what their prospects mean to the team and who could be pushing for a spot next season. Michael McCarron hasn’t looked out of place during his stint, but he is missing something to his game and I’d like to see him start the year in St. John’s next year. Same goes for Darren Dietz, although I’m a little less sold on his play. Sven Andrighetto has looked spectacular on a line with Galchenyuk and Pacioretty, but is he a permanent fix in the Canadiens top-6? We’ll have to see some more consistency, but his ability is there. And with Gallagher coming back, and Nikita Scherbak possibly pushing for a spot next year, what does this mean for everyone’s favourite David Desharnais, or Lars Eller for that matter? And the biggest story of all… Michel Therrien. If he’s back next season, it’s a clear indication that Marc Bergevin is making the excuse that this team wouldn’t have sunk as low as they did if Carey Price wasn’t injured. For a team that preaches “No Excuses”, this would be hilariously ironic.