Last season, the Montreal Canadiens snuck into the playoffs and were looking to build on that this season. They certainly did that as they broke 100 points in the regular season for the first time since the 2016-17 season and went as far as the Eastern Conference Finals.
While the season ended on a sour note as the Canadiens would lose four straight to the Carolina Hurricanes after winning Game 1, there are plenty of positives that can be taken from this season. These are four notable takeaways for the Montreal Canadiens from the 2025-26 season.
Jakub Dobes is unquestionably their starting goalie moving forward
The Montreal Canadiens entered the season with Samuel Montembeault as their starter, but early in the season, it was clear that he wasn't going to be the answer. The team started to look towards their other goalies, like Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler.
Eventually, Dobes emerged as the starter and really helped the team finish the regular season on a strong note. He would finish the regular season going 29-10-4 with a goals against average of 2.78 and a save percentage of .901.
Dobes started the playoffs exactly how he finished the regular season, with an incredible performance and outplayed Andrei Vasilevsky in the Canadiens first round against the Lightning. In fact, he wouldn't lose back-to-back playoff games until the very end, when the Canadiens lost Game 2 and Game 3 against the Hurricanes.
Even with how the playoffs ended, Dobes improved his goals against average from the regular season to finish with an average of 2.66. The Canadiens have some areas they need to address this offseason but goalie is not one of them.
Cole Caufield is an elite goal-scorer but has playoff questions
Cole Caufield had an incredible regular season with 51 goals, which was the first time since the 1989-90 season that the Montreal Canadiens had a player break 50 goals, and he finished one goal shy of leading the league in the regular season. However, the playoffs were a different story for Caufield, and it leaves some questions moving forward.
In the playoffs, Caufield had six goals which was tied for second on the team with Juraj Slafkovsky, but four of those goals were on the power play. For a large stretches in the playoffs, Caufield seemed to disappear and struggled to make the same impact he did in the regular season.
The Canadiens have the potential to have one of the best top lines in the NHL with Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky but they are going to need more from this group in the playoffs if they hope to reach the Stanley Cup Final.
Lane Hutson won the Calder Trophy last year for being the best rookie in the league and this season made a strong case to be in discussion for the Norris Trophy, which goes to the best defenseman that season. He finished the regular season setting new career-highs in goals (12) and assists (66) with an impressive +/- of +36.
In the playoffs, after Jakub Dobes, the Canadiens defenseman was easily their best player and most consistent. He finished the playoffs with 16 points in 19 games along with 34 blocked shots.
This offseason, the Canadiens are going to re-evaluate their blueline to figure out how they can get more consistency from the group as a whole. However, that discussion is really going to start after their Top 3 of Hutson, Noah Dobson and Mike Matheson.
Montreal Canadiens are at their floor, not their ceiling
There is no question that fans are going to be disappointed with how the season ended and for some players like Lane Hutson who said the team is still far off. However, when looking at the season as a whole, there is plenty of positives that can be taken from it.
The Canadiens have been very methodical in how they have rebuild this team and have a young core of players that is probably the envy of every team in the NHL. They are only going to get better as these players continue to grow and develop along with prospects like David Reinbacher and Michael Hage eventually joining the franchise.
After reaching the playoffs for the first time in three seasons last year, they once again made the playoffs but went as far as the Eastern Conference Finals. The Canadiens are sure to continue to add to this team and next season have a great chance to go farther.
