Canadiens 'keep building' with Stanley Cup Playoffs on horizon

MONTREAL -- One by one, Montreal Canadiens players and management walked to a microphone at Laval-sur-le-Lac Golf Club seven months ago and looked well beyond 18 holes of their charity tournament.

The Canadiens had recently finished the third season of a stay-the-course rebuilding plan, the youngest team to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs not the least bit discouraged by a five-game elimination by the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference First Round.

Good days were ahead, all said on a cloudless mid-September morning. The sun shone brightest on Nick Suzuki, who in 2022 at the same golf club was named the youngest captain in franchise history, and defenseman Lane Hutson, voted winner of the 2024-25 Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.

Each spoke in measured tones, setting a modest, reasonable bar for the 82 games ahead -- and they hoped more -- with the season opener set for Oct. 8 on the road against their storied rival Toronto Maple Leafs.

Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki watches his shot slip past New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin on Sunday for Suzuki’s 100th point of the 2025-26 season.

Look at them now.

Bound for the playoffs with one regular-season game left to play, at the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, NBCSP, TSN2, RDS), the Canadiens entered Monday tied at 106 points with the Atlantic Division-leading Buffalo Sabres, the latter ranked first with a game in hand and more regulation wins (41/34).

On Sunday, Suzuki became the first Canadiens captain and fifth in their history to reach 100 points, his goal and assist in a 4-1, playoff-eliminating defeat of the New York Islanders, giving him 101.

Suzuki joins Guy Lafleur (six times), Peter Mahovlich (twice), Steve Shutt and Mats Naslund with a 100-point season, Naslund the most recent to reach the milestone 40 years ago in 1985-86.

Hutson had two assists against the Islanders, his total of 66 equaling the team record for defensemen set by Hall of Famer Larry Robinson in 1976-77.

Lane Hutson at the Canadiens’ charity golf tournament on Sept. 15, 2025, and Larry Robinson in the 1970s. Hutson and Robinson share the team record of 66 assists for defensemen heading into Montreal’s regular-season finale.

On the night Suzuki got his 100th point of the season, defenseman David Reinbacher earned the first of his career.

Selected No. 5 by the Canadiens in the 2023 NHL Draft, Reinbacher had an assist in his NHL debut as a fill-in for injured Noah Dobson after being recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League on Sunday morning.

Seven months ago, Suzuki stood on the clubhouse steps in Laval with legendary Yvan Cournoyer, the lightning-fast roadrunner having 50 years earlier to the day been voted Canadiens captain to succeed the retiring Henri Richard.

Wearing No. 12, voted the team’s 12th captain in his 12th season, Cournoyer would win the Stanley Cup four consecutive seasons wearing the “C” from 1976-79, the seventh through 10th of his career, then retire.

“I think I’m a little behind,” Suzuki joked to Cournoyer, the current Canadiens captain having been born six years after Montreal’s 24th and most recent championship won in 1993.

Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki (l.) and Yvan Cournoyer at their charity golf tournament on Sept. 15, 2025, the 50th anniversary of Cournoyer being voted the 12th captain in their history.

“From management, coaches and players, we all have the same belief and the same goal in mind,” Suzuki said of the 2025-26 season. “We’re really trying to build something special here. We’ve been able to do that over the last few years, we’ve acquired a lot of great talent, it’s about putting that all together. …

“We had a lot of pressure over that last few months (of 2024-25) and we gained a lot of experience. Inside our room, we had higher expectations than everyone outside our room. Now everyone knows we’re a good team and can compete with everybody and win those games. It’s just a matter of putting it all together through camp.”

The same message was expressed by Suzuki’s linemates; Cole Caufield has 51 goals with a game to play, the seventh Canadien to reach the 50-goal plateau and the first since Stephane Richer in 1988-89, and Juraj Slafkovsky has 30 goals, 10 more than his previous best in 2023-24.

Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson and Slafkovsky are 1-2-3-4 in team scoring, each enjoying career seasons -- even if it is only Hutson’s second in the League.

Goalie Jacob Fowler gets a playful facewash from Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky at right, following the Canadiens’ 7-3 win against the New York Islanders at Bell Centre on March 21, 2026.

“I think it’s a privilege to be able to play every day,” Hutson said, standing on a putting green while holding a Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation flag for a photo. “To have those (high) expectations is obviously really special. We have a group of guys who are hungry. We had a taste of it and we definitely want more.”

Thoughts were expressed by many that opponents would have Hutson figured out after his first tour of the NHL. Clearly, that hasn’t happened; his speed and creativity have quickly made him a fan favorite and an ongoing challenge for defenders trying to corral him.

“Just being able to be adaptable, to continue to learn,” Hutson said of his focus this season. “I’m not a finished product by any means as a player, I have tons to work on. I’m going to continue to grow and adapt, find out what works and what doesn’t work.”

The Canadiens added a few new faces during the offseason. Among them: Dobson by trade from the Islanders, with forward Zachary Bolduc arriving by trade from the St. Louis Blues.

Skating in his first NHL game, Canadiens defenseman David Reinbacher checks New York Islanders’ Calum Ritchie at UBS Arena on April 12, 2026.

Dobson has proven to be a valuable, big-minutes addition to the blue line, an untimely upper-body injury sustained Saturday shelving him for at least two weeks pending re-evaluation. Bolduc has 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists), averaging a healthy 13:38 per game.

Flashy, energetic forward Ivan Demidov, just 20, played two regular-season games and five in the playoffs and has 62 points (19 goals, 43 assists) in his rookie season.

Goaltending has been a revelation. Sam Montembeault, who started 60 games in 2024-25, has started just 23 this season. He’s now third on the depth chart, Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler, the latter just 21, a reliable rotation for coach Martin St. Louis.

Last September, team owner Geoff Molson considered the rebuild engineered by Jeff Gorton, executive vice president of hockey operations, and general manager Kent Hughes, and said, “Is it going faster (than expected)? No. Is it going slower? No. It’s just an outstanding performance by Jeff and Kent to have the patience to build and to stay on plan.

Goalies Jakub Dobes (l.) and Jacob Fowler have been a strong rotation for the Canadiens headed toward the playoffs.

“If we’re not the youngest team, we’re one of the youngest teams in the NHL again this year with a lot of potential. We’re sticking to the plan, but if an opportunity comes to get better quicker that doesn’t impact our plan, that’s a good plan as well.

“The expectations are that we provide, as we did last year, an outstanding experience for our fans, but most importantly that we progress and keep building to have a good team for the very long term.”

There were no guarantees then of a trip to the playoffs this season. A miss, Gorton said, would not be qualified as a failure.

“I don’t like the word failure,” he said. “We all want the playoffs, we all want to keep moving forward. We’re trying to build something for a long period of time. I like our group; let’s see where it takes us. We’d be disappointed (to not make the playoffs). We want it, the players have been outspoken about that, I wouldn’t expect anything else.

“The players don’t want to hear ‘rebuild’ or anything like that, I understand that. The players are focused, they like their team, they like their group. You can see how tight-knit they are, they’re ready to go. I think 750 players in the League all think they’re making the playoffs, and our players are no different.”

Eighty-one games into the season, Montreal is buzzing in anticipation of the playoffs. With seasoned veterans, talented and perhaps overachieving youth and strength in goal, the Canadiens have been an engaging story.

The intriguing next chapter is straight ahead.

Top photo: Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki holds his 100th-point puck Sunday in his team's UBS Arena dressing room.