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.
The catchphrase from management — including team owner/president Geoff Molson — at the team’s annual golf tournament at Laval-sur-le-Lac in September was “in the mix.” The Canadiens are hoping to be “in the mix” for a playoff spot. But being “in the mix” will be more difficult now since forward Patrik Laine — the key off-season acquisition — will be sidelined for 2-3 months with a sprained knee suffered in the second pre-season game. On the bright side, forward Kirby Dach returns healthy after suffering a season-ending knee injury in the second regular-season game last year. A big storyline this season will be the play of 5-foot-10, 162-pound defenceman Lane Hutson, who had 30-67-97 totals in 77 games over the last two seasons at Boston University. Can Hutson bring that kind of offence into the NHL at his size? A bigger question is can Hutson play defence in the NHL at his size?
Reason to believe
The players buy into the systems/concepts that St. Louis is putting in place and enjoy playing an offensive style of game for the Hall of Famer. St. Louis will also take over control of the power play this season after Alex Burrows stepped down as an assistant coach this summer. Captain Nick Suzuki and defenceman Mike Matheson are both coming off career years. Suzuki had 33-44-77 totals, while Matheson had 11-51-62 totals.
Juraj Slafkovsky showed last season why the Canadiens made him the No. 1 overall pick at the 2022 NHL Draft, finishing with 20-30-50 totals. The 20-year-old Slafkovsky had 16-19-35 totals over the final 41 games while playing on the No. 1 line with Cole Caufield and Suzuki. Caufield scored eight goals in the last nine games to finish the season with 28.
Reason for skepticism
Defence and goaltending are the two biggest question marks. The defence will be even younger than last season after Johnathan Kovacevic was traded to New Jersey and Jordan Harris was dealt to Columbus. Samuel Montembeault will start the season as the undisputed No. 1 goalie for the first time in his career at age 27 after playing 41 games last season and posting a 16-15-9 record with a 3.14 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. Team defence was also a problem last season when the Canadiens gave up the third-most shots in the NHL — an average of 33.4 per game. The only teams who allowed more shots were the San Jose Sharks (35.1) and the Columbus Blue Jackets (34.4). The Canadiens finished 15 points out of a playoff spot last season.
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.