Montreal Canadiens: Who Will Be Team’s MVP in 2024?

Every team has a most valuable player, and the Canadiens are no different. For many years, Carey Price held that distinction, perhaps even in years where he was unavailable to play (cough* 2015-2016 *cough). But with Carey Price now unofficially retired, someone else has needed to take on that distinction.

Last season, it felt as though Nick Suzuki was the obvious choice. For one, he was the only player to play in all 82 games, with many key players failing to reach even 50 games played. He also led the team in points with 66 and was tied for the team lead in goals with 26. He did all this while wearing the “C” on his jersey for the first time, which only added more pressure.

This season, the hope is the Canadiens can remain healthy and make this a question much tougher to answer. When healthy, that should be the case, as the Canadiens have talent up and down the roster beyond Suzuki. But as the last two seasons have shown, health is far from guaranteed.

The Canadiens took steps to make players health more of a priority this offseason to ensure they can remain on the ice. So, with that in mind, let’s look at some possible choices for team MVP for the 2023-24 season.

Nick Suzuki may have been running largely unopposed last season for the Canadiens Most Valuable Player award, but he may have won it regardless. The Canadiens captain is one of the team’s best players, their leader, and has led the team in points in each of the last two seasons. And he’s the favourite to do so again this season.

So it’s certainly no surprise to see him on this list. He is the face of the Canadiens franchise at the moment. You know what you’re getting in Suzuki: minimum 60 points, 20 goals and 82 games. That’s the standard he has set with his play since he entered the league. He’s certainly capable of more, but anything less would be shocking and disappointing.

If I was a betting man, Suzuki would be my bet to earn the distinction of team MVP yet again. He is one of the Habs’ best players as it is; they lean on him a lot, and he delivers. He is as valuable to the Habs as anyone, and that shouldn’t change in 2023-24.

You knew Cole Caufield was going to be on this list, right? The Canadiens have gone a long time without a prolific goal scorer; that’s been well documented by many, including myself. Caufield has the skill and opportunity to make Canadiens fans forget all about that with a successful season.

He was well on his way to scoring 40+ goals last season before a shoulder injury sidelined him for the rest of the year. Now Cole is healthy and just as lethal as ever. The chase for 40 is back on. And I feel pretty good in saying he gets there and possibly pushes for 50.

When Caufield went down, the Canadiens certainly felt it, as they lost an enormous scoring punch in their lineup. He’s a big part of their plans and will be the favourite to lead the Canadiens in goals for a long time now that he’s here for the long haul. Despite playing in just 46 games last year, he still finished tied for the team lead in goals with 26.

Goal-scoring is always going to be valuable for any team, but an offensively starved team is going to value it that much more. Caufield is already a fan favourite, and he will definitely push Suzuki for the MVP distinction this season, assuming he stays healthy.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Mike Matheson missed some time due to injury last season, only appearing in 48 games. Still, he managed to set a career-high in points with 34, breaking his previous mark of 31, which he needed 71 games to set. In other words, last year was far and away Matheson’s best in the NHL, even with the missed time.

Matheson was fun to watch, too, using his fantastic skating ability to create offence at one end and shut it down at the other. With all the rookies on the blueline, it may not be a high benchmark to say he was the Habs’ best defenseman, but he earned that moniker anyways. Like Dach and Caufield, a full season would be a gift for the Habs and their fans.

An entire season from Matheson, like the one we just saw from him last season, would certainly make a case for his value to the Canadiens. Especially with a blueline that still features plenty of young talent and just saw another veteran depart in the off-season in Joel Edmundson. He’ll play a significant role this season, not just as a player but as a leader.

That’s why he was rewarded with an “A” at this year’s golf tournament alongside Brendan Gallagher for the upcoming season. He’s being tasked with more responsibility, which he earned with his outstanding play last season. His value to the organization is already very evident and could very well keep growing the longer he is here.

If you’ve been reading my stuff for a while, you’d know I’m a big believer in Samuel Montembeault. He was asked to do a lot last season, and delivered despite the difficult circumstances. In fact, he would be my second-place vote for team MVP last year, right behind Suzuki. Goalies will always be pretty high up on that list, and Montembeault is no different.

In 40 games last season, the Canadiens netminder had 11.8 goals saved above expected (GSAx), tied for 12th in the league with Stars goalie Jake Oettinger. That’s very impressive behind the inexperienced D-core the Canadiens used last season. There were many instances in which Montembeault was the Canadiens’ best player on the ice last season.

In his 40 appearances last season, Montembeault stopped at least 30 shots 23 times, constantly dealing with heavy workloads. Still, he managed to keep his teams in games most nights and deserved recognition. And he got it.

Montembeault was rewarded for his play last season by getting to represent Canada at the World Championships, backstopping them to a Gold Medal. He’ll look to channel that into more success this year. He certainly has the ability to do that. He is my Darkhorse MVP candidate for this upcoming season.

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