HOCKEY'S HERE: MONTREAL CANADIENS

It's time to air out your gear, sharpen your skates and tape your stick -- it's hockey season. Sure, your team flat-out ached last season, but there's hope, unless you're an Islanders fan. In that spirit, Out of Left Field is here with early looks at all 30 NHL teams. Presenting: The Montreal Canadiens.

Last season: 93 points, 3rd in Northeast Division; lost to Carolina in first round of playoffs
Coach: Guy Carbonneau (1st full season)
Young gun: Guillaume Latendresse
Store this name away: Kyle Chipchura
Hey, get a load of the new guys: Janne Niinimaa, Sergei Samsonov
Blogs (including but not limited to): Habs Blog, Sisu Hockey
Pop culture moment: Too numerous to mention; diehard Habs fan Mordecai Richler usually dropped an adulatory reference into his novels

Carbonneau was a pressure player during his long career as a defensive forward and faceoff specialist, winning three Stanley Cups (1986 and '93 with the Habs, '99 with Dallas), and he's got a job that's right up there with managing the Boston Red Sox and coaching the Dallas Cowboys simultaneously. Not that it's actually possible to do that, but I just want to stress how much scrutiny a Montreal coach is put through.

Stress, indeed: Habs GM Bob Gainey dealt away problem child Mike Ribeiro for Niinimaa, leaving the team thin at centre at a time when Saku Koivu is struggling to come back from a detached retina suffered during last spring's playoffs.

Ultimately, the Habs look ordinary on the back end, smallish up front. As for the goaltending, Cristobal Huet, last season's miracle man -- he came virtually out of nowhere to lead the NHL with a .929 save percentage -- will be under a new kind of pressure as the No. 1 goalie. Huet finally earned regular playing time last year at the age of 30. Save for the Oilers' Dwayne Roloson, it's hard to come up with another contemporary goalie who waited so long to play regularly and then was able to be successful for more than one or two seasons. Maybe Huet can hold the fort and steer the Habs to a playoff spot, but it's just as likely that '05-06 proves to be an anomaly.

Bottom line: Can the Habs make the playoffs? Yes, but that has more to do with the calibre of the lower-rung Eastern teams, namely Tampa Bay and Toronto.

Also in Northeast Division: Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs

Back with more later. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca