Habster:

It would be an absolute shame if the Bulldogs eventually do miss the playoff and are unable to defend their Calder Cup championship. There have been numerous reasons for their inconsistent season: injuries, numerous call-ups of key players by the Canadiens, lack of scoring, below average goaltending…………quite a list of reasons if you ask me.
Don Lever’s biggest issue throughout the season was trying to replace the losses of key contributors like Sergei Kostitsyn, Jaroslav Halak, Ryan O’Byrne, Maxim Lapierre and Mikhail Grabovski……not an easy task to replace such talented players and expect to have a consistent game plan every game.
Unfortunately for Bulldogs fans and the current players, the chances of making the playoffs looks pretty bleak which is truly sad because the playoff experience would have been great for some of the younger players like Carle, Valentenko, Trotter, Chipchura (who already has some ) and maybe even Wyman. We can already see the benefits of last year’s AHL playoff experience with how well some of the youngsters are playing in Montreal this season, it’s invaluable to say the least.