Bryan Hayes

Listen, that's as far as I think you could reasonably expect them to go.

They had a really good year.

They won two Game 7s on the road against division rivals.

I agree with you, and I get the impression that is the case in Montreal.

I think Habs fans are ecstatic with the way everything played out, and they can't wait for next year, and they're really curious to see what that front office does.

But until you prove it...

It goes for everybody.

Celebrini's going to get it at some point.

Hey, you've got to prove you can be a playoff performer.

You're not just granted that.

You've got to prove you can do it.

You're right.

There's 31 teams that are disappointed.

Just different layers of disappointment.

Somebody's going to go home, whether it's Vegas or Carolina, is going to fall short of their goal.

But I do see, you know, there is, if you fail in the playoffs, and what I mean by fail, if you don't show up, like Cole Caulfield said, I sucked.

He's a damn good player who had 51 goals this year.

He had a great season, but he wasn't the prolific goal scorer in the playoffs where the game gets a lot tighter.

He's still a hell of a player, but you don't want it to become a narrative.

It's like, geez, you know, and I don't look at it that way because they did make it to the conference final.