Season 26-27: My Expectations for Suzuki, Caufield, and Slafkovsky

Marc-Olivier Cook
Season 26-27: My Expectations for Suzuki, Caufield, and Slafkovsky
Credit: David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Canadiens were able to achieve so much success last season in part thanks to the brilliance of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky.

The three players, who play on the same line (Slaf played a bit with Ivan Demidov on the second line, but anyway), had their best seasons ever in the National Hockey League.

101 points for the captain, 51 goals (and 88 points) for Caufield, 30 goals and 73 points for Slaf… it's hard to ask for more!

So what can we expect from these three players next season?

Obviously, Suzuki will have big shoes to fill. Not every player is capable of racking up over 100 points in a single season… and maybe this is the only time in his career we'll see Suzuki reach that milestone.

But if he finishes the upcoming season with 85 points or more, I'll be satisfied. Because he'd still have his place among the NHL's elite…

It's kind of the same story with Cole Caufield.

There's a scenario in which he'll never again score 50 goals in a single season. It's really tough to score that many goals consistently… but Cole has proven since the start of his career that he's one of the NHL's best goal-scorers.

That said, I won't be disappointed if Caufield is able to rack up 35 or more goals along with around 40 assists.

It would be crazy to see him score 50 (or more) for a second straight season… but we shouldn't assume that's a given either.

For Slaf, it's a little different… in the sense that we don't know what his ceiling is right now.

We saw him dominate games in '25–'26. We saw that he's capable of being the best player on the ice, and if he can keep up that pace, the points will matter a little less.

His job, after all, is to create space for Caufield and Suzuki on the ice and to use his body to win the puck. If he does all those things and is able to put up 65 to 75 points, that'll be a success.

The Canadiens will need these three players to have another strong 26-27 season.

But given that Slaf, Suzuki, and Caufield are already established players in the National Hockey League, I'm a little less worried about their production… because we know what they're going to bring to the table.

And that's the beauty of it all.


Quick Q&A

– Good question.

– That's a good one.

– Hello, Sid!

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