Montreal Canadiens: Three Players Outperforming Expectations This Season

The Montreal Canadiens are off to a better start than expected this season. After 11 games they sit just outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture with a record of 5-4-2.

Things looked even better a week ago when they were 5-2-1 after eight games but a tough three game road trip out west added three losses to the team’s overall performance. Still, they have 12 points in 11 games which projects to 89 points at season’s end.

That would probably be not quite enough to make the postseason, but it would keep the team in the race for the entire season and see them fall just short in the final few games of the season.

After falling to last place in the NHL standings two seasons ago and only improving to fifth from the bottom last season, being on the fringes of the playoff race would be a huge improvement. There is no way of knowing if the team can continue to stick around the middle of the pack, but they are definitely a little higher in the standings now than many people expect them to be at season’s end.

Why are they performing slightly better than expected? When you factor in the fact Kirby Dach played a game and a half before being injured for the season, perhaps they are well ahead of expectations. Whatever the case, they are playing better than we thought, but why? There are a few reasons.

There are a handful of players that are leading the way that were not expected to be performing at this level. There are always pleasant surprises for teams each season and the Canadiens have a few of their own early in 2023-24.

Who is performing above all expectations so far this season? Let’s take a look at the Canaidens top three players who are outperforming their expectations after 11 games.