It’s hard not to enjoy watching the Montreal Canadiens’ unlikely rise through the NHL playoffs.

Sneaking in the back door as the eighth seed, the Canadiens have already eliminated the President’s Trophy winning Washington Capitals in the first round. Now, with a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in game six of their second round series Monday night, the team is one victory away from eliminating the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Not bad for an underdog bunch who were supposed to just be happy to participate in the post season.

What makes the Canadiens’ success such a fantastic story is the cast that has contributed to it.

Hal Gill was chased out of Toronto in 2008, labeled as old, slow and timid. He joined Darcy Tucker, Bryan McCabe, Nik Antropov and a cast of other scapegoats who were unfairly blamed for the Leafs failings after the 2004 NHL lockout. He was traded to Pittsburgh where he suddenly became a top shutdown defenceman, winning a Stanley Cup in 2009. After that he joined the Canadiens where he has continued his strong play, holding Sidney Crosby — who scored five goals in six games against Ottawa in the first round — goalless through the first five games of the Canadiens series against Pittsburgh. It’s no coincidence that Crosby scored a goal and an assist in game six of the series when Gill was in the press box recovering from a lacerated calf.

Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak was drafted in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL entry draft and despite never posting a goals against average above 2.89 in seven years of professional hockey, the Slovakian has never been regarded as a quality number one goaltender until now. His play in the playoffs has been nothing short of spectacular and all of a sudden his name is mentioned in the same breath as legendary Canadiens goaltenders Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy.

Brian Gionta (five-foot-seven), Scott Gomez (five-foot-eleven) and Michael Cammalleri (five-foot-nine) were considered by most teams to be too small when they hit the free agent market in the summer of 2009. The Canadiens took advantage of their perceived market value, scooping up the diminutive trio who are now three of Montreal’s top four point getters in the playoffs.

The list of role players goes on for the blue collar Habs who are easily — sorry, Vancouver — Canada’s best hope for a Stanley Cup Champion — the first since these same Canadiens won Lord Stanley’s mug in 1993.

And that drives Gary Bettman and the folks who run the NHL nuts.

The NHL playoffs is the only time other than January’s Winter Classic when hockey’s profile is raised in the United States and Bettman and the league’s 29 owners know that this is a terrific time to capitalize on the game’s market presence. But without superstars like Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, drawing interest from passive American fans is next to impossible.

The NBA are the masters of marketing their stars. During their playoffs — which have featured far less drama and intrigue than the NHL’s post season — they run constant television ads featuring Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, NBA stars whose teams are making long runs in the playoffs. The NHL would love nothing more than to follow this model.

But with the Canadiens having already eliminated Ovechkin and his Washinton Capitals in the first round and pushing Crosby and Penguins to the brink in the second, the NHL is in danger of seeing its two biggest stars watch the rest of the playoffs from home.

The success of the Canadiens is great for the Tim Horton’s drinking hockey fans north of the border who love nothing more than to see a blue collar team go far in the post season with hard work and fundamental hockey. But without Crosby or Ovechkin taking part in the show, the NHL has no icons with which to market their game to Americans. That’s why, for Bettman and the 29 owners of NHL teams, the Canadiens can’t leave the party soon enough.

A Montreal victory Wedneseday night against Pittsburgh in game seven is the last thing the NHL wants. Unfortunately for them, there isn’t much they can do to stop it.