This Is Just The Beginning

After losing in five games to the first-place Washington Capitals in round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens' 2024-25 season has come to an end, and it was one for the ages. This team defied almost everyone’s expectations and gave Habs fans a glimpse of what is to come moving forward.

After making the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021, the Canadiens lost major pieces such as franchise icons Shea Weber and Carey Price. Right after that loss, the team went into rebuild mode and finished near the bottom of the league’s standings over that time.

Coming into this year, the expectations in the organization and the fanbase were to at least be in the playoff mix and be playing meaningful games over the last month of the regular season. While a playoff appearance seemed unrealistic in training camp, a near last-place finish would be unacceptable.

Before the season, the team’s projected point total was 76.5 by most betting sites, and after a slow start, it did appear the under was a lock as the team at one point in November was 31st in the league standings. But then in December, the team started to surge up the standings and improbably found a way into the playoffs, finishing as the second wild card team with 91 points to make their first playoff appearance since 2021, becoming the youngest playoff team in NHL history with an average on the roster of 25.95 years old.

That's what makes the future so bright in Montreal; this team took massive steps forward, never gave up, and has so much room to get better.

This season, we saw so many of the team’s young players who will guide them into the future take their games to a new level. Captain Nick Suzuki established himself as one of the best two-way centers in the league by continuing his strong defensive play and improving his offensive skill-set by finishing with a career-high 89 points. Cole Caufield scored a career-high 37 goals while also making major strides defensively. Juraj Slafkovsky had another 50-point season and continues to get better. Rookie defenseman Lane Hutson was not only the best rookie in the NHL this season, but he very well could be considered one of the best at his position in the league already, ending the year with 66 points and top five in Norris Trophy voting, and after joining the team late in the season, fifth overall pick in last year's draft Ivan Demidov showed flashes of why Habs fans were so eager for him to join the team, showing off his jaw-dropping skill set.

Not to mention, veterans like Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson showed they can still contribute to winning hockey, while goaltender Sam Montembeault, I would say, proved he can be a true number one in this league with his strong play.

As coach Marin St. Louis said after his team's elimination, the pain that some of the players and fans might be feeling now no doubt hurts; but, it will not even compare to the joy and excitement of what's to come in Montreal.

To take that next step, St. Louis does need to take strides himself as a coach, and general manager Kent Hughes does need to improve the roster, such as finding ways to improve the defense core and finding a second-line center. Yet, with their core players locked up long-term and prospects like David Reinbacher and Jacob Fowler waiting in the wings, the foundation is rock-solid, and the Canadiens have one of the brightest futures in the NHL.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the start of something special in Montreal.