With the end of August just days away, the good news keeps rolling in for fans of the Montreal Canadiens. Management, prospects and players are finding themselves near the top of ranking lists.
As the offseason comes to a close, we hear NHL players from teams all across the league look forward to training camp with hope and enthusiasm. We’ve heard all of the positive messaging and the cliches before, but something is different this year for Habs players and the coaching staff.
They have high expectations for the season to come and they intend to reach or exceed their goals. They believe that they can take the next step in building a contender this campaign. And they intend to deliver.
In the latest edition of the Canadiens Connection podcast, we look at the building momentum for the Habs, and why the team will enter the season with so much hope and promise.
NEW PODCAST: Habs Making the Case for a Breakout NHL Season | Canadiens Connection ep 362
We also detailed several other topics in this week’s show:
- Which Canadiens were added to Team USA’s orientation camp?
- Who won their country’s player of the year trophy for the third time?
- How much did Nick Suzuki raise at his annual charity golf event?
CC Question of the Week: Do you believe this will be the Canadiens’ breakout season — why, or why not?
We also welcomed Rocket Sports medical consultant, Dr. Stephen Morris, to the podcast. Doc Morris used his expertise to answer listener questions about Lane Hutson and Kirby Dach.
It is our eighth season, with a new episode of the podcast dropping every Saturday afternoon throughout the summer. Be sure to subscribe using your favorite podcast app! Or watch our episodes on YouTube!
Canadiens Connection Podcast: Making the Case for a Breakout Season
Have you missed any episodes? You can find our complete catalogue of shows here at HockeyHotStove.
I do not think it is likely this will be the Habs breakout season.
I suspect this will be a season where they likely make the playoffs, but not sold on them absolutely making it.
There are too many questions around the second line – who is the center? Can Laine and Dach work well together to be productive? How does that impact Demidov’s development? If Laine and Dach are not the answer, then the Habs have a massive problem throughout their bottom 3 lines.
I am also concerned about their special teams. I think the PP can replicate what it did last year, if not be better, but they need to split Laine and Caufield from the same unit.
I am very concerned about the PK. Losing Dvorak (not only defensive play, but key face offs), Armia and Savard (even if he looked slower last year) leaves a massive hole to fill. Either a few people need to step up, or the Habs need to stop taking so many penalties (they were near the top of the league) – probably a combination of both.
I m also a little concerned about the goaltending. With the Olympics coming up, the Habs have a huge number of back-to-back games t his season. We are going to see growing pains with Dobes (hopefully nowhere as bad as with Primeau) and Monty need to just play fewer games in a season (and especially in a row).
Until we see the likes of Reinbacher, Fowler, and Hague (or a real second line center) show up plus a more mature Hutson/Demidov, we will not see a true breakout season.
The Habs are still a bubble team, but I expect them to be a more exciting and fun to watch team in 25/26.
26/27 on the other hand… that looks very promising.
Agreed. We identified those questions, and several others, in episode 361 of the CC podcast, and have a similar outlook. But the Habs players and coaches obviously see the situation quite differently. As the captain said, the team had expectations that were much higher than those of fans and the media last season, and they exceeded them. So I expect that they are quite comfortable with the public betting against them again this year.
Thanks for listening to the Canadiens Connection podcast!