With a new season all set to begin, lets take a look at where the Montreal Canadiens have been projected to end up in the Atlantic Division. We’ve complied rankings from across SB Nation, Puck Daddy, CBS Sports, USA Today, NESN, Washington Post, TSN, Sportsnet and NHL.com, and these are the results.

Source Rank Source Rank Adam Herman (SB Nation) 6 Mary Clarke (SB Nation) 5 cfbot (SB Nation) 7 Pat Iversen (SB Nation) 6 Katya Knappe (SB Nation) 3 Sarah Hall (SB Nation) 2 Marc Dumont (SB Nation) 2 Travis Hughes (SB Nation) 6

SB Nation’s authors didn’t think too highly of the Habs, with 4 out of the 8 respondents believing that the Canadiens will finish lower than fourth in the Atlantic. Marc and Sarah were the only dissenting voices who optimistically expect the Canadiens to cruise into the postseason, finishing second in the division.

Source Rank Source Rank Greg Wyshynski (Puck Daddy) 3 Ryan Lambert (Puck Daddy) 2 Sean Leahy (Puck Daddy) 5 Steve Laidlaw (Puck Daddy) 3 Jen Neale (Puck Daddy) 5 Sam McCaig (Puck Daddy) 3 Josh Cooper (Puck Daddy) 2

Though Puck Daddy’s writers also had a few dissenters who believed that the Canadiens will end up fifth in their division, overall the majority had a much more positive outlook. Five out of the seven votes expect the Canadiens to close out their season either second or third in the Atlantic, and comfortably make the playoffs.

Source Rank Source Rank Arpon Basu (NHL.com) 2 Mike Morreale (NHL.com) 3 Amalie Benjamin (NHL.com) 3 Bill Price (NHL.com) 3 Tim Campbell (NHL.com) 2 Dave Reid (NHL.com) 2 Brian Compton (NHL.com) 3 Shawn Roarke (NHL.com) 2 Nick Cotsonika (NHL.com) 3 Dan Rosen (NHL.com) 3 Tom Gulitti (NHL.com) 3 Mike Rupp (NHL.com) 3 Mike Johnson (NHL.com) 2 Dave Stubbs (NHL.com) 3 Adam Kimelman (NHL.com) 3 Rob Vollman (NHL.com) 1 John MacLean (NHL.com) 3 Kevin Weekes (NHL.com) 3

Unlike the previous two, not a single NHL.com expert predicts that the Canadiens will miss the playoffs this season. Despite being overwhelmingly picked to finish third in the Atlantic Division, Montreal did earn a vote of confidence from Rob Vollman. Vollman, an analytics specialist, expects the Canadiens to win their division and is one of only two experts to predict that Montreal will end up on top of the Atlantic.

Source Rank Source Rank Kevin Allen (USA Today) 2 TSN Panel 2 Chris Peters (CBS Sports) 3 Darren Millard 1 Nicholas Goss (NESN) 5 Neil Greenberg (Washington Post) 3 Micah McCurdy (Hockey Viz) 2

With the sole exception of NESN’s Nicholas Goss, the remaining analysts also believe that the Montreal Canadiens should have little trouble locking up a top-3 finish in their division. Sportsnet’s Darren Millard, like Vollman, even anticipates that the Canadiens will be the team to beat in the Atlantic Division.

As you can see, there are many analysts that predict the Habs will fail this year, but it’s fair to say the majority of experts still expect the Canadiens to lock up the second or third spot in their division, meaning that the team will have little trouble returning to the playoffs this season - which is an encouraging sign for both the team and the fans.