New Season, Same Mindset
With new faces, bold trades, and expectations rising, the Montreal Canadiens enter the 2025-26 season ready to prove that last year's success was no fluke.
A New Phase Begins
With the final preseason game now in the rearview mirror, the Canadiens have made their final roster cuts and announced the deserving names of the players that will don the bleu-blanc-et-rouge jerseys for the 2025-26 season. The team has managed to make some linear progression in terms of overall point progression since the rebuild began, but this year, it’s different. An unexpected visit to the playoffs last year has sent a sense of optimism through the entire organization and for the first time, the Habs, have changed their yearly goals from, “being in the mix”, to “ making the playoffs”. The rebuild, although not yet complete, has begun it’s next phase. This message was reflected in the offseason with some familiar faces leaving town and some fresh talent arriving.
Out With The Old, In With The New
The Canadiens have seen the departures of Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia, Emil Heineman, and David Savard this offseason. Dvorak and Armia were lost through free agency, signing deals in Philadelphia and Los Angeles respectively. David Savard has hung up his skates and Emil Heineman was sent to Long Island in a package for highly touted defenceman, Noah Dobson. Young rear-guard, Logan Mallioux found himself on the outside looking in. With an abundance of young talented blue-liners knocking on the door, of an already full house, the Habs were able to move Mallioux and bring in rookie scorer, Zack Bolduc from the St. Louis Blues. Bolduc was impressive with the Blues last season, scoring 19 goals in his rookie season. Notably, locking down a bumper spot on the power play and taking advantage of a very heavy shot. Other players lost of less “impact”were Michael Pezzetta, Cayden Primeau, and Rafael Harvey-Pinard.
GM Hughes opted to take some bigger swings this offseason. A clear signal that the team was ready to take the next step. Just before Free Agency, the Habs traded picks 16 and 17 of the 2025 draft along with Emil Heineman to the Islanders for Noah Dobson. Dobson immediately signed an eight-year contract extension with the Canadiens worth $76 million (9.5 million anually), making him the highest-paid player on the Canadiens. A few days later on July 1st, Hughes was busy once again, bolstering his offence by acquiring Zachary Bolduc from the St. Louis Blues in a one-for-one swap with young prospect Logan Maillioux. Bolduc, from Quebec, grew up cheering for the Habs and will now get to live his childhood dream.
“ I grew up a Habs fan and now I have the oppportunity to play for them, so I’m just super excited.” Bolduc said of the trade.
Hughes also rounded out the lineup, signing 6’1” centreman, Joe Veleno to a 1-year, $900,000 deal, Sammy Blais to a 1-year $775,000 deal and experienced goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen to a 1-year $1.15 million deal.
Here’s a look at who’s in and who’s out heading into the new season:
A Quick Recap
The vibes in Montreal haven’t been this positive for a long time. After many patient years of pain and low expectations, the seeds of the rebuild have finally begun to bear fruit. That fruit came in the form of an unexpected playoff birth, despite many analysts predicting a lowly finish. Suzuki and his Habs have shown ownership that they have grown into players that can take matters into their own hands and with that have been rewarded with some fresh talent to begin the 2025 season. This preseason was therefore lacking when it came to roster openings up for grabs. Savard was replaced with Dobson, and Heineman with Bolduc. In my eyes, at least on paper, a sizable upgrade. With Dach finally coming back from injury and getting the opportunity to be the teams second line centre, any player hoping to nab a spot in the line-up would really have to do something special.
The Habs finished the preseason with a 4-2-0 record and few names stood out to be amongst the group. Sammy Blais was an absolute monster on the forecheck. He was a nuisance to any opposing teams defenceman and was able to create a lot of havoc and turnovers as a result. Joe Veleno, looked fast and smooth and seems to have a very good hockey mind. He looked better than I personally expected when initially signed. Filip Mesar was fast and decisive. He was cut earlier in training camp but I believe he still has more to offer and hopefully will be able to show why he was chosen in the first round if he’s able to stay healthy. Adam Engstrom seemed like an NHL ready defenceman. He is extremely fluid and confident in his decision making. I believe he will be next in line to earn a call-up barring any injuries during the year. Vinzenz Rohrer was very fast and relentless. I am interested to follow his year in the minors this year to see how his game progresses. Lastly, and for good reason, Florian Xhekaj. He was the standout at camp for me and I was almost convinced he would crack the lineup. He fought, he scored, he hit and for a young guy, he did not look out of place playing along side NHL talent. NHL be warned, the Montreal Canadiens are going to be a handful if at some point there are two Xhekaj’s patrolling the ice. I couldn't help myself but be drawn into the preseason games this year because of this storyline alone.
Your 2025 Montreal Canadiens
Today, the Montreal Canadiens made 5 roster moves and with that solidified the roster for the 2025-26 season. Owen Beck, Florian Xhekaj and Adam Engstrom have been loaned to the Laval Rocket in the American Hockey League. Forward Sammy Blais and Kaapo Kahkonen were placed on waivers at 2:00 PM ET. We will find out if anyone was claimed in 24 hours. Although I would have love to see Xhehaj and Blais on the team, I do believe these are the right moves given the position the Canadiens are in at this point in time. Xhekaj would not have gotten consistent playing time this year with the teams depth and he will benefit from consistent playing time in the minors to shape out his game.
With those moves, we can conclude that the Habs brass have elected to go with 13 forwards and 7 defenceman. Joe Veleno being the one player that has made the team out of camp.This is how the team shapes up as well as line projections:
Can the Canadiens take another step forward and build on last year’s success? I’ll let you decide.