6 Myths the Canadiens Have Busted in the 2026 Playoffs

The Montreal Canadiens are really just incredibly misunderstood. Haters and trolls continue to come out of the woodwork to offer their unwanted two cents regarding the success the Habs have enjoyed so far this postseason. While they enter the Eastern Conference Final against the heavily favoured Carolina Hurricanes, many might suggest they don’t deserve it.

That’s where the disconnect comes in, because Canadiens fans don’t necessarily see this team as one capable of knocking off the presumptive Western Conference-champion Colorado Avalanche, if they even reach the Stanley Cup Final. They’re just in it for the ride, seeing as this is the youngest team in the playoffs… and entire NHL (to start the season).

The Montreal Canadiens are the youngest NHL team to advance to the conference final since the 1993 #habs, per @NHLPR.

Both teams with an average age of 25.8.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 19, 2026

Now, to be clear, Canadiens fans would absolutely love a championship, but, at least heading into the postseason, they saw a team with realistic hopes of developing into a perennial contender rather than a Cup favourite in 2026. Granted, the further they go, the more inclined Habs fans are to believe that this could be a team of destiny, but they do so in full acknowledgement the road to a hypothetical championship will be incredibly tough.

As heartbreaking as it would be for the Canadiens to lose after having made it this far, fans would for the most part understand that they’re up against three veteran squads built with the sole intention of vying for the Cup. After the upstart Anaheim Ducks and Philadelphia Flyers got eliminated last round and the Habs themselves beat the Buffalo Sabres, who are the second-youngest team right now, they’ve effectively established themselves as having undergone the most successful rebuild currently in the NHL. Seeing as four years ago, they finished dead-last, any objective Habs fan would see what’s transpired as a success already.

So, if anyone were to dare suggest that the Canadiens don’t belong, they have clearly missed the memo. For your convenience, here’s how it reads in the form of six myths they’ve busted on their run so far (and it’s not over yet):

6. Incapable of Winning a Proper Playoff Series

Sometimes trolls are just going to troll, with some haters having erroneously suggested the Canadiens hadn’t won a legitimate playoff series since 2015, when they defeated the Ottawa Senators in Round 1 (only to lose to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Round 2 that postseason).

Obviously, that’s not the case, seeing as the Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in the play-in round in 2020 (in an admitted best-of-five affair that, officially speaking, earned them their playoff berth). The next season, the Canadiens made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where they again lost to the Lightning, but beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights in Rounds 1-3, albeit as a member of the pandemic-precipitated, short-lived North Division that earned their way into the dance with the fewest amount of points of any playoff team (59)… and admittedly wouldn’t have made the postseason under normal circumstances.

Whether there’s legitimacy to the argument or not, it no longer applies, regardless… twice over. In fact, in the last month or so, the Canadiens have won as many playoff series as the Leafs during the 10-year Auston Matthews era. And, based on the Habs’ continued year-over-year success since bottoming out with a last-place finish in 2022, it’s realistic they’ll continue to accrue series victories over the next decade, the hope being that this young core eventually puts together another Stanley Cup Final run, just with a different result than last time.

5. Canadiens Won’t Be Able to Win in Overtime in the Playoffs

Everyone has hot takes, but suggestions the Canadiens would fail to find success in five-on-five overtime, simply because they had success at three-on-three during the regular season were laughable. And, coming off the team’s third victory in the extra frame this postseason, to clinch a berth in the third round no less, it’s abundantly clear the Habs are no joke.

Simply put, the Canadiens are more adaptable than their critics give them for, with Cole Caufield, who led the league in overtime goals during the regular season and scored 51 overall, having stayed relatively quiet in the postseason (with zero game-winning goals, either in overtime or regulation). Instead the Habs are getting it done by committee, making them deeper than their critics give them credit for being as well.

4. A One-Line Team

The line of Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky enjoyed incredible success during the regular season. After having been drafted first overall in 2022, Slafkovsky finally established himself as a top-end scoring threat with a 30-goal, 73-point season. Caufield meanwhile became the first Canadiens player to score 50 goals since 1990 (Stephane Richer). To top it all off, Suzuki became the first Hab to hit 100 points (101) since Mats Naslund (110) in 1986.

