That's why Tavares would not even meet with them despite knowing how much $ he could make there. He wanted to win and thought he could not.
You're not wrong; but prior to this season the Habs finished fourth last, and had a dismal offense to match their terrible defense, their sub-par special teams and their lackluster goaltending. On top of that, our prospect pool was barren and the team was just looking like a whole mess with Weber injured.
THEN there were rumors we were trading our captain and only pure goal scorer, and that doesn't even include the fact that we have been rumored to have been moving Galchenyuk for years (our other big goal scorer) --- of course John Tavares wouldn't want to sign here.
Then the Habs actually traded Patches and Galchenyuk --- for Tatar and Domi no less; we drafted Kotkaniemi over Tkachuk and Zadina and suddenly everything was looking bleak; Tanking for Hughes was the new future of Montreal.
But then, Domi decided to play out of his mind, Tatar is having a career year, Kotkaniemi showed not only was he NHL ready but god damn the kid has eyes in the sides of his head. We have some of the most lethal offensive efforts of any team in the League, we pepper teams with shots, we limit opposing opportunities acceptably well, and despite having one of the coldest powerplays we still have had a relatively hot offensive group.
Oh yeah, and Price figured out how to play hockey again --- Weber came back from injury and looks like a #1 still. The Habs of December 28th, 2018 are a world away from the Habs in August of the same year; we have hope and are very likely playoff bound despite having a true #1C, despite a very obviously weak defensive group, despite getting subpar goaltending through the first ~20 games and despite not having an elite otherworldly offensive talent. We have a ton of cap room, two movable contracts (Shaw/Alzner), a decent pool of prospects (Suzuki, Poehling, Brook, Ikonen) and all of our draft picks.
Sure, there are better teams that are closer to a cup; but players in the show know that Price and Weber are franchise talents; regardless of what people on these boards say --- no player in the NHL would say "Price is overpaid, his contract sucks" or "Weber's contract is a boat anchor" --- they would see the opportunity to play with two of the best players of the last decade. What happens if the Habs and Leafs meet in the first round, Price plays otherworldly and they steal even 3 games (imagine, worse, they beat them) --- then it becomes we're just one piece away from getting over that hump.
Point is, the Habs are not that far off from competing; if Benn/Seguin become available, if Simmonds makes it to UFA, if Muzzin is available at a real cost, hell if Erik Karlsson would even take a meeting with Montreal; the possibilities are there for this team to take off as soon as next year.
