Canadiens: How Habs Stack Up In Future Atlantic Division Race

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The Montreal Canadiens are hoping to build a Stanley Cup calibre roster and perennial playoff contender. With Kent Hughes at the helm, the Canadiens have accrued a nice pool of young talent that appears ready to win games in the second half of this decade.

However, the Canadiens are not alone in their ascension from rebuilding to contending; divisional foes like the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and Ottawa Senators are vying to join the established ranks of Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, and Florida.

With this amount of quality in one division, it is important to evaluate how Montreal’s contention window lines up with their rivals.

The Old Guard

The past five years of Atlantic Division hockey have been dominated by the Tampa Bay Lighting (two Stanley Cups), Boston Bruins (Presidents’ trophy), Florida Panthers (Presidents’ Trophy), and Toronto Maple Leafs (playoffs each year except for 2020 play-in elimination).

While all of these teams carry a few aging veterans, they all have young enough talent to field competitive teams for several more seasons. For every retiring Patrice Bergeron and regressing Victor Hedman, there’s a David Pastrnak or Mikhail Sergachev with a decade of elite play ahead.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, provided that William Nylander re-signs, still boasts arguably the best U-27 forward trio in the league. The Florida Panthers extended their window considerably by exchanging Jonathan Huberdeau for Matthew Tkachuk.

This is not to say there is no end in sight for these “older brothers” of the Atlantic division. By drafting so late for so long, there will inevitably be a steep decline in quality for some of these teams. But as we’ve seen from the likes of Crosby’s Penguins, Ovechkin’s Capitals, and Bergeron’s Bruins, well-constructed teams can contend for well over a decade. The Canadiens cannot count on the door being wide open for playoff contention in 2026, for example.

BUFFALO, NY – JANUARY 30: Nick Suzuki #14 of the Montreal Canadiens. (Photo by Nicholas T. LoVerde/Getty Images) /

The Risers

On the flip side of that, the basement of the Atlantic Division has become a comfortable home shared by the Canadiens, Senators, Sabres, and Red Wings (except for, of course, the miraculous Cup run of 2021).

The Senators, Red Wings, and Sabres, however, all entered this season with internal and external pressures to make a real push for the post-season. Though the results have been mixed, it is still very early in the season, and their processes point towards a bright future.

Buffalo has been awful for an entire decade. Though they have mismanaged assets and whiffed on several high draft picks, they finally appear to be moving in a positive direction. If most of their young talent develops as planned, they will become a highly competitive team within the next two to three seasons.

Ottawa and Detroit have a mix of developing young players and veterans ready to compete now. Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin, Thomas Chabot, and Brady Tkachuk are at the peak of their powers and counting on the development of players like Lucas Raymond and Tim Stutzle (who is looking like a future Hart winner) among other recent draft picks. Though their prospect pools lack the depth and quality of Buffalo’s, they have more matured talent on their current rosters.

Buffalo, Ottawa, and Detroit have been bad for years and have yet to show definitive proof of concrete progress. However, all three appear likely to enter playoff contention soon, and remain at that level for a while.

LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS – NOVEMBER 10: Lane Hutson. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images) /

Where Do the Habs Fit?

Unlike Buffalo, Ottawa, and Detroit, Montreal seems likely (and eager) to add another high draft pick to their prospect pool this June. This would probably be wise. Though Montreal boasts an exhaustive list of prospects that fans have reason to be excited about, the 2026, 2027, and 2028 playoff races will be slugfests in this loaded division.

Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson, David Reinbacher, and Joshua Roy are all players who are yet to show what they will provide as fully-developed NHL-players. Though the most optimistic projections would have some of these players develop into superstars, it is important to be cautious and realistic when seriously evaluating the needs of this team.

Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Kaiden Guhle have shown that they will be (and are) good-to-great NHL players, the types that are core members of Stanley Cup winning teams. However, it would be foolish to equate that core to the MacKinnon-Rantanen-Makar or Kucherov-Point-Hedman that are needed to compete at the very highest level.

You can never count on all of your prospects being as good as advertised. Prospects are unpredictable, and though Montreal has lots of lottery tickets, few of them, if any, are guaranteed to become elite NHL players, like Matthews, Kucherov, Stutzle and Dahlin in the Atlantic.

Without at least one player of that calibre, of which Montreal has no clear candidates at this point, the Habs cannot even expect playoffs, let alone Stanley Cup contention.

Next. Three UFAs Who Could Realistically Sign With Habs. dark

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