5 Canadiens Keys to a Successful Playoff Finish 2025-26 – The Hockey Writers – Montreal Canadiens

After reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, a large part of a successful 2025-26 for the Montreal Canadiens would be making them again. It’s no stretch to suggest a failure to would make the season itself an overall failure as well. So, how do they get there? Here are the five keys to a successful playoff finish for the Habs:

5. Trade Price’s Contract

In an ideal world, the Canadiens wouldn’t just put goalie Carey Price’s $10.5 million on long-term injured reserve, to which they’ve grown accustomed over the last few years. They would trade it outright, as then they’d be (far) less likely to have to deal with overage penalties when their young players trigger performance bonuses.

The threat of overage penalties on a team rife with entry-level deals and bonuses to be paid out to the likes of Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov (for two examples) theoretically handcuffs general manager Kent Hughes, were he to want to acquire a big name. The good news is, Price is entering the last year of his deal.

Once the Canadiens pay Price his $5.5 million performance bonus on Sep. 1, he’ll only be owed $2 million as a base salary this coming season. That makes it an attractive contract to take on in theory for teams looking to stay over the cap floor.

All that having been said, trading Price is more so a luxury than must-have. It looks like the Canadiens will be more competitive, even if they put him on LTIR like they have each year since he unofficially retired. So, hope for but don’t necessarily count on it happening. There are more direct routes the Habs can take to ensure a successful 2025-26, rather than the indirect benefits to be had from trading the guy.

4. Put Demidov in Position to Succeed

The Canadiens should scare the rest of the league for two primary reasons.

1. They accomplished what they did as the youngest team in the NHL.
2. They accomplished what they did without a working second line.

Imagine then what a full season of projected-Calder Memorial Trophy-candidate Ivan Demidov, who initially arrived with just two games remaining last April, could do. As someone who’s anticipated to anchor that second line (at least to start before eventually moving up to Line 1, one would think), he has the power to turn the Canadiens into an extremely dangerous team in 2025-26, when, in 2024-25, the second line mainly constituted a Dr. Frankenstein-esque experiment to get Patrik Laine going at even strength….