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Canadiens: now one of the “biggest” teams in the NHL

 Emily Smith
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Canadiens: now one of the “biggest” teams in the NHL
Credit: Capture d'écran / Screenshot
The Canadiens are too small to hope for playoff success in the NHL.

How many times have we heard that over the last twenty years?

Journalists, members of the media, columnists, fans, radio hosts, clickbait sites … they’ve all made that point – and rightly so, since the teams that win the Stanley Cup are big/large – over the past few years.

Even Kent Hughes admitted just a few days ago (on Tony Marinaro, if memory serves) that yes, a small player can be successful in the NHL… if he’s surrounded by bigger guys. A team can have one or two small players, but not ten!

Well, this Montreal problem seems to be on the way out, according to data compiled by the EliteProspects website. According to the measurements of the league’s players in 2023-24 – some of whom will have gained or lost a few pounds over the summer, but the sample is still very reliable for the 2024-25 season – the Canadiens are currently the fifth heaviest team in the NHL (on a par with other NHL teams). By heaviness, we mean the average weight of each player on the team.

Only the Bruins, Golden Knights, Islanders and Maple Leafs weigh more than 201 pounds on average. And these are all teams that made the playoffs last spring…

Of course, the most interesting thing about this average weight is that talent hasn’t been left out to boost the numbers on the Montreal medical team’s scales. Patrik Laine, the main off-season acquisition, brings weight AND talent…

(Credit: Canadiens de Montréal)

Juraj Slafkovsky, Logan Mailloux, Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach are all talented players weighing over 201 pounds…

Josh Anderson, David Savard and Joel Armia know their respective roles…

And Cole Caufield and Brendan Gallagher are now well surrounded.

Can’t wait to see if Lane Hutson will bring down the club’s average weight…

Of course, we’ll have an even clearer picture at the beginning of October, when we’ll know each team’s official line-up and the players will have been weighed again on the first day of training camp. We can expect Slaf to be in even better shape than in his first two seasons in Montreal.

But knowing this morning that the Habs are now one of the NHL’s lightest and heaviest teams tells me we’re on the right track. Especially since, in New York, Jeff Gorton was criticized for not having built his team enough around the physical aspect of the best hockey league in the world…

Let’s have a little fun before we finish…

Here’s what the Habs’ line-up might look like in their season opener against the Maple Leafs :

Slafkovsky – Suzuki – Caufield
Laine – Dach – Newhook
Anderson – Dvorak – Armia
Pezzetta – Evans – Gallagher
Barré-Boulet – Roy

Matheson – Guhle
Struble – Savard
Xhekaj – Mailloux
Barron (or Hutson)

Montembeault
Primeau

In weight (from last year), it would look like this:

230 – 212 – 175
215 – 217 – 199
224 – 192 – 216
217 – 187 – 183

196 – 201
202 – 238
240 – 220

222

Plus, only four players on the team wouldn’t be 6’0… two of them by a single inch(5’11). #Suzuki #Newhook #Gallagher #Caufield

Times are changing in Montreal… for the better!


Overtime

– Big catch for the Canadian Shield boys! Enjoy!

– Percival-Molson Stadium will be filled to capacity tonight. Good job!

– How will it look this year?

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