To call the Montréal Canadiens’ run to a Stanley Cup Final this season “unexpected” is more than a bit of an understatement. They were mediocre in the regular season — and, in fact, for several regular seasons in a row — but rode a star goaltender and some timely depth scoring to a deep run.

Nothing wrong with that, as long as it doesn’t lead to some iffy decision-making with the roster. Over a long enough timeline, regular season results tend to tell you what you have, and what the Canadiens had over 56 games this year isn’t all that dissimilar from what they had over 71 last season or 82 the year before that.

That’s because the 2018-19 roster isn’t all that different from the 2020-21 group. With that said, it’s easy to argue that the changes Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin did make