NHL

The Swiss will play the Czech Republic in Thursday's quarter-final round. "I learned a lot of things again this year," said Diaz prior to leaving for the tournament. "I want to go and show my best hockey and support my teammates from Switzerland." He played in Switzerland's top league during the lockout, where he starred for EV Zug. Diaz had 14 points in 23 games during the regular season for Montreal.

"He knows he has to be better and he knows it's a big summer for him," Bergevin said. "It's going to be up to him. But he's a good young player that we hope one day will play here." Leblanc regressed in 2012-13 while playing in the AHL with 10 goals and eight assists, with a minus-18 rating, in 62 games with the Hamilton Bulldogs.

He suffered a torn ligament on April 6, which ended his season, and he still hasn't had surgery to repair the damage. The Canadiens missed his physical presence on the back end during the latter part of the year and in the playoffs.

The Canadiens were the NHL's most-improved team, going from 28th to the second seed in the East. "I'm flattered to be a finalist because I have a lot of respect for Bob Murray (Ducks) and Ray Shero (Penguins)," Bergevin said. "They're both great hockey men."

"I think our team identity is quickness and speed," Plekanec said. "When we play that game, we are successful. I don't think it has anything to do with size. We have guys with size, who play like it. Plekanec thinks it was timing -- everyone playing their best together -- more than talent. "You don't need to score a lot of goals, but you need to score at the right time, Plekanec said. "It seems like we didn't have that. ' We've had injuries the last couple years (so) it's easy to kind of pinpoint that we need size and toughness. But I think we have that. Maybe we actually need more scoring."

General manager Marc Bergevin locked the forward up to a four-year, $14 million deal prior to the season only to see him slip to 28 points after putting up 60 the year before. "He's still a young player and I expect him to rebound," the GM said.

Price has all the talent in the world, but the 25-year-old remains very inconsistent. He had a 2.59 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in the regular season, while posting a 3.26 goals-against average and .894 sve percentage in the playoffs. "Can Carey be better? He'll be the first one to admit he can be better and he said he will be better," Bergevin said. "I have faith in him that he will be better. He had some good stretches and he had some so-so stretches. And that's part of being a young goaltender and we're going to move forward with him and I'm 100 percent behind him."