The Canadiens had barely cleaned out their lockers for the summer before being subjected to the inevitable fault-finding among Montreal fans and media. Any well-deserved accolades for pushing a heavily-favored opponent to Game 7 in a hard-fought and entertaining first round playoff series were quickly eclipsed.

Whether it's self-promoting TV analysts openly lobbying for the general manager's chair by publicly undermining the incumbent or radio talk show callers stuck in a time warp where a Stanley Cup victory parade down Ste. Catherine Street is an annual rite of spring, the airwaves have been awash in an outdated sense of entitlement.

The 20th century is over. It was in all the papers. It might still be about winning for the fans, but the organization is operating within the profit-driven corporate mindset that dominates modern day business, and for the people who pay the bills, the Canadiens are above all else a business. Success is measured in ticket sales, merchandising and TV contracts. By those standards, the Canadiens are a hugely successful concern. They preserve and promote their brand better than any other team in the league, if not in all of professional sports. The rest of the NHL still aspires to the Canadiens' level of performance, but the primary measure of success is no longer taken at ice level.

Don't get me wrong. The front office bean counters who dictate policy want the Canadiens to make the playoffs and go as deep into the post-season as possible, because every playoff home game represents money in the bank. Like it or not, in the 21st century, winning isn't everything - it's a bonus, and that's the bottom line.