5 poor decisions by Canadiens' front office to blame for slow start

The Montreal Canadiens have not been able to stop the bleeding in their disastrous start to the 2017-18 season.

On Friday, the club dropped their seventh straight game, this time a 6-2 defeat to the Anaheim Ducks. Head coach Claude Julien called his club's performance "unacceptable," but in their defense, it isn't just the players who have been underperforming.

The fact is, this team is not built to be elite, and that responsibility belongs to general manager Marc Bergevin and his sidekicks. Bergevin has made some questionable decisions, not just this season, but also in years past, and it has all culminated to spark the Canadiens' early 1-6-1 record.

The infamous Subban trade

Whether P.K. Subban was dealt due to his antics off the ice or his relationship with then-coach Michel Therrien, the Canadiens are worse for it.

We are in just the second year of the deal and already it is catching up with the club. Shea Weber doesn't have the same foot-speed as Subban, and the Nashville Predators star has outperformed Weber offensively, tallying a points-per-game average of 0.64 over 73 regular-season games compared to Weber's 0.51 mark.

The trade came after a 2016 season in which the Canadiens missed the postseason due almost solely to the injury to Carey Price that saw him miss the final 70 games of the campaign. If it was indeed a reaction to missing the playoffs, it was an extremely poor calculation.

Bizarre 2017 trade deadline

Despite the Subban trade, the Canadiens still managed to recapture the Atlantic Division and subsequent playoff berth due largely to the return of Price last season.

However, before the postseason began, Bergevin decided to load up at the deadline - as most contending teams do. The problem: he didn't load up on talent.

Instead, he decided to get slower by adding size. He acquired defenseman Jordie Benn and forwards Andreas Martinsen and Dwight King. The team largely dealt draft picks, except in the case of Martinsen, who was acquired for forward Sven Andrighetto, who at the time looked to be one of the team's most exciting prospects.

The result was a first-round exit at the hands of the New York Rangers. To add insult to injury, Andrighetto has tallied three goals and six points in eight games with the Colorado Avalanche this season - which bests everyone in the Canadiens' lineup so far.

Allowing Radulov, Markov to walk

Last season, the Canadiens went out on a limb bringing in Alexander Radulov, but after the 31-year-old finished second in team scoring with 18 goals and 54 points, it seemed like the club had found a new offensive weapon.

Once Radulov became an unrestricted free agent, though, Bergevin botched the chance to bring him back. Radulov inked a five-year, $31.25-million contract with the Dallas Stars. Bergevin later offered the same deal, but it was too late.

That was followed up with another failed negotiation with longtime defenseman, Andrei Markov. The veteran signed in the KHL, where he currently sits with four goals and 15 points in 22 games with Ak-Bars Kazan.

To make it all worse, the Canadiens now sit comfortably with the third-most cap space in the NHL (just under $9.25 million), money that could have been used to retain these two.

Jonathan Drouin deal

The Jonathan Drouin deal is a little more interesting.

There is no debating the fact he is a great talent - something the team longs for, especially with the aforementioned departure of Radulov. However, the fact the team had to give up their top prospect hurts.

Mikhail Sergachev was the price to pay and as we sit now, it's interesting to ponder what the Canadiens might look like with his speed and skill on the back end.

Drouin does lead the Canadiens with five points through eight games, but Sergachev also leads all Tampa Bay Lightning defenders with six points in eight games. The sample size to compare each is extremely small, but with the Canadiens' poor defense among their biggest issues at the moment, it's hard not to consider this trade.

Defensive blunders

Nowhere else is Bergevin's ineptitude clear than how he tried to fill out his defensive core this offseason.

The team addressed the club's defense by signing Karl Alzner to a hefty, five-year, $23-million deal, while also inking Joe Morrow and Mark Streit to cheap one-year deals.

It took just two games before the Canadiens decided to place Streit on waivers and buy out his contract. Meanwhile, Morrow has been a non-factor while playing in just three games, averaging 11:35 minutes of ice time a night.

The moves have left the club with a defensive corps that is slow and under-skilled. They can be thankful that Victor Mete has come out of nowhere to make an instant impact, but a rookie defender can only do so much.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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