Canadiens Enter 2026-27 With a Core Built to Contend

Montreal earned 106 points and reached the Eastern Conference Final in 2025-26, which is a genuine achievement for a franchise that was deep in a rebuild just a few years ago. The front office responded by locking up its core pieces on long-term deals and adding a proven power forward in Chris Kreider, though the roster did not get a significant upgrade at the second-line forward spot that scouts have flagged as a need.

Last season in review

The numbers are easy to like. A 48-24-10 record, 106 points, third in the Atlantic, and a run to the Eastern Conference Final. Nick Suzuki posted 101 points. Cole Caufield scored 51 goals. Lane Hutson, still only 22, put up 78 points from the blue line. The offence ranked sixth in the NHL at 3.44 goals per game, per nhl.com.

Goaltending was the real revelation. Jakub Dobes came in as the backup, won his first six starts, and never gave the job back. He finished 29-10-4 with a .901 save percentage and started all 19 playoff games, the most wins by a Canadiens rookie goalie since Ken Dryden in 1971-72, per nhl.com. The defence was solid enough to support a run deep into May. The question now is whether all of it holds up over a full 84-game season with a target on their back.

Ins and outs

• In: Chris Kreider (signed, one year)
• In: Brett Berard (acquired from New York Rangers, signed one-year contract)
• In: Reilly Walsh (signed, one year, two-way)
• In: Sasha Pastujov (acquired from Anaheim Ducks for Sean Farrell)
• In: Maksymilian Szuber (acquired from Utah, signed one-year two-way deal)
• In: Ivan Demidov (signed eight-year, $73.2M extension, begins 2026-27)
• In: Jakub Dobes (signed three-year, $16.05M extension, begins 2026-27)
• In: Alex Newhook (signed four-year, $22.2M extension, begins 2027-28)
• In: Zachary Bolduc (signed four-year, $16.8M deal)
• In: Martin St. Louis (signed four-year extension through 2029-30)
• Out: Brendan Gallagher (traded to Vancouver Canucks)
• Out: Sean Farrell (traded to Anaheim Ducks)
• Out: Joe Veleno (signed with New York Rangers as free agent)
• Out: Joshua Roy (to Utah)
• Out: Luke Tuch (to Columbus)
• Out: Sammy Blais (to Ottawa)
• Injured: Kaiden Guhle (adductor surgery, expected to miss four to five weeks from mid-September)

The big question

Can Jakub Dobes handle a full season as the undisputed starter? He was brilliant in 43 games and 19 playoff starts, but carrying the load for 84 regular-season games while the Atlantic Division throws its best at him is a different challenge. Dobes himself said at camp that the starting job still has to be earned, per dailyfaceoff.com, which is the right attitude, though it also signals nothing is settled behind him.

X-factor

David Reinbacher. The 21-year-old defenceman, selected fifth overall in 2023, had 24 points and a plus-18 rating in 57 AHL games last season after injuries kept him out of the early going, per nhl.com. He has the size, skating, and hockey sense to push into the top six on the blue line. With Guhle starting the year on the shelf, Reinbacher has an opening. A healthy, full season from him could quietly be the most important development story in Montreal this winter.

Bold prediction

Montreal finishes second in the Atlantic and reaches the conference final for the second straight year, with Caufield topping 50 goals again and Dobes cementing himself as a legitimate starter.

The outlook

The Canadiens head into their September 29 opener in Toronto as a genuine contender, not just a feel-good story. The core is signed, the coach is extended, and the pipeline is still producing. The Atlantic will be brutal, Guhle's absence hurts early, and the second-line forward question lingers. But this is a team that has earned the right to be taken seriously.