Why the Canadiens Could Be Stanley Cup Contenders
Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson battles Seattle Kraken forward Tye Kartye along the boards at Climate Pledge Arena on October 28, 2025. Photo by Jenn G.
Written by Gina Anton
MONTREAL — Renowned hockey journalist and longtime NHL.com columnist Stan Fischler thinks the Montreal Canadiens could be the team to finally bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada. After what Montreal did last season, I don't think that idea is as surprising as it sounds.
But I also don't think Chris Kreider is the final piece.
Kreider certainly adds something Montreal needed. At 35, he brings 135 games of playoff experience, along with the size, net-front presence and physicality Martin St. Louis wanted. But calling him the piece that completes Montreal's championship puzzle makes the team sound more finished than it actually is.
What makes me believe in the Canadiens is what happened before Kreider arrived.
Montreal went through two seven-game series last spring and won both deciding games on the road before reaching the Eastern Conference Final. This isn't a group that still needs to learn what playoff hockey feels like. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson and the rest of Montreal's core now have a postseason experience they can actually build on.
That could matter more than another regular-season improvement.
The Canadiens now know what it feels like to be one of the final four teams standing, and they also know what ended their run. Carolina beat them in five games. The next step isn't simply getting back there. It's finding out whether this group can respond when opponents are prepared for them.
That is where I think this season becomes particularly interesting.
Montreal still has questions. Its top line of Suzuki, Caufield and Slafkovsky is one of the team's biggest strengths, but the Canadiens still need more consistency behind it, particularly at second-line center. If the top players aren't producing, who gives Montreal another way to win?
Then there is Jakub Dobes.
Dobes started all 19 playoff games last season and won Game 7 against Tampa Bay. Now, after signing a three-year extension, he enters the season expected to establish himself as Montreal's No. 1. He has already shown he can handle the postseason. The bigger question is whether he can handle an entire season with those expectations attached.
Martin St. Louis will have a role in all of it. His new four-year contract keeps him in Montreal as this group enters a different stage of its development. He has coached these players through the rebuild, their return to the playoffs and their run to the conference final. Now he has to help them deal with something new: expectations.
That is why I think Montreal is worth taking seriously as a Stanley Cup contender.
Not because everything is solved, because it isn't. And not because Kreider suddenly makes the Canadiens complete.
I believe in Montreal because its young core has already shown that it can handle more than was expected of it. Last season gave these players a taste of how far they can go. This season will show whether they can turn that experience into consistency.
Fischler may be right about where the Canadiens are headed.
I just think the more interesting part of the story is that Montreal may not have reached its ceiling yet.
