Stopping short of assuming the Montreal Canadiens will make the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, it’s at least fair to say they’re in an enviable position during the Olympic break. They’re 32-17-8 and in second place in the Atlantic Division, which means, if the postseason were to start right now, they’d own home-ice advantage in Round 1, continuing their trend of improving year over year, having earned the second wild-card spot last season (only to lose in five games to the Washington Capitals).
If you’re of the belief that it’s more about the journey than the destination though, good news: Over the regular season’s final 25 games, the Canadiens are poised to take their fans on an incredible ride. It might be bad form to say Habs fans can look forward to a postseason appearance once NHL action resumes when nothing is guaranteed at this point, but these five next things are surer bets:
5. Alex Newhook’s Return from Injury
Forward Alex Newhook may not pick up exactly where he left off once he returns from a broken ankle, but that’s almost the point. At the time he got injured, he had gotten off to a great start with 12 points in 17 games, playing on a line with Ivan Demidov.
Since then, the Canadiens have had to experiment, stumbling on a unit of Oliver Kapanen between Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky, which has worked out exceptionally well, to the point it makes sense to keep them together and play Newhook somewhere else. That likely means in the bottom six, which only increases the team’s depth up front, which is already pretty fairly impressive in scale.
4. More of an Eventful Trade Deadline
If recent reports are to be believed, Patrik Laine, the other remaining injured Hab, is on his way out of town via trade (once the roster freeze is over and he’s healthy). While that has yet to be firmly verified, it’s an intriguing possibility as the 28-year-old Finn represented their big 2024 offseason acquisition, whose team-leading 15 power-play goals in just 57 games were instrumental in helping the Canadiens surprisingly make the playoffs.
That they did as soon as they did seems to have accelerated the rebuilding team’s timeline to contend. Now, one year after general manager Kent Hughes stood pat at the trade deadline at Nick Suzuki’s suggestion, it’s ironic that trading Laine could be necessary to bolster the team ahead of a hopefully lengthy playoff run.
There are both pros and cons to trading Laine and at least part of his admittedly high $8.7 million cap hit to make room. However, that it’s even being speculated speaks to the strength of the team.
Does Hughes absolutely need to make a move on March 6? Nope. It would amount to an arguable waste of resources to pay futures to acquire someone else (or even get someone to take on Laine’s contract) when their goaltending is highly suspect this season. However, making a big splash would certainly be the next step in the team’s progression. It’s worth waiting to see how it all unfolds.
3. The Calder Memorial Trophy Race
As things stand right now, Demidov leads the rookie scoring race with an impressive 46 points in 57 games. Fellow-forward Beckett Sennecke of the Anaheim Ducks is nipping at his heels, while New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer is right behind them both.
If the status quo holds, you have to believe the latter will become the favourite to capture the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie, one year after Habs defenseman Lane Hutson did the same, in historical fashion.
While it would be great for two Canadiens to win the award in consecutive years, that may not be in the cards. However, it’s still very much possible for Demidov to run away with this thing. Even if he doesn’t and the race stays close, he’s already confirmed what Habs fans had suspected since he got drafted, that he’s a superstar talent. Watching him excel as soon as he has, has been a pleasure, and it should continue to be into this season’s home stretch, and conceivably for many years to come.
2. Cole Caufield’s Hunt for 40 Goals
Cole Caufield’s disappointment of a rookie season feels like ages ago, especially this season after the large degree of success the 25-year-old has enjoyed. After having been snubbed by the U.S. Olympic team, Caufield, who had already been leading the Canadiens in goals, went on a huge heater, scoring 11 in eight games. He now has 32 in 57 games, putting him in prime position to:
- Establish a new career high (37).
- Become the team’s first 40-goal scorer since Vincent Damphousse (1993-94).
- At least flirt with 50.
Obviously, none of these accomplishments are by any means necessary for Caufield to achieve, although they would be nice. Being as close as he is to a) and b) above kind of makes it seem like a matter of “when” and not “if,” but *knock on wood* the priority is obviously less so his individual success relative to the team’s. Thankfully, both seem to be synonymous with one another.
1. A Lot More Goals in General
Caufield is one of five 40-point scorers on the Canadiens (Suzuki, Hutson, Demidov, Slafkovsky). If they each get to 70, they would match a mark set by the 1976-77 Habs, which is widely considered to be the best team in history. Granted, they will fall well short of the seven 60-point scorers that team had and likely even the seven 50-point scorers the 2007-08 team had, but this team seems to represent something of a happy medium between the two.
Le Canadien pourrait potentiellement avoir 5 marqueurs de 70 points ou plus à la fin de la saison…quelque chose qui ne s’est pas vu à Montréal depuis 1976-77!😳#lesickpodcast @TonyMarinaro @Antho_Martineau @alavoiemartel pic.twitter.com/ynSFcE4BRf
— The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) February 6, 2026
Case in point: The offensively-inclined 2007-08 team had just one 70-point guy: Alexei Kovalev. It would hardly be a shock for Suzuki (65), Hutson (58) and Caufield to each surpass Kovalev’s 84 points, which had been a highwater mark for Canadiens scorers this century, before Suzuki hit the point-per-game plateau for the first time in his career last season. And, like Suzuki, the Canadiens keep one-upping themselves with each passing season. Everyone saw them as a team on the rise, but not to the degree that they would form what is literally the third-most prolific offense in the league.
Related: 10 Stats that Define the Canadiens’ 2025-26 Season at Olympic Break
All that to say, the Canadiens clearly play a highly entertaining brand of hockey for better or for worse, based on their unique knack of putting themselves in position to (successfully) engineer late-game comebacks. Once the Olympic break comes to an end, the ensuing month and a half will likely represent end-to-end excitement if for no other reason than it’s been pretty much that since the get-go this season. Here’s to them flipping the script in late April though, and, dare one suggest, (well) into May.
