The Montreal Canadiens barely missed the playoffs last season. They missed by a wide margin the year before. Before that they won their division but were knocked out of the postseason in the opening round. A year prior to that they had missed the playoffs altogether.
That means the Montreal Canadiens have missed the postseason for three of the past four seasons, and have not won a playoff series since “The Hamburglar” was a phenomenon with the Ottawa Senators.
That is not the biggest story of success around the National Hockey League. Missing the playoffs three out of four years and not winning a playoff round in that time isn’t salary-cap-era Toronto Maple Leafs level of incompetence, but it is not good.