There’s much more nuance to it, but, in a way, it comes down to a Montreal Canadiens fan referendum between Alexei Kovalev and Nick Suzuki.
Alexei Kovalev on the 2007-08 Montreal Canadiens
Under normal circumstances, there would be little reason to compare the two. Whereas Suzuki obviously currently leads the Habs as captain, it’s literally been 13 years since Kovalev last played in the NHL, 17 since he last played in Montreal… and 18 since he led them with a practically unheard-of-in-Montreal 84 points along with an impressive Northeast Division championship with a 47-25-10 record.
Now, since that point, the Canadiens have clearly enjoyed more success. They’ve won three additional division titles (2012-13, 2014-15, 2016-17) and obviously reached a Stanley Cup Final (2021), a Cinderella postseason run, despite the eventual loss, to which Suzuki obviously contributed. However, 2007-08 marked their last Eastern Conference regular-season title. Plus, in scoring 257 goals that 2007-08 season, they finished second overall (Ottawa Senators) in that one category, averaging 3.13 goals per game.
Needless to say, for anyone that’s watched the team with any kind of regularity, the Canadiens have consistently struggled to score since. However, with 172 goals through 51 games so far this 2025-26 season (3.37 goals per game), which is third in the NHL, they can eclipse that mark, albeit in a dogfight for home ice in the playoffs at 28-16-7. Boasting a relatively balanced offense that spans not one, but two effective scoring lines (give yourself room to breathe if you feel lightheaded at all), the Habs lead the NHL with five 40-point scorers so far: Suzuki, Lane Hutson, Cole Caufield, Ivan Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky.
Canadiens lead the NHL with five 40-point scorers#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/w9h7tLkjWY
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) January 20, 2026
As impressive as that may be, consider how the 2007-08 Canadiens finished with seven… 50-point scorers: Kovalev, Tomas Plekanec (69), Mark Streit (62), Andrei Markov (58), Saku Koivu (56), Andrei Kostitsyn (53) and Chris Higgins (52). That also led the NHL, with the next-highest teams “only” having five.
There was obviously a downside, though. In spite of all those weapons (not to say anything of an upstart Sergei Kostitsyn and an outgoing Michael Ryder on an off year) and the impressive debut of one Carey Price in net, the Habs fell well short of the promised land. They may have gotten past the Boston Bruins in seven games in Round 1 (despite being heavily favoured as top seeds), but they fell to the Philadelphia Flyers, one of the teams with five 50-point scorers for whatever that’s worth, in five in Round 2.
Current Canadiens Gaining Experience with Each Game
So, it’s far from outside the realm of possibility that the current Canadiens go on to enjoy greater success, even if they’ll realistically fall well short of first place in the (Atlantic) division. Context is king here, because, while the 2007-08 Habs had been coming off a non-playoff season with low expectations, circumstances are significantly different as the team is currently the youngest in the NHL. Kovalev may have been the oldest of the 2007-08 team’s core above, but he wasn’t exactly an outlier. Despite being in his third NHL season, Streit turned 30 that season. Koivu turned 33. All three would be gone within the next two season, along with Higgins, who was eventually dealt to the New York Rangers as part of the infamous Scott Gomez/Ryan McDonagh trade.
That trade, as much as the mere mention may trigger Canadiens fans, is significant here. It signalled the end of the Koivu era, as the Finnish captain went on to sign with the Anaheim Ducks mere days later. Players like Brian Gionta, in joining Gomez, his ex-New Jersey Devils teammate, and Michael Cammalleri signed on that summer instead, representing a changing of the guard, albeit via free agency, where veterans continued to comprise the core of the organization, in stark contrast to how the team is built right now.
Brendan Gallagher is the absolute oldest Canadiens player at Age 33 currently. Kovalev, who turned 35 mid-season in 2008, was meanwhile surpassed in age by not one, but two teammates in Bryan Smolinski (35) and Patrice Brisebois (36). Overall, there were nine players 30 or older on the 2007-08 team, while there are literally only four players on the team right now. Only one of those, Mike Matheson (going on 32), is a member of what most would consider the core and looks to have a long-term future in Montreal, as general manager Kent Hughes focuses on youth instead of experience, which, not for nothing, everyone is actually gaining with each passing game.
Related: Canadiens Keep Matheson in the Fold with Great Deal for Both Sides
It goes to show, with Suzuki (2030), Hutson (2034), Caufield (2031) and Slafkovsky (2033), i.e., four of the NHL-leading five aforementioned 40-point scorers, locked up for the foreseeable future, the window is significantly larger than it had been for the franchise 18 years ago, when the Canadiens had to have been in win-now mode, because there was barely a tomorrow for that team as everyone knew it. The fifth, Demidov, is only in his first full season, but it is very much assumed he will follow suit and similarly commit eventually.
So, can the current Canadiens achieve similar success?
It almost doesn’t matter, because the general consensus is they’re developing into an offensive powerhouse for many years to come. However, the answer is obviously “yes,” even if they fall short of the same seven-50-point-scorer figure. The core five above will almost certainly each get to that highwater mark. Defenseman Noah Dobson (31) could get there, but the next man up, rookie-forward Oliver Kapanen, is projected to fall short (27).
That’s not necessarily a sign of weakness though. Instead, it goes to show the offensive depth of this latest edition that the Canadiens are on pace to still outscore the 2007-08 team. For them to get further in the postseason, they’re going to need offensive contributions lower down the lineup. Against the Flyers in the second round all those years ago, they literally got a single goal outside of those seven star players, from Tom Kostopoulous (an admitted OT winner in Game 1).
Kovalev vs. Suzuki
It was all downhill from there, though. Kovalev notably had two goals in that game, including a clutch game-tying goal with 30 seconds left. However, aside from a two-point effort in the deciding Game 5, he went relatively quiet the rest of the way, which, all due respect to Kovalev, was kind of his calling card. He’d be the most impactful player one night and invisible the next, which made his 2007-08 season so significant, because he brought it so consistently to the point of putting up a superstar-esque point per game, which, up until Suzuki accomplished the feat last season, had remained ever-elusive for Canadiens players since (and for some time beforehand).
So, on one hand, you’ve got Kovalev, who, while a legitimate star talent that graced the franchise for parts of five seasons, had a tendency to go multiple games on end without giving it his all. On the other, you’ve got Suzuki, the team’s current ironman, who has literally never missed a game in seven seasons. There may be games where he’s playing visibly injured and unable to make as much of an impact as he would like, but the effort level seems to always be there. So, if it’s a referendum between the two players, it should be no contest, especially as Suzuki inches closer to 100-point territory.
That sentiment in a nutshell encapsulates why the Canadiens right now should hold more of a special place in the hearts of fans. Forget the 2025-26 team. Just the team overall. The season seems like more of a stepping stone to something greater, while, admittedly in large part in hindsight, 2007-08 was a one-off.
Suzuki may not get to 100 points this season, but, like every NHL season he’s played before, he’s improved over the last one. So, there’s a very real sense he’ll get there eventually. For the record, Kovalev never did, although he did win the 1994 Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers. It may not be this year (or possibly ever), but the optimism is practically palpable Suzuki will lead them to a championship eventually as the core grows together for the rest of the decade, and, this is key: into the next one. That’s a lot of kicks at the can… and a lot of projected goals, although just a single one really matters.
Like Suzuki, the team as a whole has only improved each season since bottoming out in 2022 (the year after reaching the Final). This year, the question is more so by how much they will again, not whether they can match the 2007-08’s offense. It would be nice if they did, certainly. It would be nicer still if they won more than five games in the postseason after having gotten eliminated in just five last spring. That’s the clear priority.