It's pretty easy to argue that no team in the NHL has a history quite like the Montreal Canadiens. Much of what the organization hangs its hat on came before the implementation of the salary cap, however, and the Habs have slipped in and out of relevance during an era designed to generate parity among the league's clubs.
Win, lose, or draw, there is a massive positive awaiting the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Final, where the 113-point Carolina Hurricanes await. This le bleu-blanc-rouge flower is just starting to bud! after all. They have arrived at this stage of their rebuild way, way ahead of schedule, having left other teams in the Atlantic Division and the East in the dust with pinpoint trades, and near spotless drafting and developing in the early rounds.
The Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, and maybe even the Buffalo Sabres would love to swap places--and rosters--with this Canadiens team. That youth can't be taken for granted, though, and that is the harsh reality that awaits Montreal as it squares up against an undefeated playoff team in Carolina: youth doesn't guarantee that multiple shots at the Stanley Cup exist, and they have to make this one count.
Canadiens can't just be happy to be here against seasoned Hurricanes in Eastern Conference Final
Nick Suzuki is 26. Cole Caufield is 25, and Lane Hutson is 22. Ivan Demidov is all of 20, while second-round Game 7 hero Alex Newhook is 25. The oldest playoff regular is Phillip Danault, and he is 33. This is a remarkably talented team that is on the right side of the aging curve by half a decade or more at all positions, in most cases.
Hockey is a fickle sport, however, and in the immortal words of Smash Mouth, the years start coming, and they don't stop coming. It is fantastic for the organization that the Canadiens are here in the Eastern Conference Final in 2026, but no one on the roster can fall into the trap of believing that they'll be back within the next couple of years because they are youthful and talented. That isn't how hockey--or life--works.
NHL history is littered with outstanding teams with excellent young players who made it to the Conference Final or Stanley Cup Final, and then never made it back to either mountain top. We aren't talking middle-of-the-road skaters either. Electric talents such as Eric Lindros, Paul Kariya, Pavel Bure and Mats Sundin all advanced this far in the early-to-mid stages of their careers, but were never able to make it back for another shot at the game's ultimate prize.
Martin St. Louis' group has shown a tremendous amount of resiliency during these playoffs so far. Beating the Tampa Bay Lightning and Sabres in Game 7, no one can take that away from the Habs. But if they don't manage to end Canada's Stanley Cup drought in the coming weeks, no one will remember Newhook's heroics or Jakub Dobes stone-cold mental toughness.
Buckling to Carolina in the Eastern Conference Final would lead to at least one summer of what-ifs and what-could-have-beens for the Canadiens. But those kinds of July and August months can, and historically have, burned forward through multiple years of promising organizational depth and talent, leaving general managers without jobs and coaches with ghosts to deal with for the rest of their careers.
Simply put: the Canadiens can not just be happy to be in the Eastern Conference Final, because these players and this group may never get another crack at it again.
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