Then the three largely went quiet, scoring just two even-strength points between them in the first round. Suzuki notched them both, collecting a secondary assist on Alexandre Texier’s Game 5-winning goal, while opening the scoring in Game 7, albeit off a deflection that only went in off Bolts defenseman J.J. Moser.

Under such circumstances, one would understandably expect the Lightning to come out on top. However, the Canadiens persevered, getting two critical goals in the series from Texier, who continues to be generally underappreciated for the depth-scoring role he plays, four points from Zachary Bolduc, and three points each from Kirby Dach and Josh Anderson.

Come a certain point, head coach Martin St. Louis split up the aforementioned top line to try to get something going. To a degree he succeeded, with Suzuki finally producing by the end of the series, but by and large the rest of the team got the Canadiens through to Round 2, amazingly while shorthanded for most of the round.

3. Canadiens Need Noah Dobson

When defenseman Noah Dobson got injured in Game 80 of the regular season, things looked bleak. The Canadiens lost that game, eventually missed out on top spot in the Atlantic Division (to the Sabres) and even lost home-ice advantage to the Lightning in Round 1, despite each finishing tied with 106 points (by finishing with fewer regulation wins).

Seeing as Dobson had played such a critical role for the team in his debut season (after having been made the Canadiens’ prized offseason acquisition), it was fair to believe the Habs would bow out in Round 1. Many fans had probably resigned themselves to merely a modest improvement over how they finished in 2024-25, when they won a single game in Round 1.

Ironically, when Dobson eventually returned to action in Game 7, the Canadiens put forth their worst effort of their first round. They still won though, despite becoming the first team in NHL history to do so with fewer than 10 shots on goal. The bottom line is the Habs arguably held the edge in play in the series through the first six games, without Dobson. Now, as he becomes increasingly effective with each passing round, look for them to become more dangerous, which must be a scary thought for opponents.

2. Hughes Has Made Critical Mistakes

Dobson represents arguably the biggest acquisition of general manager Kent Hughes’ tenure so far. The centrepiece of the team’s draft-day trade with the New York Islanders, he currently owns a team-high $9.5 million cap hit. While the much-needed right-handed defenseman has largely come as advertised, it’s Hughes’ lower-profile acquisitions that are oftentimes highlighted to emphasize how far from perfect the GM is.

Granted, Hughes isn’t perfect. However friendly fire from within the Canadiens fan base in his direction is incredibly misplaced, especially with regard to the likes of players like Texier (signed as an unrestricted free agent, then quickly re-signed to a cost-effective two-year, $5 million deal), Bolduc (acquired for Logan Mailloux), Dach (acquired for first and third-round picks in 2022) and Alex Newhook (acquired for prospect Gianni Fairbrother and first and second-round picks in 2023). Each of whom has had an undeniably positive impact on the team’s playoff run so far, with Newhook especially making a difference in scoring the team’s two series-clinching goals.

This entry isn’t a victory lap by any means, because each of those futures given up, including the two first-round picks that were traded for Dobson, can admittedly still pan out. It works both ways, though. When you’re trading for relatively young players, albeit ones with impressive draft pedigrees, it can take time for those moves to pay dividends.

The point is not all trades can be a clear, decisive victory over your trading partner. Bemoaning a move when it doesn’t immediately pay off when it’s abundantly clear that it’s one made to pave the way for longer-term success? It’s counter-intuitive.

Obviously, Newhook won’t keep on scoring on 24.1% of his shots, a la Paul Byron. However, he’s also proven himself to be a regular NHLer on the upswing, which is more than you can say of Rene Bourque, who was on the back nine of his career when he had a similar playoffs to remember in 2014.

