One Final Year of Becoming: The 2026-27 Montreal Canadiens
"So you got everything you wanted... Now what?
I don't wanna think about it, don't make me!"
The Montreal Canadiens will not win the 2027 Stanley Cup
I'm ready to be wrong about this, but I'm willing to say that deep down, you probably agree.
That second line centre you've been emailing Locked On Canadiens about? He's not here yet and teams don't seem to be all that willing to let those kinds of guys go. That right shot defenseman the Habs spent a fifth overall pick on three summers ago? He's got two NHL games under his belt and a has never played more than 60 games in a season. We'll see what he brings to training camp in September. Come to think of it, we'll see what the entire defense looks like later this month. It's not totally clear what the Habs' defensive pairings will look like. The goalie monster? That is still more Cerberus than Orthrus. Again.
Since the Habs were eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Hurricanes in May, they have only subtracted from their NHL roster with the trade of Brendan Gallagher and the departure of Joe Veleno. They have also added nothing to their NHL roster. The Montreal Canadiens may as well have been in one of those sci-fi stasis chambers filled with green, bubbling fluid from the time Jakub Dobeš signed his extension until the golf tournament kicks off in the coming days.
The team that rode hot goaltending from Dobeš and unlikely primary scoring from Alex Newhook was still about half-way to a Stanley Cup. Then they did nothing.
And that's okay.
A team becoming
The most fun versions of teams to watch are the versions that are becoming something. That's why the last two seasons of the Habs have been so entertaining. A playoff appearance in the "In The Mix" season and a deeply satisfying playoff run that saw the Habs knock off two division rivals were pretty much the best case scenario for the last 24 months.
Canadiens fans aren't really used to this kind of team. Because this is the first true rebuild in the history of this team, I find it easy to understand where fans are coming from. The last guy that was in charge of the Canadiens would pick in the top-10 and insist the same group was going to be a playoff team the following year. Our expectations are built from past experiences and our past experiences are filled with rushed, directionless management.
This November will mark five years since that management group was removed. That means this upcoming 2026-27 season will mark the five year anniversary of the Habs team that finished dead last; the first team in NHL history to finish with a record worse than 31 other NHL teams. In those five years, the plan has been painstakingly clear: acquire future assets by selling off all parts non-essential to the future of the team. With that being the rubric for which we grade this rebuild, the most obtuse reading of the current progress shows us the Habs are not quite done rebuilding. With Josh Anderson and Phil Danault under contract for one more year and with parts like a dependable second line centre and a second top-four right shot defender still at best unclear, the rebuild is still incomplete. The Canadiens are no longer interested in selling the Andersons and Danaults of the world, but their presence on the team illustrates the incomplete nature of the group. They are doing a job today that will be done by someone else in the years to come. The build portion is still ongoing, but that won't and can't last forever.
The Canadiens are still becoming. Their core pieces - the ones expected to lead the way when it is time to be legitimate contenders for a Stanley Cup - are still becoming the versions of themselves that will be capable of that feat.
Ivan Demidov is one of those pieces. He just wrapped a very impressive rookie campaign that saw him appear in all 82 games, recording 62 points along the way. If it wasn't for that absolute freak (complimentary) on Long Island, he probably would have enjoyed the Habs second straight Calder trophy. And yet, it should be obvious that he still has room to grow; that 62 points is not his ceiling. The Canadiens are likely hoping and expecting he's more of a point-per-game type player driving his own line. He's probably not likely to hit his full stride as an NHL star for a few years.
Even Lane Hutson, who every night last season seemed to do something that we've never seen before, is not in his prime yet. Sure, he had 78 points in 82 games, picked up enough Norris votes to finish 6th in voting, and even grabbed some Hart votes for his troubles.
He's 22. And he only turned 22 after playing 57 games this season. It seems unfathomable to think this, but he's probably not at his peak yet either.
Juraj Slafkovský just had the true breakout season of his young career. He set a career high in goals and points and in the middle of all that, he played a dominant role in Slovakia being the biggest surprise of the Men's Olympic bracket. Like Hutson, he just turned 22. It is highly likely we have not seen the best of Slafkovský in the NHL and we are probably a few years away from that.
The reason it's important to point this out is to put into context why this summer of inaction was okay. The Canadiens' have core pieces that are just entering their prime now. I put Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Noah Dobson in that category. But the younger core, the pieces this Habs' front office drafted, are not there yet. Demidov, Hutson, and Slafkovský are not there yet. Hell, David Reinbacher isn't even a regular NHLer yet. Jacob Fowler is everyone's choice to be the next franchise goalie but the Canadiens would probably have him play for Laval than back up Dobeš in Montreal. Plus Michael Hage and Alexander Zharovsky won't make their NHL debuts until 2027 and they will each be several years away from being impact players.
The last care-free season
So take the upcoming season for what it is: another opportunity for the Habs exciting core to put on a show every other night. There is enough skill here to make the playoffs for a third straight year. There are enough assets in the pipeline to help them in the future or to be exchanged for help in-season. Fans of other teams are probably sick of hearing it, but the Canadiens have built an incredible future for themselves that is simultaneously an exciting present. I do not think it is a stretch to say the Habs have not been this poised for success since the early 1970s. But this group is not there yet.
And there is joy to be had even with that being the case. These are the teams that are easiest to love. Last year's Habs made me fall in love with hockey in a way I forgot was possible. The teams that are expected to win are oftentimes the most frustrating. Remember watching the 2014-15 Canadiens? I expected way more of them than I do of the 2026-27 Canadiens even though they were both following the same somewhat unlikely act. The 2014 playoff run didn't feel expected, but it probably should have felt that way.
That, along with the lockout shortened 2013 season, was their "becoming" season. The season with expectations followed. Carey Price, PK Subban, and Max Pacioretty were all in their primes. Price put up a season for the ages. Subban and Pacioretty were good, but not Earth shattering. No team that made the playoffs in 2015 scored fewer regular season goals than the Canadiens and Montreal was the 2nd best team in the league. They were mind-numbingly dull to watch with the puck and every loss felt like an I-told-you-so for everyone doubting the Habs entire philosophy to that point.
Those kinds of years are inevitable. Even this current group, who can seemingly do no wrong, will have years like this in the future. Maybe those seasons won't feel as offensively inept as the 2014-15 Canadiens, but seasons where expectations are not met are coming. This type of pessimism is used only as a tool to point out what I think should be obvious:
You're living in the good old days right now.
These are the versions of the Canadiens you will look back on with the most fondness because there was never anything truly at stake. These last two seasons have been a found wallet. But as the Canadiens enjoy this success, the expectations are going to catch up with them. Before we know it, we are going to be white-knuckling it through regular season out-of-conference games because if they lose at home to the St. Louis Blues, it's going to become A Thing for 48 hours in the market.
I do believe this Canadiens group is building a team capable of winning at least one Stanley Cup with this core, but when we expect them to compete, we will also probably be miserable more often than we are now. The potential energy of expectations creates higher kinetic energy of disappointment.
I estimate we have one more care-free season from this group. One more year where the holes on this team are acceptable as part of the process of becoming what they should be. One more year without any truly lofty expectations.
Enjoy it. Don't rush this thing. There will be plenty of time to be sad later.