One major weakness the Canadiens must still fix in the 2024 offseason

While conducting research for this article, I admit I had a tough time finding a major weakness to upgrade as there is little that I don’t like about the Montreal Canadiens this season. Now, don’t take that as me endorsing them to make an unprecedented playoff run because it’s not happening in 2024-25. Not with every other team in the Atlantic Division doing more to get better, and a couple of them may not be finished just yet. 

But looking at the Canadiens roster, I see, and it’s something I’ve been saying for a while, a top-six that will transform into one of the league’s better units at some point in the coming seasons, especially after they drafted Ivan Demidov last week. Their defensive rotation is also molding its young core, and the likes of Mike Matheson and David Savard are a pair of older veterans who can more than provide sound mentorship roles. 

Although the Habs are still a distant eighth in the Atlantic Division, they have enough cap space to bring on a top-six scorer. With free agency all but in the books, one still available player that jumped out was Vladimir Tarasenko, but instead, the Red Wings got him to sign first.

Canadiens should still address one more major weakness for 2024-25

Although Vladimir Tarasenko is no longer on the list of potential top-six scorers, not all hope is lost for the Canadiens. There are young players out there who could find themselves heading elsewhere between now and the early fall, and two of whom we brought up a few months back are Trevor Zegras and Joel Farabee. Zegras or Farabee have long-term potential. Add Ivan Demidov to the mix next season, and I won’t envy the Habs opponents a few years down the road should such a scenario develop. 

So, you may be asking why I picked the top-six as a major weakness despite the obvious progress made over the last few seasons that saw Juraj Slafkovsky figure things out and earn an extension, along with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield becoming reliable players. 

It has to do with the Canadiens likely to remain one of the NHL’s lowest-scoring teams, something that was the case last season. That said, it remains a weakness, even if it will be better in 2024-25 than it was in 2023-24. 

But if they add to the top-six between now and training camp, there’s a chance the Canadiens scoring units could threaten between 260-270 goals in 2024-25, and that will add quite a bit of intrigue heading into what should be a fine 2025-26 campaign. 

(Statistics powered by Hockey-Reference)