As the Montreal Canadiens head toward the 2026-27 season, a few storylines are already starting to take shape. Some of them are about prospect development, some are about record-chasing, and one could end up helping decide the Atlantic Division.
At center, Oliver Kapanen looks like the cleanest answer for the No. 2 job. He may wind up working alongside last year’s rookie-scoring leader Ivan Demidov, but Kapanen’s own production makes him hard to ignore.
After scoring 22 goals, he has a real case to build on that as a 23-year-old with another year of experience under his belt. Unless general manager Kent Hughes brings in someone else before the season, Kapanen stands as the most straightforward option.
Michael Hage is the name many people have in mind for the future, and the top prospect is expected to eventually take over once he signs his entry-level deal, presumably after the 2026-27 regular season. But until that happens, Montreal’s focus should stay on the player it can actually manage day to day. Hage is more of a looming answer than an immediate one.
That’s part of what makes the rest of the season so interesting for the Canadiens: there are real developments to watch, and they’re largely in the team’s hands.
David Reinbacher is one of them. The fifth-overall pick from 2023 has been through a rough stretch with injuries over the last three years, and that has slowed the kind of rise many expected from a player once viewed as a top-pairing right-handed defenseman. Adam Engstrom, selected No. 92 overall in 2022, has even arguably passed him on the depth chart, even though he’s a left-shot defenseman who can also play the right side.
Still, there may be an opening for Reinbacher at the start of training camp. According to reporter Anthony Martineau of TVA Sports, the Canadiens want him to win that spot.
If he does, nothing is guaranteed after that. He’s still exempt from waivers, which means fans could see him moving up, being sent to the American Hockey League, or even ending up in the press box.
At 6-foot-3 and 207 pounds, he was once seen as the ideal partner for Lane Hutson, and Montreal would surely prefer to see that path stay alive.
Then there’s Hutson himself, who has already become the Canadiens’ No. 1 defenseman. He’s only a little more than six months older than Reinbacher, but his career has raced far ahead of expectations. Selected No. 62 in 2022, the 2025 Calder Memorial Trophy winner has already changed what people thought he could be.
Last season, Hutson matched Hockey Hall of Famer Larry Robinson’s Canadiens record for assists by a defenseman in a season, with 66 set in 1976-77. In 2026-27, the chase will be on to see whether he can break that mark outright.
There’s also Robinson’s team record for points by a defenseman in a season, 85 from the same year. Hutson just finished with 78, so that one is within reach too.
That’s why he has a strong case to be Montreal’s best bet for a major individual award, including the James Norris Memorial Trophy, which Robinson also won in 1976-77. But the bigger question for many Canadiens fans may be whether Nick Suzuki can repeat as Frank J. Selke Trophy winner.
Suzuki captured the award in dominant fashion after posting 100 points for the first time in his career and becoming the first Canadiens player to reach that mark since 1985-86. He also piled up 1,726 points, nearly four times as many as runner-up Anthony Cirelli of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who had 467. The Selke race tends to keep the same names around once a player breaks through, and only 10 different forwards have won it since the 2004-05 lockout.
This time, though, Suzuki may have to beat back a familiar heavyweight: Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov. Healthy again after missing last season, Barkov had been the favorite for a third straight Selke before the injury ended that chase. Now he’s back in the mix, and the race has an extra layer because the Panthers have strengthened themselves this offseason, most notably by adding Brady Tkachuk, with the goal of getting right back into Atlantic Division contention after winning two straight Stanley Cups.
The Canadiens, meanwhile, are expected to improve mostly through internal growth. That makes the Suzuki-Barkov battle even more central, especially with Montreal aiming to push for the Atlantic itself. The Panthers would have been a playoff team last season if not for their injury problems, and the Canadiens have beaten Florida in the last eight meetings between the clubs, dating back to the 2023-24 season, when Barkov was healthy and the Panthers were on their way to their first championship.
The division race should be crowded either way. Seven of the eight teams likely see themselves as playoff teams, and at least four have a believable shot at winning the Atlantic. But it would not be a surprise if Montreal and Florida end up at the center of it, with the Selke race and the division race turning into one big storyline.
In Other News...
Canadiens Suddenly Fit A Rare NHL Pursuit Fans Need To Watch
Leo Carlssons summer stayed busy long after the contract itself was done, because the five-year, $90 million deal he eventually signed with Anaheim helped reset the market for young NHL talent. Jeff Marek reported that four teams submitted offer sheets for the Ducks center earlier this summer, with the Flyers the only club publicly named, and the ripple effect has already shown up in the way other top prospects are being paid. For Montreal, it is another reminder of how quickly the leagues restricted free agent landscape can shift when one premium young player lands a deal that forces everyone else to take notice.
It also leaves open a question that will matter to Canadiens fans watching the next wave of talent decisions: who else was willing to get aggressive when Carlsson was available? Marek said there is no way to confirm whether Montreal was among the teams involved, but the possibility alone speaks to a rare kind of pursuit that can change a front offices priorities overnight. With young stars becoming more expensive by the month, the Canadiens suddenly fit into a conversation that used to feel more theoretical than real. [Read more 🡒]
Slafkovsky And Demidov Are Giving Canadiens Fans Another Reason To Believe
Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov are becoming one of the more interesting young pairings around the Canadiens, and it starts with how naturally their connection has formed away from the ice. The two forwards have grown close in a way that feels bigger than a simple teammate relationship, built on shared experience, similar personalities and the kind of easy comfort that tends to show up long before it shows up on the scoresheet.
For Montreal, that matters because chemistry is easier to spot when it has roots. Slafkovskys run of bad luck last year, when he lost his car in an accident, became one of those odd little backstories that can help explain how a bond deepens, and their friendship has spilled into their play as well. In a market always hungry for reasons to believe, the sight of two young forwards clicking this naturally gives the Canadiens another hopeful thread to follow. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Suddenly Have A Real Montembeault Trade Opening
The goaltending market can change in a hurry, and Frederik Andersens injury has done exactly that for Edmonton. With the Oilers now facing an early stretch without him, the ripple effect has brought Samuel Montembeault back into the conversation for Montreal, giving the Canadiens a fresh look at a trade path that seemed to have gone quiet not long ago.
Montembeault had been part of summer trade chatter before, but nothing came together at that time. Now the timing is different, and both sides appear to be revisiting the possibility as Edmonton weighs its short-term crease options and Montreal considers whether this is the kind of opening worth acting on. No deal is in place, but the situation has suddenly become one to watch. [Read more 🡒]