The only thing the Montreal Canadiens succeeded in doing last season was proving their trip to the playoffs in the spring of 2002 -- their first in four years -- was nothing but a cruel tease for their fans.

2002-03 BY THE NUMBERS

Record: 30-35-8-9, 77 pts. (21st overall, 10th East, 4th Northeast); Home: 16-16-5-4; Road: 14-19-3-5 Goals for/Avg.: 206/2.51 (20th overall) Goals against/Avg.: 234/2.85 (23rd overall) Differential: Minus-28 (23rd overall). Power play: 14.0 percent (44-315, 25th overall) Penalty kill: 81.7 percent (259-317, T22nd overall) 20-goal scorers: Richard Zednik (31), Yanic Perreault (24), Saku Koivu (21) 50-point scorers: Koivu (71), Zednik (50)

Last season, the Canadiens reverted to the inconsistent, mediocre form which has marked their play since their last Stanley Cup win in 1993. Their current 10-year drought is the second-longest in their brilliant 87-year history (they went 12 years without sipping from Lord Stanley's chalice in 1931-43).

After looking like they were making progress two seasons ago with their playoff berth and a first-round upset of the top-seeded Boston Bruins, the Canadiens fell to 10th place in the Eastern Conference last year and missed the playoffs by six points.

After fueling the Habs' rise, winning the Vezina and Hart Trophies and scoring a big contract last September, Canadiens goaltender Jose Theodore struggled last year. Without him stealing games, the Habs shortcomings on offense, their lack of size up front and their mediocre defensive corps were left exposed.

Offseason acquisitions like Mariusz Czerkawski and Randy McKay turned out to be huge (and expensive) busts.

Coach Michel Therien paid the price for the Habs' struggles with his job in January. But Claude Julien, despite success at the junior and minor-league levels and a reputation for getting the most out of teams, couldn't turn things around.

With a playoff berth there for the taking, the Habs went just 3-6-0-1 down the stretch.

Looking at next season
The Canadiens have been shoring up their front office, piece by piece, tapping into a deep vein of credibility, reinforcing each aspect of the off-ice operation.

But the unfortunate, inescapable reality is few want to talk about the respect legend Bob Gainey brings as new GM (ex-GM Andre Savard remains as Gainey's assistant) or what the knowledge of new director of pro scouting Pierre Gauthier will mean to the storied franchise.

The reality is all the offseason gains the Habs might make are simply very fine print in a summer that has been dominated by the tall, screaming headlines surrounding Theodore.

The Canadiens' marquee player, already faced with the challenge of rebounding from that dip in performance, is now faced with the unwanted attention that comes with his father and four half-brothers being arrested for loan sharking.

Theodore said he knew nothing of his relatives' alleged activities and has not been targeted for investigation by Montreal police. But two other developments haven't helped his image. Le Journal de Montreal ran a photo of Theodore attending a party with what look like members of a motorcycle gang. The photo was supposedly taken after a golf tournament organized by a strip club.

Police then seized $85,000 from a safety deposit box owned jointly by Theodore and his father and Le Journal, quoting sources, said a joint account controlled by the pair was frozen.

The Canadiens are standing by Theodore, but what other choice do they really have at this point?

The revelations have created a feeding frenzy in Quebec where the media already has a fixation with celebrity that makes the tabloid press in the U.S. look like The Wall Street Journal.

L'Affaire Theodore mixes the three things that get les Quebecois buzzing like black flies in June: hockey, celebrity and crime (OK, three of the four things that really get les Quebecois buzzing.)

There has already been speculation the atmosphere around Theodore and the relentless hounding he will face will leave the Canadiens no choice but to trade the telegenic star who two years ago was the toast of the town (gee, you think Colorado, the haven for the last Habs goaltender to leave under a cloud of controversy, might be a destination?)

A couple of companies who were using Theodore as a pitchman haven't waited. They've dropped him and the ads featuring Theodore have been pulled.

Things aren't going to be helped by the fact the next court appearance for Theodore's relatives and the others is in September, when the Canadiens will be on the ice for training camp.

The fact of the matter is the Canadiens aren't going to make the playoffs without Theodore -- or somebody else -- performing the way he did two years ago. (Theodore's record fell from 30-24-10 with a 2.11 goals against average to 20-31-6 with a 2.90 goals against average last year.)

But can Theodore rebound with all this going on around him?

There have been no other developments this offseason to make even the most optimistic fan hopeful for a turnaround. Gainey, the Hall of Fame captain who won five Stanley Cups with the Habs, brings the club credibility and a proven track record, but there is little he can do immediately.

Unless Gainey can play, the Canadiens forwards, as a group, are still small. Winger Richard Zednik, coming off a career-high 31 goals, is the closest thing they have to a power forward. Captain Saku Koivu played in all 82 games after battling back from cancer two years ago and lead the team with a respectable 71 points, but he needs more of a supporting cast.

The Canadiens don't have much in the way of a second line and must focus their efforts on deepening their size and scoring up front. Center Yanic Perreault had 11 of his 24 goals in the first 21 games. From late December to early March, he had just one goal in 26 games. Jan Bulis showed progress with a career-best 16 goals and maybe is ready to assume more responsibility.

The rest of the Canadiens forwards are either on the way up (Marcel Hossa, Mike Ribeiro, Jason Ward) or down (Joe Juneau, Donald Audette). Andreas Dackell, Chad Kilger and Niklas Sundstrom work hard and are good defensively on the third or fourth lines.

It is not an impressive bunch, a point hammered home by the fact the Habs were 0-25-0-3 in games they trailed after two periods last year.

There is hope on the blue line where a kid like Andrei Markov emerged as the Habs best defenseman last year, but that says a lot about the others. Kids like Mike Komisarek and Ron Hainsey look like they can be good big leaguers, but they are still be a couple of years away from being core players.

The Habs will get a boost with the return to health of defenseman Sheldon Souray, who missed all of last year because of repeated surgeries on a broken bone in his wrist. Souray was their best defender in the playoffs a year ago and they miss his physical presence.

Patrice Brisebois -- who took a mid-season European vacation after being told to rest by team doctors after complaining of stress symptoms -- is likely in for another long season of hearing it from the Bell Centre crowd. Craig Rivet, Stephane Quintal and Patrick Traverse are journeymen at best.

Put it all together and you get a team that will struggle again to make the playoffs and has the potential to lead the league in only one thing: controversial headlines.

Chris Stevenson of the Ottawa Sun is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.