To you from failing hands we throw the torch. Be yours to hold it high.
-- Inscription above the lockers in the Canadiens dressing room

MONTREAL -- A year ago, the Montreal Canadiens had one huge mountain after another to climb.

At this time last year, the mood in Montreal's storied dressing room, where the unblinking eyes of the franchise's greatest players hold all who pass before them accountable, was black.

	This season, Saku Koivu, front, will lead the Canadiens from the start.

A franchise that had been blessed for generations seemed to be cursed. The players wore stunned and sullen looks, wrestling with the fresh knowledge their captain had been stricken by cancer.

Those Hall of Famers could only look down, powerless.

This year, the Canadiens have come down from the mountains. After spending their first week of training camp in Vail, Colo., there is a freshness about this team, a mood of optimism, of somehow the black clouds, which some attributed to a curse for building their new rink on an Indian burial ground, have lifted.

These new Canadiens are now personified in Saku Koivu, the club's captain who has been given another clean bill of health after extensive tests he ordered to be sure he was rid of the non-Hodgkins lymphoma which struck him last fall. His return to the Habs last April, after months of chemotherapy doses that might have killed others, was one of the most emotional and magical moments in the franchise's remarkable history.

The Canadiens clinched their first playoff berth in four years that night and Koivu helped the club to a stunning upset of the first-place Boston Bruins in the first round.

He spent the offseason rebuilding his body and his life, marrying his girlfriend, Hanna, and working out. He has recovered most of the muscle he lost during his battle. The body has been renewed, but the psychological scar lingers.

It always will. Nobody can go through what Koivu went through and not have it be a life-changing experience.

"I think all the time about what happened to me," said Koivu. "It's something that will stay with me for the rest of my life."

He fell ill last year during the flight to Montreal from Amsterdam on Labor Day.

This year, he scheduled his return for the day before Labor Day.

A healthy Koivu in the Montreal room will be a huge benefit for the team. Also healthy is goaltender Jeff Hackett, who missed almost all of last season with a dislocated shoulder which required offseason surgery. Winger Donald Audette's left arm, which was gashed so deeply by a skate in the season's most gruesome moment, is back to 90 percent (it likely won't get much better than that).

New faces in wingers Mariusz Czerkawski -- obtained in a trade with the New York Islanders -- and Randy McKay, signed as a free agent, give the team more depth.

Most importantly, goaltender Jose Theodore, the winner of the Hart and Vezina Trophies last season, is in camp and happy with a new, three-year contract. Winger Richard Zednik, the last of the club's unsigned restricted free agents, agreed to terms on a new two-year deal Wednesday. Even the rink has a new name, dropping Molson Centre for Bell Centre.

The Canadiens haven't had as much reason for optimism in perhaps 10 years. The club finally has some depth, thanks to the changes on the fly made by general manager Andre Savard. Two of his acquisitions, Czerkawski and Audette, now flank Koivu in what has been the Habs' best line in their scrimmages so far.

The club should benefit from having veteran Doug Gilmour around for the entire season. Long viewed as being quick, but small up front, McKay should help give the Canadiens presence and earn them respect up front. McKay could find himself on a line with Yanic Perreault and Joe Juneau while Zednik could slide back in with Gilmour and Oleg Petrov in a unit that performed well last season.

That leaves a ferocious battle among the likes of Andreas Dackell, Gino Odjick, Bill Lindsay, Jan Bulis, Chad Kilger, Mike Ribeiro and rookie Marcel Hossa for jobs on the fourth line as the Canadiens start their preseason schedule Thursday night against the Florida Panthers at the Bell Centre.

There was some bad news when it was learned defenseman Sheldon Souray's on-going wrist problems will force him to miss the the first three months of the season, but that might just open the door for a bright young light like Ron Hainsey.

The Vail experience should help the Habs on a couple of fronts. The training at altitude should make their lungs stronger. The office activities, including a night at owner George Gillett's mountain retreat, should make the team stronger.

"We couldn't be more satisfied," said coach Michel Therrien. "The scenery was really magnificent and the facilities were top quality. We had quality practices. I didn't hear a single player complain."

There have been plenty of reasons for players to complain in the past.

Now, there are many reasons to smile.

Chris Stevenson covers the NHL for the Ottawa Sun and is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.