Montreal Canadiens defenseman and head coach both make puzzling statements about the team's direction

The 2022-23 Montreal Canadiens seem destined for more of the same - another early summer followed by another early 1st round pick. That's why when Habs defenseman Joel Edmundson and head coach Martin St. Louis spoke about the team's direction on Monday, it caught people off guard.

The Habs made headlines on Monday when they announced that 23-year-old Nick Suzuki would serve as the 31st captain in the team's storied history. Moments after the captaincy announcement was made on Monday, Suzuki revealed that Brendan Gallagher and the aforementioned Edmundson would serve as alternate captains and all 3 players spoke with the media. Edmundson's comments stood out, as he confirmed that the team's mindset is that not only is the rebuild over, but the Habs are setting their sights on a playoff spot this season.

Head coach Martin St. Louis' comments were much less certain about their expectations of making the playoffs, but he didn't say much to dissuade the idea that the team believes that the rebuild may be over.

Listen - did the Habs improve this summer? Yeah, probably. Did they improve enough to rack up an additional 53 points? Because they would have needed 108 points in order to pull ahead of the Boston Bruins (107 points) to qualify for the playoffs last season.

I'm all for a competitive Atlantic Division, but I'm not sold on the fact that the Habs are going to be one of the teams competing for a playoff spot with a Jake Allen/Cayden Primeau tandem and the additions of Kirby Dach, Evgenii Dadonov, Sean Monahan, Michael Matheson, Justin Barron and 2022 1st overall pick Juraj Slafkovksy.