From Martin St. Louis to Lane Hutson, Postmedia assesses the level of hope fans of Habs should have heading into the new NHL season.
The Canadiens have won a record 24 Stanley Cups.
To put that in perspective, the teams that rank second and third — the Toronto Maple Leafs (13) and Detroit Red Wings (11) — have won that many combined.
While fans in Montreal complain about how the Canadiens haven’t won the Cup since 1993, neither has any other Canadian team.
The Maple Leafs haven’t won the Cup since 1967, which gives Montreal fans some pleasure — especially after the Canadiens eliminated Toronto in the first round of the 2021 playoffs after falling behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. The Canadiens then went on to the Cup final before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But the Stanley Cup parade no longer takes the “usual route” along Ste-Catherine St., like former Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau liked to boast.
In fact, the Canadiens haven’t even made the playoffs for the last three seasons. On the bright side for Montreal fans, the Leafs have won one playoff series in the last 20 years.
The Canadiens will open the NHL regular season Wednesday at the Bell Centre against the Maple Leafs (7 p.m., SN, TVA Sports).
Status today
The Canadiens are heading into their third full season of a rebuild under Jeff Gorton, the executive vice-president of hockey operations, general manager Kent Hughes and head coach Martin St. Louis.
Reason to believe
Reason for skepticism
Prospect pipeline
Gorton and Hughes have focused on asset accumulation and player development since starting this rebuild and it’s starting to pay off. Fans are excited about what Hutson might provide offensively — especially on the power play. Forward Ivan Demidov — the No. 5 overall pick at this year’s NHL Draft — is expected to join the Canadiens next season after completing the final year of his contract with St. Petersburg SKA in the KHL. Demidov was named the KHL rookie of the month for September after posting 4-4-8 totals in 10 games.
Forward Michael Hage, selected 21st overall at this year’s draft, is off to a very good start at the University of Michigan with a goal and three assists in his first two games. Goalie prospect Jacob Fowler returns to Boston College after an outstanding freshman season, during which he posted a 32-6-1 record with a 2.14 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. Unfortunately, defenceman David Reinbacher — the No. 5 overall pick at the last year’s draft — suffered a knee injury the second pre-season game that will sideline him for 5-6 months and delay his development. Reinbacher was expected to start this season with the AHL’s Laval Rocket.
Salary-cap situation
The Canadiens had enough salary-cap space to take on all of Laine’s contract — which has two seasons remaining with an US$8.7 million salary-cap hit — in the trade with Columbus. Goalie Carey Price won’t play again because of a knee injury, but he still has two seasons left on his contract with a US$10.5 million cap hit. While Price will be put on long-term injured reserve, that contract is still a headache for Hughes. On the bright side, forwards Christian Dvorak (US$4.45 million) and Joel Armia (US$3.4 million) are both heading into the final year of their contracts.
Postmedia predicts
The Canadiens will win the Stanley Cup in 2030.
Postmedia explains
At age 25, Suzuki is the oldest of a group of young players that includes Caufield, Dach, Alex Newhook, Slafkovsky, Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Hutson, Logan Mailloux, Reinbacher and Demidov. They will all grow up together, both on and off the ice, and continue to learn the type of game St. Louis wants the team to play. If Fowler continues to develop the way he has so far, the Canadiens should also have a legitimate No. 1 goalie in the future. The young group of players really enjoy being together both on and off the ice and are becoming a band of brothers who will push each other to succeed and have another Stanley Cup parade on Ste-Catherine St.