*Note. All on-ice metrics used from Evolving Hockey and MoneyPuck are presented at five on five.

 Thoughts and takeaways from the first 10 games of the Montreal Canadiens 2025-26 season

        It’s hard to believe that we’re already ten games into the new season, and yet we still have so far to go. But a ten game sample seems like a fair number to start analyzing some trends that have caught my eye thus far. From surprising individual performances, to some familiar woes from the past, there’s certainly no lack of discussion about the division leading Montreal Canadiens.  

The Record 

         With every team in the NHL, the most important team stat is their record. You can analyze all the trends and statistics you want, but at the end of the day, if you’re not winning games none of it really matters. Fortunately for the Habs, that’s exactly what they’ve been doing. 

        Now, it’s always a smart idea to look under the hood when determining the validity of a team’s record (especially just ten games in), to see if what they’re doing feels sustainable throughout a long season. Already this year we’ve seen some drastic swings in the standings, like the Boston Bruins, who started the year 3-0 but currently sit at 4-7 after enduring a six game losing streak. Or the New York Islanders, whose 0-3 start has been rectified by picking up points in each of their last five games (including four wins). For the Canadiens, an opening night loss in Toronto has been quickly forgotten due to a 7-2 run since, and their 7-3 record on the season currently sits them atop the Atlantic division. A hot start to the season is always a positive, but with the Atlantic division looking like the weakest in the league at the moment it could prove to be even more beneficial than normal, with Montreal being able to build an early cushion in the standings to ease any inconsistencies later in the year. 

        The NHL is constantly seeing teams skyrocket up and freefall down the standings as the season progresses (look no further than last year’s Canadiens squad). But I don’t see this start for the Habs as a fluke, most of the takeaways I’ve had from the first ten are improvements from a season ago, and I’m of the belief that they’ll remain a steady threat in the eastern conference for the entirety of the season. 

Team D

        Possibly the biggest factor for my belief in the Habs maintaining their strong start is the improvements in their defensive play. According to Evolving Hockey’s data, Montreal finished bottom five in both xGA/60 and CA/60 in 2024-25, while giving up the seventh most goals in the league overall. The defensive struggles for last year’s group was a talking point throughout the entire season, even when the team was rolling through the second half. So for me, one of the biggest intrigues of the 2025-26 Canadiens was to see if they could improve their collective play in the defensive zone. And so far, they’re passing the test. 

        I’m not going to act like the Habs have been among the true elites this season when it comes to goal prevention, but through ten games, the improvements have been noticeable. 18th in xGA/60 and 14th in CA/60 is where they currently sit in the league leaderboards according to Evolving Hockey. Again, not yet in the upper echelon of defensive clubs, but certainly a step in the right direction for a team that still features the youngest roster in the league. 

We know that the Canadiens possess a ton of young offensive firepower. Caufield, Slafkovsky, Demidov, and Hutson are all players who have been known for their offensive abilities first, and have definitely seen some questions arise about their commitment to the defensive side of the game at some point in their young careers. But the buy-in from basically every player on the roster, especially those I just named, is what’s helped shift the defensive play of this group to a respectable level so far this season. If this trend continues, there’s no reason this Habs core can’t be one of the most well rounded in the league sooner than later. 

Injuries

        Unfortunately, one of the main storylines surrounding the early season has been the injury bug, and more specifically, who has been hit by it. Every Habs fan is well aware of the injury problems that surrounded this team over the past few seasons. Although not so bad last year, the injury concerns of the previous seasons may be making an unwanted return. 

        As I mentioned, the concern for me lies more so with the specific players that are going to miss time, rather than the sheer total of injuries. It was reported by the Canadiens on October 18th that Kaiden Guhle will miss four to six weeks with a lower body injury, which is a crushing blow to both the Canadiens blue line and a player who I’m sure would love to prove his ability to stay on the ice.  

        Sadly, Patrik Laine has also found himself back in the press box after undergoing surgery to repair a core muscle injury, and is expected to miss three to four months. Laine only managed to get into five games before the injury, and it looks like he’s destined to spend another season battling the IR. 

        The most interesting part about the injuries to Guhle and Laine is how they were performing prior to getting hurt. Laine was stapled to the bottom six, averaging just 12:36 of ice time per game, and had yet to find the back of the net. While the Guhle – Hutson pairing was rocking an underwhelming 48.6% xG% at 5 on 5 (moneypuck.com). Both players were among the least impactful Canadiens through their five games, with Laine posting a team worst 38.78 xGF% and Guhle only proving slightly better with 40.52 (Evolving Hockey). Both were also at the bottom of the team in shots for percentage (SF%) and corsi for percentage (CF%) according to Evolving Hockey. Although Laine and Guhle are in similar situations at the moment, their long term outlooks with the team are quite different, which should put the significance of their injuries on opposite ends of the panic scale. Laine is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, and due to his seemingly diminished role in the lineup it’s probably fair to say that Habs management doesn’t see him as a major part of the team’s future. On the other hand, Guhle is just kicking off a long term extension he signed last offseason, and began the season in a top four role alongside Lane Hutson. The poor play and subsequent injury for Guhle is much more worrisome for the Canadiens long term plans than Laine, as questions need to be asked about whether Guhle can stay on the ice and be a reliable piece to the top four for the foreseeable future. 

