Ducks, Canadiens emerge as Cup contenders with youthful exuberance

Legendary reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Also known as "The Hockey Maven," Fischler brings his mix of insight and humor each Wednesday. This week examines how a blend of youth and speed has turned the Anaheim Ducks and Montreal Canadiens into challengers for the Stanley Cup. Using a similar formula in 1947, the Toronto Maple Leafs won the first of three consecutive NHL championships..

Just like that, the youthful Anaheim Ducks and exuberant Montreal Canadiens have been turning heads since advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Anaheim eliminated the Edmonton Oilers in six games and Montreal moved on with a seven-game win against the Tampa Bay Lightning 

The Canadiens open the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round at the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC). The Ducks play Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round at the Vegas Golden Knights, also Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN360, SN, TVAS), after losing the opener 3-1 on Monday. 

No less compelling has been the Ducks' ascent under coach Joel Quenneville, a three-time Stanley Cup-winning coach with the Chicago Blackhawks (2010, '13, '15) and whose guidance has turned so quickly into victory and emphatically into playoff reality. That's impressed such adept young players like Cutter Gauthier, 22, Leo Carlsson, 21, and Jackson LaCombe, 25.

"A lot of us young guys are learning a lot as we go along, and I thought we got better throughout the first series," LaCombe said. "Being in the second round means a lot for us."

Anaheim's loss in Game 1 neither curbed the enthusiasm of coach Quenneville nor his skaters. 

"I'm proud of our maturity level and how inexperienced and young our team is," said Troy Terry, 28. "It's exciting moving forward."  

No less impressive has been the goaltending of Lukas Dostal after John Gibson was traded to the Detroit Red Wings on June 28, 2025. Dostal started all six games for the Ducks in their series win against an Oilers team that finished one point above them (93-92) for second in the Pacific Division and coming off back-to-back losses to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.

"We beat a big dog," Dostal said. "We had a really, really good team against us."

The youthful Canadiens leapfrogged last season from a mere "in the playoff mix" team that lost the first round in five games to the Washington Capitals to one playing a fast and furious style displayed by such dynastic Hockey Hall of Famers like Maurice "Rocket" Richard and Jean Beliveau in the 1950s. 

Primary traction was provided by Nick Suzuki -- at age 23 named the youngest captain in Canadiens history -- as well as productive right wing Cole Caufield and 2025 Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson, an offensive defenseman reminiscent of Hall of Famer Doug Harvey. A Montreal gamble that's paid dividends was the acquisition of defenseman Noah Dobson in a trade with the New York Islanders on June 27, 2025.

As the youngest team in the 2026 playoffs, the Canadiens have a genuine opportunity to pursue the Stanley Cup. 

Without mincing any words Hutson opined, "We're just playing good hockey."

Coach Hap Day's youthful Toronto Maple Leafs of an earlier era were in a similar situation entering the 1946-47 season, when the star-studded Canadiens were defending champions.

"All four of our starting defensemen -- Jim Thomson, Gus Mortson, Bill Barilko and Garth Boesch -- were rookies," Day said. "Because of those kids, the writers said we were a good three years away from winning the Cup -- if we were lucky."

Those upstart Maple Leafs defeated the Canadiens in six games for the Stanley Cup and won it again the next two seasons. After the third consecutive Cup victory, then an NHL record, Al Nickelson of the Toronto Globe and Mail asked trainer Tim Daly how he felt about their latest triumph.

"I don't know why you guys are so excited at us winning the Stanley Cup," Daly said. "We do it every year."