Ultimately, if you have the chance to trade for a proven regular (and young) NHLer with a high ceiling and the ask is two draft picks with a low chance of developing into regular NHLers in the first place, it’s a good deal. Even if he fails to develop into a regular top-six forward, you make that trade because of his upside, because of the skill he has to rise to the occasion like he has these playoffs. It’s not a mistake. It’s a risk worth taking, because chances are the prospects who ultimately went the other way won’t even get an occasion to which to rise.

1. Canadiens Are Just Lucky

When Newhook scored his first series-winning goal against the Lightning late in the third period of that Game 7, he was lucky to have gotten it to go, admittedly deflecting it in on goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Canadiens as a whole were lucky to have gotten out of that series playing the way they did, with that shot accounting for one of their record-low nine in the contest. Then they effectively played rope-a-dope for the second half of regulation in Game 7 against the Sabres, finding a way to win yet again.

That’s not coincidental.

The Canadiens were technically lucky in both instances, but naysayers are choosing to focus on the wrong thing. It’s not that they got lucky in consecutive Game 7s. It’s that they reached two Game 7s in the first place, as huge underdogs (in the eyes of their critics at least) against each of their opponents. You don’t get as far as they have on luck alone, especially considering the stats say they outplayed both the Sabres and Lightning over large stretches of each of the two series.

Canadiens defeat Buffalo 4-3

Scoring chances end up near-even in the series as a whole, but in the final three games Buffalo had a 92-61 advantage (60% chance share). They don't ask how, though.

Data: @PDOcast pic.twitter.com/ovi5EadKL5

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) May 19, 2026

Based on how the Canadiens finished with the sixth-best record in the NHL this season with 106 points and have faced the hardest road to the third round of any surviving team by playing the fifth-ranked Lightning and fourth-ranked Sabres (and now the second-ranked Hurricanes), they’re not lucky. That’s the exact opposite. And, despite suggestions to the contrary, the referees aren’t doing them any favours. They’re the most penalized team in the playoffs with 247 Penalties In Minutes (PIM), and their penalty kill is a putrid 74.1%, all of which is an obstacle they’ve had to overcome, meaning they’re getting results in other ways.

Have plays gone their way? Sure, but that’s true of every other team, including the currently heartbroken Sabres, who tied the series 2-2 on the strength of an incredibly odd bounce off the stick of Tage Thompson and then the boards. If that puck doesn’t go in off goalie Jakub Dobes, it’s very possible the Canadiens lead the series 3-1 and it doesn’t even go seven games, based on how well the Habs had been playing at that point. They shouldn’t be resented for ultimately overcoming the bad stretches they do experience.

Admittedly, per MoneyPuck.com the Canadiens have a PDO of 103.2, which measures the sum of their save (SV%) and shooting percentages. Anything above 100 is considered “lucky,” And they rank fourth out of all 16 playoff teams. The Hurricanes, who have so far faced the second-wild-card Ottawa Senators and third-in-the-Metropolitan Philadelphia Flyers, who only clinched a playoff berth on the second-to-last day of their regular season? They have a higher PDO of 103.99. That’s even “luckier.”

Now, to be fair, the Canadiens are clear underdogs against the best team in the Eastern Conference this past regular season (despite having gone 3-0 against the Hurricanes). That’s fine. However, those that choose to write them off are also choosing to believe a 36-year-old Frederik Andersen, who earned an .874 SV% this past regular season, is capable of sustaining his current .950 SV% these playoffs. So, how is it that a team coming off two sweeps, which is about as improbable as two Game 7 victories in a row, if not more so, is seen as a veritable Goliath, while the other is just lucky to be here?

Short answer: The “other” isn’t just lucky. That might have been true last year, when the Canadiens just snuck into the playoffs and bowed out in five games. Now, with one more year of experience under their belts, as a young team just getting better, it was almost an expectation they’d go further this postseason. Maybe few thought at the season’s onset they’d get this far, but, for a 106-point team, this isn’t so shocking or at least it shouldn’t be.

Watch the Eastern Conference Final to find out for yourself. Game 1 starts Thursday night at 8 p.m. Eastern. That’s the long answer… in that the series should go much longer than many expect.