        Speaking about potential top four defensemen, by far the most bizarre storyline to come of the Canadiens opening ten games is the injury to David Reinbacher. It was reported by the Canadiens on September 26th that Reinbacher would miss four weeks of action due to a broken metacarpal bone suffered in training camp. The oddities of the situation aren’t the injury itself, but the lack of transparency from the team regarding Reinbacher’s status. It’s been over four weeks since the public announcement of Reinbacher’s injury and the Canadiens have yet to issue a statement about his current status or expected timeline for a return to play. Reinbacher missed the majority of the 2024-25 season due to a major knee injury suffered in the pre-season, and there seems to be growing concern within the fanbase that he may be dealing with another major setback. Being the fifth overall pick in his draft class, the Habs obviously had high expectations that Reinbacher would be an integral part of the teams D corps for a long time, but the mounting pile of injuries he’s dealing with (during his prime development years) has to have everyone wondering what his impact will be with the team beyond this season. I’m not suggesting that the team should totally give up on Reinbacher being an impact player for them, but it may be time to plan for the possibility that the Habs will soon have a hole on the right side of their top four. 

Controversy in the Crease

Montreal may feature the biggest discrepancy in the play of its two goaltenders in the entire NHL right now. Samuel Montembeault and Jakub Dobes are combining to create a difficult decision for Marty St Louis and his coaching staff every single gameday, and it’s not because they’ve both been excellent. Montembeault and Dobes currently find themselves at opposite ends of several major statistics among NHL goaltenders, which is creating some controversy, because it’s Dobes who is at the top. Last season, Montembeault started sixty(!) games for the Canadiens and finished third among all goalies with 30.79 goals saved above expected (GSAx). He was terrific, and was as important as anyone to why the Habs ended up sneaking into the playoffs at season’s end. Unfortunately for Montembeault and the Habs, last season is well in the rearview mirror, and his start to the new campaign has been nothing short of a disaster. Through five starts this season Montembeault has produced an .842 save percentage and -6.63 GSAx, which ranks 51st and 52nd respectively among the 54 goaltenders who have seen at least 65 shots against this season. On the same list, Dobes comes in at 6th in save percentage (.928) and 4th in GSAx (9.63), and has picked up the victory in all six of his starts. Montembeault’s play last season has definitely earned him a longer leash than others might receive in his situation, and I think it’s fair to keep giving him opportunities to figure things out. But the Montreal Canadiens are no longer a rebuilding hockey club, and if Montembeault’s struggles continue the pressure is going to mount for the coaching staff to lean on Dobes to carry the load. 

Individual Standouts

Now that I’ve gone over some of the biggest team-wide storylines that caught my attention through the first month of play, I want to highlight some individual performances that have been integral to the Habs early success. 

Cole Caufield

It would be wrong to write about the successes of the Canadiens season so far and not talk about Cole Caufield. Caufield taking another massive step forward in his overall play this season wasn’t something I really had on my radar. I’m a believer in Caufield’s abilities, and I don’t think many would have been shocked to see him improve upon his already strong play from last season, but what he’s doing right now is budding on true superstardom. 

Nine goals and thirteen points in eleven games is fantastic surface level production, even if the goal total comes back down to earth a little bit there’s no reason to think he can’t hit the fifty mark this year. As great as the production is, it’s the development into a more complete hockey player that’s been the real highlight of Caufield’s season so far. Through ten games, Evolving Hockey has Caufield first among all Canadiens skaters in expected goals against per sixty minutes (1.91), and according to their goals above replacement model, he ranks in the ninetieth percentile for defensive value among all NHL skaters. The entire top line of Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky have been terrific to start the season, and they’re playing like one of the best lines in hockey, but It’s Caufield who has been the biggest standout of the three. The defensive improvements, along with his unbelievable hands and finishing ability, makes him one of the most exciting players in the NHL right now, and I don’t think it will take much longer until he gets some true recognition as a superstar player in this league. 

Mike Matheson

I’ll admit that I was quite low on Mike Matheson coming into the season. I thought he was poor last year and that he had more value to the team if he were traded for scraps this offseason rather than kept on the roster. I also wasn’t a fan of him being placed alongside Noah Dobson in the top four, as I thought their playstyles would clash and would ultimately lead to a dysfunctional, mistake-prone pairing. Fortunately for Habs nation, I’m not the one making any decisions. 

Matheson has been nothing short of fantastic through the first ten games of the season. His connection with Dobson has been a surprising (for some of us) success, and he’s finding ways to effectively utilize his offensive skillset while still logging big minutes. According to Evolving Hockey, Matheson currently finds himself top two among Canadiens D men in both xGF% (55.02%) and CF% (52.44%), while logging a team high 24:53 of ice time a night. You really can’t say enough about the importance of Matheson’s play thus far, his emergence this season has helped ease the blow of the injuries to Guhle and Reinbacher, while he and Dobson have created one of the most effective top four pairings in the entire league. 

Ivan Demidov

Demidov has been the talk of the town in Montreal from the second he was drafted, and coming into the 2025-26 season, he was the talk of the entire league. After giving Habs fans a little glimpse of his talent in April, Demidov came into training camp as the heavy favourite to win the Calder trophy, and he hasn’t disappointed so far. 

Two goals and eleven points in thirteen games is very impressive production for a rookie, It’s even more impressive when you consider he’s playing just 13:47 a night. Demidov showed in the KHL that he’s got the ability to produce even when given less than desirable usage, which is exactly what he’s doing right now with the Canadiens. We all know the skill he possesses is otherworldly, it took about half a period into his NHL debut for everyone to realize that, but it’s the intelligence and compete he plays with that’s really impressed me so far. 

The next era of Montreal Canadiens hockey is well upon us. The playoff appearance last season should just be the beginning of a long contention window for this core, and the hot start to this new campaign has done nothing but confirm that possibility.

The culture is in place, the players are bought in, and management can’t miss. But the best part?

This is just the beginning.