Canadiens: A decline in performance from all offensive stars is expected (according to ESPN)

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Canadiens: A decline in performance from all offensive stars is expected (according to ESPN)
Credit: Reuben Polansky-Shapiro/NHLI via Getty Images

What will the Canadiens look like in 2026–2027? That's a good question.

To continue making progress toward the Stanley Cup, the team's stars will need to have another strong season under Martin St-Louis.

That's only to be expected.

The question we can—and indeed must—ask ourselves is this: Will the guys be able to repeat their outstanding performance from last season?

It won't be easy.

In fact, let's take it a step further: according to ESPN, which projected the Habs' player performances, the team's offensive stars (the first power-play unit) are all expected to see a drop in points. And that's even though the season will now consist of 84 games.

The website HabsolumentFan has also covered this.

(Credit: Getty Images)
  • Nick Suzuki: 30 goals and 98 points (compared to 29 goals and 101 points last year)
  • Cole Caufield: 46 goals and 82 points (compared to 51 goals and 88 points last season)
  • Juraj Slafkovsky: 29 goals and 71 points (compared to 30 goals and 73 points last season)
  • Lane Hutson: 10 goals and 70 points (compared to 12 goals and 78 points last season)
  • Ivan Demidov: 18 goals and 59 points (compared to 19 goals and 62 points last year)

Even though Noah Dobson and Mike Matheson (53 and 46 points, respectively, according to projections) are among the players who could rack up more points, a trend is emerging: the projections don't see much potential for a breakout season from any of the team's players.

Fewer wins (26) for Jakub Dobes… fewer points (32) for Oliver Kapanen… just one more goal (13) for Zachary Bolduc: the picture is clear.

It's possible that these players will continue to improve and that some of them will beat the projections. But many of them could hardly have done better last year, which explains the downward projections for the majority of the group.

Just ask the Toronto Blue Jays if it's easy to repeat the feats of a season when everything went right and the best players all had strong seasons…

And since Kent Hughes didn't bring in any reinforcements (in an Eastern Division that's stronger than ever), I'm not entirely surprised by ESPN's assessment.

Stay tuned, then.


In a nutshell

– Makes sense.

– The Jason Robertson situation will keep people talking until he signs his next contract.

– Indeed.

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