Be optimistic or pessimistic about the Montreal Canadiens in 2025? That is the question. This team has been capable of the best, as we have seen more recently, and the worst this season.
With this in mind, you will not be asked to see the glass half full or half empty. Rather, we will simply provide you with the arguments to side with you.
Whether you believe in the reconstruction of the CH or not, you will find what you are looking for!
5 reasons to be optimistic
Ivan Demidov
The Canadiens’ brightest prospect in ages will join the team next year. According to our information, SKA has tried numerous times to extend its contract in Russia, but in vain. The organization suffered one refusal after another. Even before being selected by the Canadiens fifth overall in Las Vegas, Demidov had established an unambiguous plan, that of arriving in North America in 2025-2026, after honoring his agreement in the KHL.
At the risk of getting carried away too quickly, Demidov’s impact in the NHL could be immediate. That he was able to amass 26 points in 38 games in one of the best leagues in the world despite sporadic use is no small feat.
The addition of Demidov to the roster represents a significant injection of talent, which would be comparable, if not potentially superior, to that offered by Lane Hutson this season.
92,4 millions $
Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes will be armed to the teeth next summer. This will be the time for him to truly put his mark on the Canadiens’ training.
The salary cap will rise to at least $92.4 million. The contracts of Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia, Jake Evans, Michael Pezzetta and David Savard will expire.
And Hughes will still be banking on several picks in the next draft: two in the first round, two others in the second and three in the third. Ammunition which, in addition to the space at his disposal under the salary cap, constitutes important leverage when the time comes to finalize transactions with his counterparts.
Hughes will have his hand full. It’s up to him to seize the opportunity.
Laine will be there in 2025-2026
When Hughes made his biggest move last offseason by securing the services of the enigmatic but extremely talented Patrik Laine, he wasn’t getting a rental player.
Instead, he was acquiring a relatively young 26-year-old player under contract until 2026. Laine’s audition with the Habs will not end at the end of this season.
If the results remain convincing next year, Laine could well join the core of the organization and sign a contract for several years.
Goals are gold in the NHL. In the right mood, Laine is capable of scoring.
The 2025 draft
As mentioned above, Hughes will be banking on several draft picks again this year, including two in the first round
The selection that interests us the most is obviously that of CH. The team is more than ever in the mix with five wins in their last six games. If she stays the course, so much the better. If she returns to the shallows, there will be a nice consolation prize.
Another top-five pick, or better yet, a top-3 pick could allow the Habs to complete their core. Among the mouth-watering candidates, Matthew Schaefer is the most promising defensive prospect since Cale Makar in 2017. James Hagens, Porter Martone and Michael Misa are all very dynamic forwards.
Hutson is just getting started
Lane Hutson’s mind-blowing moves on the ice suggest he will eventually pile up points at the same rate as the league’s elite offensive defensemen do.
Hutson leads NHL rookies with 19 assists in 29 games, and he would have gotten more if his sidekicks had been able to keep up with his pace and complete his brilliant passes. The arrival of Demidov will help in this sense, as that of Laine is already helping at the moment.
He’s also starting to understand how to beat NHL goalies. Because Hutson is capable of scoring goals. He scored 15 in less than 40 games on two occasions against adults in the NCAA. He will probably never score 20 goals, but he is too talented not to score ten or fifteen in 82 games.
Adam Fox doesn’t have a cannonball from the point and he succeeds.
5 reasons to be pessimistic
Juraj Slafkovsky’s potential still unclear
The Slovak has been doing better since we reunited him with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, but we expected the big breakout after the second half of the season he had in 2023-2024. That’s not what happened.
It’s still a question of whether Slafkovsky will become a dominant player who carries a line on his shoulders or simply a luxury complement.
Expectations are high, as the Canadiens have invested $60.8 million over eight years and its first overall pick in 2022 on this centerpiece of the rebuild.
Is Kirby Dach a true second center?
While we shouldn’t panic too quickly in the case of Slafkovsky, it’s more alarming when it comes to Dach. It will take more than the recent improvement to convince us.
A priori, the tools seemed attractive when he started with the CH. He has the size, the hands and the vision. But too often this season his game was devoid of rhythm and confidence. In short, he looked like the player that the Chicago Blackhawks dumped without much regret on the floor of the 2022 draft, at the Bell Centre, just a few years after having selected him third overall.
This is not what we like to see from the player who was tipped to be the organization’s second center of the future.
Taxes, not palm trees
“We have taxes, not palm trees”: Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams’ refrain could well be echoed by Kent Hughes (don’t do that, Kent, it didn’t go down well in Buffalo).
The CH CEO may have millions to spend on the free agent market to replace his veterans at the end of their contract, but he is not fighting on equal terms with his counterparts working in markets where the climate is tropical and taxes are levied. on salary, non-existent.
The specter of eternal reconstruction
Is the reconstruction that Geoff Molson has launched into with both feet the panacea that we believe it to be?
Across the National Hockey League, some rebuilds drag on. Those of the Sabres, the Anaheim Ducks, the former Coyotes who became Utah, the Detroit Red Wings and the San Jose Sharks are enough to be scary… or at least, to test our patience.
Reconstructions are said to last about five years. But there is no guarantee that at the end of this ordeal, the team will magically enter the fight for the Stanley Cup.
Alex Newhook
The CH acquired Newhook at a high price: Hughes almost sacrificed two first-round picks in the 2023 auction. He gave the 31e choix (Mikhail Gulyayev) et le 37e (Ethan Gauthier).
We understand that the Habs have a pool of prospects full to the brim and that it has every advantage at this stage to exchange selections for young players already established in the NHL. The strategy is laudable.
However, knowing that Newhook had not collected the slightest assist before December 28 against the Florida Panthers, it is reasonable to wonder if Hughes bet on the right player and if the links that the ex- agent had established with his former client prevented him from seeing clearly.
