The Canadiens will be chasing wins in 2026-27, but a handful of individual milestones are lined up too. Montreal has a roster full of players with something meaningful within reach, and the season could turn into a steady parade of personal landmarks for both the young core and a veteran presence.
Nick Suzuki is first in line. The captain opens the year with 476 points in 537 career games, leaving him 24 shy of 500.
Given how steady he has been over the last several seasons, that number should fall early, likely in the first 10 to 15 games. It would be another strong marker for a center who has grown into one of the NHL’s most complete players.
Suzuki’s value goes well beyond the box score, too. He keeps setting the tone on and off the ice and has become one of the league’s most respected captains.
Hitting 500 points before his 600th career game would only add to that résumé.
Cole Caufield is also closing in on a major round number. The Canadiens’ finisher enters the season with 169 career goals in 368 games, so 31 more will get him to 200.
If he stays healthy, that should happen during the 2026-27 campaign. Caufield has never had trouble finding the net, and he has become the kind of offensive threat every team wants leading the charge.
Reaching 200 goals this young would further establish him as one of the NHL’s top scorers and put him on a path up Montreal’s all-time goal list.
Phillip Danault is on the verge of a different kind of milestone. After starting his NHL career with the Chicago Blackhawks and later becoming one of Montreal’s most dependable two-way forwards, he enters the season with 786 career NHL games.
Fourteen more appearances will get him to 800, a mark only a small slice of players ever reach. Danault has never built his reputation on flashy offense.
His game has always been about defense, faceoffs and leadership, and 800 games would be a well-earned reward for a career built on consistency, intelligence and work.
Juraj Slafkovsky has two milestones in sight at once. The Slovak winger needs 28 more goals for his 100th NHL goal and is 16 points away from 200 career points.
Both should be reachable if he keeps producing with Montreal’s young group. Those numbers would also underline how much he has grown since the Canadiens selected him first overall in 2022.
With his size, skill and improving offensive instincts, Slafkovsky has become a key part of the team’s future, and reaching both marks before turning 23 would be another clear sign of that progress.
Lane Hutson is already knocking on another door, which says plenty about how quickly he has made his mark. The defenseman starts the season 54 points short of 200 for his NHL career.
That is a striking number for a player who only recently arrived and immediately became one of the league’s most productive offensive defensemen. Hutson’s vision, skating and puck-moving ability have changed the look of Montreal’s blue line, and another strong season should push him over the line before the year ends.
Taken together, these milestones tell the same story: the Canadiens have a group that is moving forward. The team’s goals still come first, but as Montreal tries to build on last season, these individual achievements should give the 2026-27 campaign plenty of moments worth watching.
In Other News...
Canadiens Fans Face Another Frustrating Change To Watching Their Team
Canadiens fans are staring at another shift in how they will watch their team, with the NHL and Gary Bettman confirming a 12-year broadcast agreement with Rogers Communications that deepens the leagues long-term move toward streaming in Canada. The new setup will bring English and French coverage into the mix, a reminder that the viewing experience for Quebec audiences is once again changing along with the leagues media landscape.
The biggest immediate wrinkle for Montreal supporters is the timing: Wednesday night NHL games in Canada are set to move to Prime Video beginning in the 2026-27 season. For the Canadiens, that means seven games will be part of the package, adding another layer of adjustment for fans who have already seen the way they follow the team evolve in recent years. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Just Showed Exactly What They Value In This Rebuild
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He has gone from top power-play quarterback to a second-unit role and then into penalty-kill duty, all while remaining a steady presence for a team still sorting out its long-term blue line. Kent Hughes has made it clear he sees Matheson as the kind of player who puts team success ahead of individual numbers, and the extension gives Montreal a reliable piece whose value could shift again if the lineup changes around Lane Hutson or Noah Dobson. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Fans Wont All Agree On This Kirby Dach Trade Twist
Kirby Dachs name is back in the rumor mill, and for Canadiens fans that alone is enough to split opinion. Reports have linked Montreal to trade discussions involving the young center, with the idea that his inclusion could help the club reshape its forward group as it looks for a different kind of fit in the lineup.
The twist is less about whether Montreal is listening and more about what Dach represents in those talks. His injuries, uneven play and uncertain availability have all fed into a murky valuation, and any move would almost certainly need more than just one player going the other way. The Canadiens would likely have to add more to the package, and for now the whole thing remains speculative, which is why the debate around Dach feels so much bigger than a simple trade rumor. [Read more 🡒]