Montreal Canadiens: 3 Reasons For Optimism In 2023-24

Age Of Best Players

The Canadiens did not make a ton of changes in the offseason. They let a couple of veterans go in free agency when Jonathan Drouin and Denis Gurianov left. They also traded away Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick to the San Jose Sharks.

They acquired Alex Newhook via trade from the Colorado Avalanche, but made very few free agent signings. All in all, the core of the team really remains the same and we will see most of the same players hitting the ice next season that we did a year ago.

So, why is that a reason for optimism? Well, most of these players are at the age where you can expect a leap forward in development. It is rare you see a player at the of 28 finally break out and have a monster offensive season compared to previous years.

Most offensive players really hit their stride between 21-25 and can have giant leaps forward in these years. Well, that bodes well for the Canadiens who have plenty of top players in big roles at that age.

Cole Caufield is 22 years old, Nick Suzuki is 24, Kirby Dach is 22, Alex Newhook is 22, Juraj Slafkovsky is 19, Kaiden Guhle is 21, Jordan Harris is 23, Justin Barron is 21, and Arber Xhekaj is 22. All of those players played regularly last season and all five of those forwards will be in the top nine while all four of those defensemen are expected to play regularly as well.

There are no guarantees in hockey, but with that money young players in prominent roles, it is almost a certainty that a couple of them take giant leaps forward and have career years next season. You would expect almost all of them to be better than they were last season, which makes this team much better just by being a year older.

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