The Canadiens’ forward group is starting to look like the kind of unit that can hold up when the games get tighter and the calendar turns to spring. Montreal still runs through Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, but the real change is how much more help is around them now.
That depth matters. Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov both have room to grow, Alex Newhook has shown he can deliver in big moments, and Oliver Kapanen and Zachary Bolduc give the lineup more scoring options than it had not long ago. Mix in veterans like Phillip Danault and Josh Anderson, and Montreal has a forward group with a lot more shape and variety than before.
Suzuki remains the centerpiece. He’s already one of the league’s top two-way centers, and he enters 2026-27 just 24 points shy of 500 for his career.
After winning the Selke Trophy, the conversation around him has moved past whether he can handle the role of a true No. 1 center. Now it’s about how much more he can add.
Caufield is still the pure finisher in the bunch. He has 169 goals in 368 career games and needs 31 more to get to 200. A 30-plus-goal season should be the baseline, but Montreal will want more from him at five-on-five if this line is going to keep pushing upward.
Slafkovsky may be the wild card of the trio. He has the frame, strength and skill to take over shifts, and the next step is turning those flashes into something steadier. If that happens, Montreal’s top line becomes even harder to deal with.
Behind them, Demidov and Newhook could give the Canadiens another real threat. Demidov showed plenty in his first full NHL season and finished with nine points in 19 playoff games.
With that year now under his belt, expectations are going to climb fast. His creativity, hands and vision give him a chance to become Montreal’s most electric offensive player down the road.
Newhook brings a different kind of value. He had two Game 7 goals during Montreal’s 2026 playoff run, and those were some of the defining moments of the postseason.
Speed has never been his problem. Staying healthy and producing with regularity has.
If he can do that while skating with a playmaker like Demidov, there’s another level he can reach offensively.
Not every useful forward has to be a headline scorer. Danault came back and gave Montreal another center who can handle tough defensive work, and he followed that with 10 playoff points.
Coaches trust him because he shows up in the situations that matter. He’s also only 14 games away from 800 in his NHL career.
Anderson remains a different kind of weapon. His mix of size, pace and physical play gives Montreal something few teams can match in the same player, and that style tends to travel well in the playoffs. With the final year of his contract ahead, this season could say a lot about where things go next.
Jake Evans fits into that same dependable category. He’s not there to carry the offense, but his versatility, penalty killing and steady play make him exactly the kind of forward teams lean on when they want structure and trust.
Kapanen and Bolduc are two names worth watching because neither looks finished yet. Kapanen went past 20 goals as a rookie and proved he could score while still playing a responsible two-way game.
His playoff stretch was tougher, but the regular season showed real promise. If he can keep producing at that level, his value climbs quickly.
Bolduc adds something else to the mix. He has scoring upside, but he also plays with an edge and attacks the middle of the ice with purpose.
He doesn’t need to become a star. If he and Kapanen can keep chipping in offensively while rounding out their games, Montreal’s lower six gets a lot harder to play against.
Then there’s Kirby Dach, who enters 2026-27 in a different kind of spot. The talent is still there, but injuries have kept him from becoming the player Montreal hoped for when it got him.
He no longer has to force his way into being a top-six center. What he does need is a healthy season and steady production wherever he fits.
That’s the real story with this forward group now: the Canadiens aren’t relying on every young player to hit his ceiling just to make the offense work. There’s competition for jobs, competition for minutes, and enough depth that Montreal can actually sort through its options. That’s a very different place to be.
In Other News...
Kirby Dach Faces A Huge Canadiens Season For His Future
Kirby Dach heads into a pivotal year with the Canadiens, and the stakes around his place in Montreal are hard to miss. After signing a one-year contract for the upcoming season, he has a clear runway to show he can still become the center the organization hoped it was getting, but the recent track record has been uneven enough to keep the pressure on.
Injuries and inconsistent play have slowed Dachs progress over the past few seasons, and the next stretch may end up shaping his future more than any recent one. With free agency looming, he needs a healthy, productive season to put himself in position for a stronger extension or a more appealing market on his next deal. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Suddenly Look Like A Real Dylan Larkin Landing Spot
Dylan Larkins future has become one of the leagues more awkward offseason storylines, and Montreal has emerged as a team worth watching simply because the field around him has thinned out. The Detroit captain asked for a trade after the 2025-26 season, but no deal has materialized, and he is still expected to be in camp when the next chapter opens. With five seasons left on his contract and a 67-point season still fresh in the mind, the price remains high enough to keep plenty of suitors at arms length.
For the Canadiens, that matters because the usual list of alternatives is getting shorter by the day, and the market is not exactly overflowing with teams ready to make a serious push. Montreal has long been the kind of club that would at least check in on a player of Larkins stature, but the obstacles around the rest of the league have only sharpened the possibility that this story drags on longer than anyone expected. Whether that creates a real opening for the Canadiens or just another round of speculation is still to be determined. [Read more 🡒]
Larkin Trade Rumors Just Hit A Huge Red Wings Roadblock
The Dylan Larkin chatter has started to drift beyond Detroit, and Montreal has surfaced as a possible landing spot as the Red Wings work through a front-office void that has slowed any real movement. Bryan Hayes and Frankie Corrado of TSN pointed to the Canadiens as a logical fit, noting both the way Larkin could slot into the roster and the contract factors that would have to be sorted out if the idea ever gained traction.
For Montreal, the interest is easy to understand. Larkin is the kind of center who would fit into what the Canadiens are trying to build, and the uncertainty around Detroit only adds another layer to a rumor mill that is already moving fast. The problem is that none of it matters much unless the situation gets past the earliest hurdle, and for now there is still a key piece of approval missing from the player side. [Read more 🡒]