In a weird way, the Montreal Canadiens shot themselves in the foot ending the 2024 calendar year the way they did, even carrying some of that momentum into 2025. Now Habs fans are hungry for more, and no one should blame them, seeing as the team is now showing signs of sustainable success, which is what they’d been promised all along after a last-place finish in 2021-22 and two subsequent, consecutive fifth-from-last-place seasons.
Having gone 12-5 since Dec. 3, the Canadiens have returned to (and passed) .500 in dramatic fashion to enter the playoff picture, when they had largely struggled to start 2024-25. Had they accrued their current 20-18-3 record through more consistent play over the first three months of the season, instead of going on their current run, management’s “in the mix” motto would likely have been taken at face value as having been uttered in good faith, after years of, meh, not so much under the previous regime. That in and of itself is a significant step in the right direction.
Related: Canadiens Reach 2024-25 Quarter Mark on Small High
However, that the Canadiens have gotten to this point by beating the four previous Stanley Cup champions in a matter of mere weeks? It’s at least circumstantial evidence that things are coming together for a young, inexperienced roster in rapid fashion. Considering where they were in the standings on Dec. 16, dead last in the Eastern Conference, there’s no other way to interpret their current position (within striking distance of a wild-card spot) but manifest destiny in action.
Canadiens Now a Clear Playoff Contender
To be clear, no one should be looking at the Canadiens as a team of destiny. A Stanley Cup realistically remains well out of reach for an organization that has only really delivered consistently for about a month with significant remaining question marks:
- How will goalie Sam Montembeault perform down the stretch as an undisputed No. 1 when he’s never played over 41 games in any one professional season before?
- Will Juraj Slafkovsky regain his scoring prowess to make the top line a consistent threat?
- What will general manager Kent Hughes do come the trade deadline, with several critical pieces set to hit unrestricted free agency in the offseason?
- Will they stay healthy, “healthy” translating to the stellar on-ice play fans are currently witnessing after literally years of record-setting seasons in terms of man-games lost?
All that having been said, there’s no disputing how impressive the Canadiens have looked in the recent past. Even the harshest of critics, say Toronto Maple Leafs fans, can’t reasonably rule out a Habs playoff appearance as much as they may want to, even if only based on their current position in the standings.
Of course, the Canadiens may not make it in the end; That’s an undeniable possibility too. However, if the Habs have managed to hold their own against the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightnings, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanches (the four aforementioned Stanley Cup champions) and Washington Capitals of the NHL in relatively rapid succession, without even the benefit of Patrik Laine (or David Savard) in the lineup for that last two, it’s a sign this team is bound, even if only eventually, for greater things.
Some may suggest the Canadiens are simply peaking too early. However, you’ve got a team of mid-20 somethings, each of whom had been on the relative cusp of hitting their prime heading into the season. It may be “early” in that sense, but “too” implies they’re at risk of running out of steam as a whole. Aside from Montembeault, whose performance could realistically regress in the coming months if history is any indication, that’s simply far from an objective assessment of the situation. This is in effect how good the Habs can be, and it’s damn good to be clear.
Dobes and Evans the Only Canadiens Outliers
Granted, once a team’s goaltending ceases to be reliable, you find yourself with another Cayden Primeau situation on your hands. However, as Hughes suggested at his recent media availability to mark the season’s halfway point, they promoted Jakub Dobes from the American Hockey League specifically to address that potential pitfall.
Kent Hughes says the Alex Carrier trade was filling a need that they had internally.
— Jared Book (@jaredbook) January 8, 2025
Says Cayden Primeau didn't have the start he wanted and the move was made to regain Primeau's confidence and not run Montembeault into the ground.
Keep in mind, with obvious exception to Dobes as the team’s backup and Jake Evans as its fourth-line centre, no one on the team is really due to regress. Everyone’s been playing as they should, with some, like Slafkovsky, Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook, having even struggled. Laine is on a 50-goal pace, having previously scored 44. Cole Caufield is on a 45-goal pace, similar to the 26 in 46 games he got in 2022-23. Nick Suzuki scoring a point per game to lead the team is the next logical step in his progression after having improved statistically each season, just coming off a 77-point campaign.
Sure, some may argue Lane Hutson is exceeding expectations and may regress. However, that would require acknowledgement on the part of naysayers (again, Leafs fans, for example) that he’s actually playing great hockey right now.
Don’t hold your breath.
Canadiens’ First Half an Unmitigated Success
If this is where the Canadiens are currently, where just about everyone is doing what they should, it shouldn’t have to be stated out of its sheer obviousness, but here it goes: As long as everyone stays healthy, the Canadiens, in consistently beating playoff teams, are a playoff-calibre team themselves.
Crazy concept, right?
Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Canadiens are a playoff team. They do have to recover from their poor 8-13-3 start to the season to make it. However, that it can theoretically be referred to as a poor start without any presumed raised objections implies they’re past it. And, literally a point out of the second wild-card spot with one game in hand, they’re about in as good of a position at this point as anyone could have imagined, playing better hockey than anyone could have possibly imagined. If the season were to end today, it would be an unmitigated success… but it doesn’t.
So, welcome to the second half. Things are about to get (more) interesting.
