The 2024-25 season saw a dramatic leap forward by the rebuilding Montreal Canadiens. They started off slowly, but finished the regular season strong, earning the final wild-card berth in the playoffs. While they did lose to the Washington Capitals in the first round, the Canadiens showed that they can and will compete for a playoff position.
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However, general manager (GM) Kent Hughes would be the first to admit that his rebuild is not near complete. There are significant needs to be filled before they can be considered a completed work. The 2025-26 season holds some promise of another step forward, yet they will need to find more goals, especially on the power play (PP).
Canadiens Can Learn From the 2024-25 PP
Montreal finished 17th in the NHL in goals for, scoring 243 times, which translates to a 2.96 goals for per game average (GF/GP). The Canadiens’ 20.1% power-play (PP) percentage ranked 21st in the NHL. However, after the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Canadiens, being led by team captain Nick Suzuki, were able to increase scoring to 3.15 GF/GP. This placed them 15th in the NHL over that time span. They did this despite their PP dropping to 18.1% over the 26 games played in that span.
What this shows is that the major leap forward last season for Montreal, which led to them being fifth overall in the league after the 4 Nations, was their defensive game cutting down goals against dramatically. It’s no secret that special-teams efficiency has a massive impact on success in any season. For the club to improve immediately and have a repeat appearance in the playoffs in 2025-26, they will need their PP to produce at a much higher rate.
Canadiens Change Their Format
The format the Canadiens currently use is a 1-3-1 setup with one forward down along the goal line (or net front), one forward on each of the half walls, one forward in the bumper position (high slot) and one defenceman at the blue line. The top unit (laid out in the 1-3-1) consisted of Juraj Slafkovsky – Patrik Laine, Suzuki, Cole Caufield – Lane Hutson. This was the unit that scored the most as a group. Caufield scored 10 PP goals, but Laine was a PP goal machine, with 75% of his 20 goals coming on the PP, giving him the team lead with 15.
The second unit was not as productive but did show some flashes of ability. They also used the 1-3-1 and were led by players such as…
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