Two Important Elements are Keeping the Canadiens in the Connor Bedard Conversation

The Habs are off to a much better start than most everyone in the business and among fans expected. Admittedly, the club wasn't necessarily expected to be above .500 after playing their first 22 games of the season.

However, there are still a lot of games to be played and when you look at the team's schedule going forward from here on out, you shouldn't expect the club to be as competitive as they were at the beginning of the season.

To explain this reasoning, the site Tankathon specializes in data and has done the exercise of ranking team schedules based on head-to-head matchups and road trips. It evaluates a team's remaining games and calculates the combined points per game for all those opponents, resulting in a score at the end.

Based on all of the information taken into account to make their calculation, the site therefore reports that the CH has the second toughest schedule in the entire NHL between now and the end of the year. They will face the Bruins three times, the Devils twice, the Golden Knights (1x), the Jets (1x) and the Leafs three times, among others. These are teams that, as of today, are at the top of the NHL's overall standings.

On the other hand, there are also still games against teams competing for the best lottery chances, but it is noted that in general, the CH is seen as the team with the toughest schedule, as they will face more good teams than not.

Here is the chart that illustrates the analysis quite well:

The most interesting thing to note when looking at this table is the fact that the Canadiens are in second place, but the Panthers are in first place. Do I have to remind you that the Habs have Florida's first-round pick in 2023?

Like the Tricolore, Florida is currently playing just above .500. So, if we take into account that they are the team with the toughest remaining schedule in the NHL, we can get excited about the possibility that the Panthers' first-round pick could become a better choice than initially anticipated!

The end of the season could be especially fun to watch for these two teams. Imagine if the Habs got two top-10 picks in the next draft, in a draft that is so high in talent, the rebuild would take a major leap forward!

Credit : DansLesCoulisses