Skip to content
Y
o
u
r
 
d
a
i
l
y
 
d
o
s
e
 
o
f
 
h
o
c
k
e
y
News

There was a time when the #1 center of the Canadiens barely scored 55 points
Kevin Vallée
There was a time when the #1 center of the Canadiens barely scored 55 points
Credit: When the Montreal Canadiens reached the Eastern Conference final in 2013-2014, their number one center, Tomas Plekanec, scored 43 points in 82 games in the regular season. David Desharnais, the team’s second center, finished the year with 52 points in 79 games. From 2007 to 2017, Plekanec was the Canadiens’ most used center year after […]

When the Montreal Canadiens reached the Eastern Conference final in 2013-2014, their number one center, Tomas Plekanec, scored 43 points in 82 games in the regular season. David Desharnais, the team’s second center, finished the year with 52 points in 79 games.

From 2007 to 2017, Plekanec was the Canadiens’ most used center year after year, and almost always the first choice at 5 on 5. He averaged 54.3 points per season.

This being said, he was not always the most productive center. Over 11 seasons, the center who scored the most points in Montreal produced at a rate of 61.3 points per 82 games.

I’m going where with my skis?

I don’t want to harp on Tomas Plekanec, who was a wonderful two-way center for the Habs, or David Desharnais, one of the best in NHL history to have previously been a regular in the ECHL.

I just want to realize how lucky we are:

  1. In a universe where the Canadiens’ number one center was barely scoring 55 points per season less than 10 years ago, Nick Suzuki is accumulating 79 points in 74 games and should finish the season, at this rate, with 30 more points than the average observed over time.
  2. In a universe where the best center on the Canadiens was averaging 61 points per season for 10 years, Lane Hutson, a rookie defenseman, has 62 points in 74 games.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, there have been only six forwards who have had a more productive season than Lane Hutson in 2024-2025:

Alex Kovalev, Saku Koivu, Max Domi, Tomas Plekanec… Cole Caufield… and Nick Suzuki, who is at the top of the millennium.

This means that 3 of the 11 best statistical individual seasons by a Canadiens player since 2000-2001… are currently underway.

The best center, the second-best winger, and the best defenseman… in 25 years.

Of course, it’s impressive, considering the limited amount of raw talent that has passed through Montreal in the last three decades… But on the NHL scale, Pierre LeBrun says that GMs are starting to be afraid of this team. Suzuki, Caufield, and Hutson are already a three-headed monster… and Ivan Demidov hasn’t even arrived yet.

In short. My point is simply to say that we are really lucky in 2025, and that the Canadiens have by far the best foundation they’ve had in a very long time. The numbers are unequivocal in Montreal. After that, what impact will this core have on the NHL scale? That’s not done yet. But it’s allowed to wonder what the ceiling is for these three young players, and especially, the ceiling of a complete team led by these guys…


Overtime

– Lane Hutson is still learning, BTW.

– If Hutson doesn’t win the Calder, it’s nothing short of an investigation!

– There will be one, but who will it be?

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
More Content