Montreal Canadiens

Tell us if you’ve heard this one before: The Montreal Canadiens have major questions about their offense, but they have Carey Price, so they’ll be tough to beat. The team’s formula remains the same, even if it made one of the summer’s biggest additions.

Since the lockout-shortened season, the Canadiens have ranged between 15th and 21st in goals scored each year. While they’ve never been terrible, they haven’t had a good offense, either. Price has usually been the biggest reason for their success.

Jonathan Drouin is supposed to be the player who can help change that, but there is still a lot of uncertainty there. Will Drouin be able to take the leap that never quite happened in Tampa Bay? Does his presence finally allow Alex Galchenyuk to be unleashed as a premier scorer on the wing?

The Canadiens will be hoping the answer is “yes” to both of those questions, and several others, but otherwise the team will be leaning heavily on Price yet again.

That’s led to a lot of success over the past few years given how good Price is, but the Habs also haven’t reached a Stanley Cup Final in 24 years. They’ll need the whole team to live up to its potential to end that drought.

What should be expected from Jonathan Drouin?

Jonathan Drouin arrived in Montreal this summer and immediately became the public face of the organization. Since signing his six-year contract extension in front of media on his second day with the team, he was the main focus at the team's annual charity golf event, has made a sizable donation to a local children's hospital, earned the praise of Habs captain Max Pacioretty, and was essentially anointed the team's No. 1 center before ever taking his first stride on the Bell Centre ice.

Now that the summer whirlwind is dying down, his on-ice performance will be closely followed by media and fans alike.

The expectation from some is that he will be the team's next great superstar. However, in his NHL career he hasn't put up elite offensive totals. He finished the 2016-17 season with 53 points, with about half of those coming on the power play. His 27 even-strength points would have had him ranked 73rd among those who played center in the NHL, and were tied for sixth among Tampa Bay Lightning players.

Fortunately, the Canadiens were in desperate need of an impact player on special teams, and should benefit greatly from the relentless effort he's exhibited in postseason play — should they still be playing in late April.

If the expectation is that he will be among the top NHL point producers and a finalist for the Hart Trophy, there's little chance he will be able to deliver. But if one is looking to see him excel on the man advantage, use his speed to blow past opposition defenders and create chances, and help the team increase its offensive output in the playoffs, they should be more than satisfied with his play.

What will Claude Julien provide in his first full season as head coach?

Julien has a reputation for being able to turn even a mediocre defense corps into a key part of a Stanley Cup contender. And that's good, because after the offseason departure of Andrei Markov with no player of similar talent to replace him, a mediocre defense corps seems to be precisely what the 2017-18 Canadiens employ.

Of course the team has Shea Weber, who has been a very effective top-pairing defender, both defensively and offensively. But preseason auditions for several open spots on the blue line left a lot to be desired, and the coach didn't hold back in voicing his displeasure with how those trials were going.

Julien inherited several strong two-way forwards when he took over the team in February, and has seen Drouin and Ales Hemsky added to his arsenal to help him devise one of the league's most balanced attacks. The biggest issue facing the team is how the defensemen will be able to turn defense into offense for those forwards, so getting his blue line into ship shape is the most critical challenge Julien faces to begin the season.

Just how much of an impact can Charles Hudon have as a rookie?

It was a bit of a surprise when the Vegas Golden Knights passed on Hudon while he was exposed in the expansion draft. Now eligible for waivers, the Canadiens will be wary of tempting fate a second time.

Since being selected in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL entry draft, Hudon has done nothing but impress those following his career. He's been consistently ranked among the team's top prospects, and has been one of the most prolific scorers in the American Hockey League in recent history.

Despite his promising set of skills, his NHL tenure had been limited to a three-game stint in each of the previous two seasons. In that short time, he has managed to contribute four assists, but has never gotten a proper chance to prove himself at the top level.

Hudon made the decision to keep him around very easy for the team in the preseason, being perhaps the best player at training camp in each game he played. He was able to showcase his hockey IQ, excellent work ethic, and — most importantly — his hard, accurate shot that will provide the team with a finisher to complement the steady possession games of several of the other forwards.

Should he continue to be given the opportunities he received in preseason play, Hudon will help reduce the drop off in quality from the first power-play unit to his secondary wave. With an effective five-on-five style to go with that, it's not far-fetched to believe he can score 20 goals in his freshman year.

SB NationPredicts