Since arriving from the Nashville Predators via trade, Alexandre Carrier has been a vital part of the Montreal Canadiens' defensive depth, providing timely challenges on the defensive side of the ice alongside additional blue-line scoring depth.
That side of Carrier's game continued to shine during the 2025-26 campaign. While the 22 points recorded marked a slight decrease from his 25 points scored during the prior campaign, that also came with a drop in the amount of games played. The midseason trade that sent him to Montreal during the 2024-25 campaign meant he would play an additional six games compared to the 73 games he would contest during the 2025-26 season.
On the positive side of the scoring department, Carrier's goal total doubled from 2024-25 to 2025-26. The seven goals scored during the 2025-26 season not only marked a four goal increase from the 2024-25 campaign - he scored one goal in Nashville before adding two more following the trade to Montreal - but it also represented a career-high for Carrier in that statistic.
His +/- rating also saw a significant increase from one season to the next. After recording a net -10 rating during the 2024-25 campaign (it is worth noting that he recorded a -14 rating through 28 games in Nashville and a +4 metric throughout the remainder of the season), Carrier posted a +2 +/- rating during the 2025-26 season.
While his average ice time took a slight dip below 20 minutes per game, his shooting percentage (defined as the number of goals scored in relation to a player or team's total shots on goal, as expressed in the form of a percent value) was almost four times better than in the 2024-25 campaign. Carrier recorded a 12.5% shooting percentage during the 2025-26 season, which was almost 10% better than what he recorded the season prior (4.3% in Nashville and 3.4% in Montreal for an average shooting percentage of 3.9% across the entire 2024-25 campaign).
My grade: A-
It's unfair to assume that any Habs defenseman behind Lane Hutson is going to get close to a point-per-game pace, let alone do so consistently.
But for the kind of mobility that Carrier brings to complement the Hutson-led defensive unit, a 20+ point season will easily be seen as a win for the Habs. Even though his assist total dipped significantly, the season also saw Carrier become more efficient when shooting the puck, something that the Habs will need if they are to become a stronger scoring team.
With Carrier entering the final year of his $3.75 million/year deal, it's fair to assume that he's earned the chance to continue his career in Montreal. What that final dollar amount for an extension comes to remains to be seen, but a $4.5 to $ 5 million AAV is a reasonable reward for another good season from Carrier.
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