I just hope I don't have a rude awakening when the regular season starts in a couple of weeks. A lot of changes were made over the summer, and dreams of the Stanley Cup, or at least getting into the playoffs, fill the heads of all Habs fans.
And rightly so. The Canadiens have nailed every step of their rebuild, from the front office and head coaching hires to the draft selections and everything in between. They head into the 2024-26 season not only to put an exciting produce on the ice, but to take a big leap upward in the standings. Here are the players, old and new, to watch.
Let's start with the goaltending situation, which I worry is the big IF in my prediction of a playoff finish. Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau are expected to share the duties with Montembault getting the lion's share. But is he up to being king of the jungle? He certainly looked like it last night, stopping all 11 shots he faced over the 31:28 he played.
Primeau did equally well on Monday, but to my mind is still the perennial backup, not that there's anything wrong with that. Waiting in Laval will be Jakub Dobes and Connor Hughes, both of whom stood tall (6'4") in their debuts. If the save percentage of either Montembeault or Primeau slips below .900, Dobes or Hughes look capable of stepping up. If we can judge by just two pre-season games, Habs goaltending looks like being better than expected.
All four Montréal goalies are going to need more help than they got from last season's inconsistent defence. For some reason, GM Kent Hughes traded Jonathan Kovacevic to New Jersey, but kep the risky Justin Barron, who last year seemed unaware that his job was to defend, not carry the puck into the opposition's corner. Fortunately the Habs have exciting rookies to shore up the blueline.
Lane Hutson, the controversial Logan Mailloux, David Reinbacher and William Trudeau [no relation. Ed.] all look ready for the Big Team. Trudeau looks like a good playmaker, with two assists last night. But not all of them are going to start with the A-team. Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble, Kayden Guhle, David Savard, and Mike Matheson (such a fine skater!) all have positions nailed down so that leaves just two spots to fill, out of the four above-mentioned. Looks to me like defence is not going to be the Habs' problem this year.
Their problem will be to get more scoring. There were way too many one-goal games last year, and you're never going to make the playoffs scoring 2.34 goals per game. The first line is set. Cole Caufield, Captain Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slavkovsky (all under 24!) developed great chemistry last year, and the improvement in Slavkovsky's confidence level and play was great to see. If they can keep it up this year -- and stay healtrhy too -- they'll be one of the NHL's top forward lines.
It's the next line that looks questionable. So far, Kirby Dach has been centring Alex Newhook and Patrik Laine, acquired from Columbis over the summer. But both Dach and Newhook are natural centres -- playmakers, not scorers. Laine is supposed to be the hotshot scorer, but I see him as a rehabilitation project. He missed most of last season because of an injury and then some sort of substance abuse problem. He played over 16 minutes in the game against Philly and took five shots, none of which went in. If he can stay healthy, and off the sauce (or whatever it was), he might once again become a feared sniper. But I said "might".
There are lots of players, young and old, to make up the bottom six. Michael Pezzetta had 2 goals last night, and every team needs a gritty guy like that. Brendan Gallagher is back. He won't do much on the ice, but he'll try his best and remains an inspiration to the others. Likewise Joel Armia, invaluable on the PK.
There's a long list of newcomers, all of whom may, with time and good coaching, rise to the top. Noted in the two pre-season games were: LW Florian Xhekaj (Arber's little brother); RW Joshua Roy, who played a couple of games late last year; C Owen Beck, very talented but only 20, needs seasoning; and LW Luke Tuch, whose name alone will give the play-by-play guys a headache.
Without going through the rest of the roster, I'll just say that there are a lot of good prospects there, including an abundance of centres and a strong contingent of gars de chez nous. Les Glorieux are playing in the toughest division of the NHL, but I predict, with confidence, that they will have a winning season, with over 95 points, which should be just enough to get them into the playoffs. Lifetime percentage .989.
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