What started out as a promising season has now turned into one of mass destruction. With 10 games remaining on the schedule, the Canadiens are on the verge of missing the playoffs in their milestone 100th season. And that’s only the beginning of the bitter disappointment that Habs fans had to face in the second half of the season.

After the All-Star Game, the Canadiens have gone 11-17-3, ranking them as one of the worst four teams in the league. Their leading scorer has been defenseman Andrei Markov, they have lost their best player in Robert Lang, leaving them dwarfed up the middle, and their powerplay has been a dismal 17.3%. All-in-all, things couldn’t get any worse for the Canadiens…or so we thought.

Earlier in February, when we thought things couldn’t get any worse for the Habs, a story was reported by the infamous La Presse in Montreal. The story linked the Kostitsyn brothers and Roman Hamrlik to a convicted drug-trafficker. There wasn’t an investigation of the players, however, the damage was already done. Already coming off a horrifying road trip with their star forward Alex Kovalev taking some forced time off, the Canadiens insisted that it wasn’t going to be a distraction and talked about better actions on the ice. The result was more losses.

Not too long after another surprise, Bob Gainey decided to fire Guy Carbonneau. This shocked many and few say they saw it coming, however the fact was that the players weren’t reacting to Carbonneau’s system. I guess Gainey figured that they would react better under his coaching, which unfortunately wasn’t the case. Since then Montreal has gone 1-3-2, losing their last 5 games. One must wonder, when will the bleeding stop? The answer my friend maybe blowing in the wind, for today Habs fans got some more confidence rattling news.

Today it was reported that Canadiens owner George Gillett is actively listening to offers to sell the team. Team President Pierre Boivin indicated that the reasoning behind Gillett trying to sell the team was the global economic crisis. Now, I understand that Mr. Gillett is invested in other sports franchises and businesses; however, I find it hard to believe that he would want to sell the Canadiens. He is one of the more passionate owners I have seen. He treats the players like kings and he doesn’t have a fancy box seat, instead he sits with the fans. Maybe this is his way of sending a message to the players or he thinks that he doesn’t want to pay players that don’t want to win. Perhaps he believes that the value for the Canadiens has hit its ceiling, or maybe he’s struggling in other areas that have been hit hard by the tumbling economy. Whatever it is, the news today has just put another question mark in a room with many others. With the 100th season of the Montreal Canadiens in doubt so is their future. If Gillett does sell the Canadiens, to whom will he sell to? What will the new owner’s intentions be? It’s a never ending discussion, one that will go on until it happens.

Fans in Montreal don’t deserve this kind of treatment. They have poured an unlimited amount of emotion into this team only to be let down. It was only 7 months ago that the Canadiens were seen as the favorites to win the Eastern Conference and even the Stanley Cup. That hope has turned into despair and a city once flying with les bleu, blanc, et rouge has turned into one with only one color, which is the one that only Muddy Waters sings about.

There are only 10 games remaining for the Montreal Canadiens and with as little confidence as this team may have the question still remains whether or not they will make the playoffs. I for one still believe and as hard as it may be for many fans out there, I think they should start believing too. The Canadiens don’t need a miracle; they need hope, will, and a desire to win, something that is seriously lacking in their game right now.

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