3 biggest surprises from the Montreal Canadiens 2025-26 season

The Montreal Canadiens' 2025-26 campaign was chock full of highlights. One could point to the breakout year from rookie Ivan Demidov, or the continued excellence of Lane Hutson. But what about the things we truly didn’t see coming? Again, there’s lots to choose from, but for brevity's sake, I’ll try to keep it to three.

Cole Caufield’s 50+ Goals And Nick Suzuki’s 100+ Points

I’m going to group these two milestones together because they truly do go hand-in-hand. Cole Caufield does not get close to 50 without the help of his captain, and 100 doesn’t happen for Suzuki without the help of number 13.

Everyone already knows Cole Caufield has a goal-scoring touch, but historically, the numbers hadn’t truly been there; that was the joke, right? “The best 30-goal scorer to never score 30.” And in a market where having a bona fide goalscorer has been a scarcity, Caufield reaching a marker not seen in 36 years was as electric a moment as one could fathom, and certainly not one anyone expected at the top of the season.

For Nick Suzuki, 100 points seemed feasible, especially considering he hit 89 points just a season before, but putting it all together, especially during an Olympic year was something special. Again, part of the surprise was the wait for it to finally happen, a 40-year wait at that. Mats Naslund was the last to do it back in 1986.

Also, he’s the first Canadiens captain to hit triple digits. Ever.

Of course, an honourable mention to Juraj Slafkovsky for his contributions on this line and the power play. He did hit an impressive 30 goals, but also spent significant time away from 13 and 14, so it felt appropriate to put his mention here.

Jakub Dobes has arrived

To call the Canadiens' goaltending at the beginning of the season rocky would be, well, generous. Montembeault’s effectiveness was near unplayable, and Dobes was quickly given more responsibility, even netting himself the NHL’s third star of the month of October after boasting a 6-0-0 record with a .930 save percentage and a 1.97 GAA.

But after the Olympic break and the replacement of goaltending coach Eric Raymond with Marco Marciano, something seemed to click for the rookie netminder. He just kept winning. Dobes would finish the regular season with a .901 save percentage and a 2.78 GAA with 29 wins in 42 starts, good enough for fourth in Canadiens rookie wins.

The regular season would prove to be the prequel to his brilliant playoff performance. Despite his team’s difficulty providing regular offense, he almost always kept games close, most notably his spectacular 28 save performance in game seven against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Which of course brings us to…

Game 7 victory over Tampa Bay with only nine shots on goal

If this victory didn’t surprise you, I don’t know if there’s a single aspect of the sport of hockey that would. By every verifiable metric, eye-test, or voodoo magic, you can look at Montreal should have lost that game.  

It’s not just the nine shots itself, it’s the complete dominance that the Lightning displayed throughout, including holding the Canadiens to zero shots in the middle frame, 26:55 of game time between their last shot in the first period and their first shot of the third.

Even the game-winning-goal from Alex Newhook was unexpected. An awkward bouncing mid-air ricochet past a world-class netminder to seal the deal? Sure, why not?

Brandon Hagel said it best, "Can't say much about the game tonight. You're going to win 99 percent of those games."

While the Montreal Canadiens didn't get the ending they wanted, there were plenty of surprises along the way that fans will remember from the 2025-26 season.

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