What I Need to See From the Montreal Canadiens After the Olympic Break

After about a three-week hiatus for the Olympic break, the Montreal Canadiens return to action tonight with a home game against the New York Islanders. Coming out of the break, the Canadiens sit second in the Atlantic Division with 72 points on the year, and while, as of right now, they are comfortably in a playoff spot, this is not a time to be complacent or even ease back into things with just 25 games to go in the regular season.

The Canadiens need to be ready to pounce if they want to get back to the playoffs for a second straight year. And here on this stretch run of the season, I wanted to give some things I need to see out of them over the next couple of months as they look to get back to the postseason.

Get Consistency In Net

One of the subplots of the Habs season so far has been the inconsistency in net. After a strong season last year, it looked like Samuel Montembeault was ready to be seen as the clear-cut starter in Montreal going forward, but a rough start to the year made the team reconsider things in net, not just for the future, but the present.

Jakub Dobes, who, while he's been winning games, has not been great himself for the majority of the season, as he's looked a bit shaky at times. The lack of consistency in net even caused them to bring up Jacob Fowler a bit earlier than anyone in the organization or fan base anticipated. And while Fowler was good while he was in net, he did show some signs that he probably needs to spend more time in the AHL before he can make the full-on leap.

If the Canadiens want to have a deep playoff run this year, they need to have someone establish themselves as the number one goalie going into Game 1 of the postseason. So whether it's Montembeault or Dobes, they need someone they can rely on.

If you ask a Canadiens fan right now, they would probably want it to be Dobes for Game 1 of a playoff series, but there will be Montembeault supporters. And you know what the saying is: if you have two goalies that you could start for Game 1 of a series, you have none.

So someone between those two needs to establish themselves as the starter going into the postseason.

Get This Patrik Laine Situation Resolved Quickly

Patrik Laine has only played in five games this year, and he’s been skating for a while now. The big thing going on in Montreal is that a lot of people believe he is healthy enough to play right now, but there simply is not a spot in the lineup for him at this point, and it’s probably best for both sides to move on.

Laine, I do think, gets a bit of unfair criticism because I will defend his play last year for the majority of it, as the team was struggling up until he returned to the lineup in December. I really do think he was the spark that helped push that playoff run last year. However, once we got to the playoffs, or even late in the season, it was clear that the honeymoon phase in Montreal was over for him, and his lack of defensive play was starting to hurt the team.

So while I do think he was still a good addition at the time, Laine probably does not have a spot on the team going forward. And personally, as a fan, if they don’t trade him before the trade deadline, I’m worried about possibly the NHLPA getting involved with the team and either forcing some type of legal action against the Canadiens for holding a healthy player out, or him simply starting a ruckus in the locker room and dividing the team if he feels like he’s ready to go and the team just isn’t allowing him to play.

So I expect this to get resolved soon. I think it will get resolved before the trade deadline, but I don’t even want to think about what happens if it doesn’t.

Clinch One of the Top Three Seeds in the Atlantic Division

Obviously, the end goal is just to be in the playoffs in general. And while they are looking good enough to be a Wild Card team right now, don’t set your expectations that low for this team. This team has shown they probably are one of the top three teams in their division this season. They’ve been fairly consistent and have been able to rack up points through the first 57 games.

Last year, they finished the season as the second Wild Card team in the Eastern Conference, and that came back to bite them because they got destroyed by Washington in the first round, who very much out-physicaled them. I think this season would show a lot of progress if they’re able to clinch one of those top three seeds in the division, which automatically gets you into the playoffs.

I was tempted to say go for a top-two seed, where you get home-ice advantage in Round 1, but as a fan, I’ll be satisfied and feel like the team is going in the right direction if they are able to clinch a top-three seed in the division, at the very least, and get into the playoffs automatically.

Find Someone to Play with Nick Suzuki & Cole Caufield

It used to be Juraj Slafkovsky on the top line with Suzuki and Caufield, and there’s no doubt that the Suzuki–Caufield–Slafkovsky line is one of the best lines in hockey when they do play together, I just loved what I’ve seen when Slafkovsky, Oliver Kapanen, and Ivan Demidov played together on the Canadiens’ second line!

I don’t think you can break that up, especially Slafkovsky and Demidov.

So the Canadiens have had to make-shift another winger, on that line with Suzuki and Caufield. We’ve seen it be Alexander Texier. We’ve seen it be Zachary Bolduc. We’ve seen it be Josh Anderson. We’ve seen it be Kirby Dach.

Dach was starting to pick it up a bit right before the break with five points in five games. But I do think if they want to do something in the playoffs, they need to find someone who can consistently play with Suzuki and Caufield.

As of right now, I would guess it would be Dach for the majority of the season, but we know the story with him is injury. So if he goes down at any point, that could mess up their plans. The Canadiens need to either establish someone on that first line or go out and make a trade for someone they can feel confident enough will be in the lineup for Game 1 of the postseason.

Just Stay Healthy, Man

The Canadiens being in second place in the Atlantic Division is a testament to how well coached they’ve been and how much depth Kent Hughes has been able to acquire since he took over the GM role in 2022.

They’ve been without key players such as Alex Newhook, Kirby Dach, and Kaiden Guhle for a majority of the season, and it’s been long rumored that Nick Suzuki has been playing through injuries as well to keep his Ironman streak alive throughout the year.

The Canadiens are starting to get healthy at the right time coming out of the break, and if they want to make a deep playoff run here, they need to have their full lineup ready to go. So the biggest thing for them, will be winning and continuing the climb up the standings, they also need to be have a healthy roster going into Game 1 of the playoffs, if they’re lucky enough to be there.