Canadiens could be sending some serious talent to the Olympics

With the Olympic roster due on December 31st, every game between now and then could determine whether certain Canadiens players are headed to Milan or watching it from home. The Canadiens have players who have earned spots, while others are slumping. With just over two weeks until the rosters are due, players on the bubble must prove they belong.

Locks: Juraj Slafkovsky (Team Slovakia) and Alexandre Texier (Team France)

Juraj Slafkovsky and Alexandre Texier are the only Canadiens players named to the preliminary rosters for their nations back in July.

Slafkovsky has arguably been the Canadiens' best player over the last month of the NHL season and could be going into the tournament playing the best hockey of his career since the 2022 Winter Olympics. Slafkovsky's draft stock skyrocketed after the Beijing Winter Olympics, where he dominated a tournament that, unfortunately, did not feature players from the NHL, but was still full of grown men playing professionally in other leagues. He led the tournament in scoring and took home the MVP, helping Slovakia take home the bronze medal, their first medal in hockey.

Alexandre Texier was named to the roster while he was a member of the St. Louis Blues, but after falling out of favour in their lineup, he found his way to Montreal. Since joining the Canadiens, Texier has played well in the middle-six of the team’s lineup. Texier has five points in 10 games, but has played better than the stats suggest. He has helped fill some of the void caused by all the injuries. He has fit seamlessly into the Canadiens' lineup and will be looking to carry that momentum into the Olympics.

Bubble Players

Team Canada: Nick Suzuki and Noah Dobson

Nick Suzuki and Noah Dobson are stuck in the same boat. On almost any other national team, they would be absolute locks to go to the Olympics. They just so happen to represent a nation that has a plethora of options. Out of all the Canadiens players on the bubble to make their Olympic roster, Suzuki is the one with the best chance of making it. He is on pace to have the best offensive seasons of his career and is already considered one of the best defensive forwards in the league. Suzuki’s versatility might be the deciding factor in whether he makes the team.

Dobson is having a bounce-back year in his first season with the Canadiens. After a sensational 2023-24 season with the New York Islanders, where he scored 10 goals and had a career high 70 points. Going into last season, he was one of the favourites to represent Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, but after a down year, he fell just short of making the roster. Now with the Canadiens, Dobson looks like his old self again. He has four goals and 18 points in 32 games while averaging over 22 minutes a night. Dobson has looked like the number one defenceman that they thought they were getting when they traded for him, and could potentially be playing himself onto Canada’s roster.

Team USA: Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson

Caufield and Hutson are in a similar situation to Suzuki and Dobson in that Team USA has just as deep a talent pool as Canada does. If it were based on current form, both Caufield and Hutson have strong cases to make the team, but they lack one key criterion that Team USA is looking for: size. The same reason why both players fell in their respective drafts is being brought up again as a reason they might stay in Montreal during the Olympics. Team USA have a history of picking players in the mould of how they want to play, which relies on size and physicality.

Both Caufield and Hutson are on pace to set new career highs in goals and points. Caufield currently sits in a tie for third in goals among American players with 17, and while he was once viewed as just a goalscorer, that is no longer the case, as he also has 16 assists. Hutson has been just as excellent this season as he is second among American players in points by a defenceman, with 28 points, and while he might not be the most physically imposing defender, he makes up for it with his incredible skating ability, helping him brush off contact as opponents can not get a clean shot at him. Both are deserving of representing Team USA at the Olympics, even if it is just in a power play role. Whether they make it or not will all come down to whether Bill Guerin and his staff pick the best players available or players who fit the style they want to play.

Team Finland: Oliver Kapanen

Oliver Kapanen probably was not on the radar for Team Finland before the season started, but the Canadiens' rookie has played well enough to throw his name into the bucket of potential players that could be selected to the roster. A spot on the roster opened up due to a fellow Canadiens player, Patrik Laine, being sidelined until after the Olympic break due to a core muscle injury. However, even with the injury to Laine, Kapanen might have done enough to play himself onto the Olympic roster anyway.

The 2021 second-round pick is tied for first in rookie goals with 10 and is tied for fifth in rookie points with 16. His 10 goals are the third most by a Finnish player this season, sitting behind former Canadiens winger Arturi Lehkonen and Dallas Stars winger Mikko Rantanen. Kapanen’s ability to play as a centre or winger would give Finland versatility in their bottom-six. Finland does not have as deep a talent pool as Team Canada or Team USA, but the emergence of Kapanen will give Team Finland secondary scoring help, which they will desperately need at the Olympics.

Absolute Longshots: Samuel Montembeault and Mike Matheson (Team Canada).

Both Samuel Montembeault and Mike Matheson are likely not in contention for Team Canada, but are in the long-shot category for entirely different reasons.

Before the season started, Montembeault was probably on the bubble of players who could have potentially represented Canada at the Olympics, mainly because he was a part of the team that won the 4 Nations Face-Off back in February. His drop in form this season has taken him out of contention entirely, as he looks nothing like the goalie he was last year.

The case for Matheson is completely different to that of Montembeault. Two years ago, Matheson had played himself into contention for the 4 Nations Face-Off after his career year, where he finished the season with 62 points. He fell out of contention after a down season last year, where his point total took a 31-point dip. After speculations that he could be traded in the offseason, Matheson has had a resurgence this season, which has been rewarded with a contract extension. While his improved play has been a pleasant surprise for the Canadiens, it likely will not be enough for him to be named to Team Canada’s roster when it is revealed on December 31st.