Without its reconstruction, the Canadiens would still be in “no man’s land” today

Many in the media have (strongly) suggested over the past three years that Montreal should put an end to the rebuild and go for a clear-cut strategy: do everything to win and make the playoffs. Even if it means hoping for the playoffs once, according to Marc Bergevin..

These same people – often from an older generation than mine – are satisfied this season and are not shy about saying that the club is finally aiming for victory. You can hear or read them raving about the team’s current results.

Except they don’t understand – or they’re deliberately forgetting – one very important thing: without the years of rebuilding, asset sales, room for young prospects and high draft picks, the Canadiens wouldn’t be 7-3-0 since the start of the campaign.

The proof? Who have been the Montreal club’s best players since the start of October?

Nick Suzuki: acquired by trading the team captain (Max Pacioretty).

Cole Caufield: acquired by daring to take a risk at the draft,

Ivan Demidov: selected fifth overall after a miserable season. And a brain freeze from Columbus scouts..

Juraj Slafkovsky: selected first overall after a down-and-out season.

Lane Hutson: selected in the second round because the Habs had several picks in the first two rounds, so they took a chance on a small defenseman.

Noah Dobson: acquired in return for two first-round picks and a young player (acquired in the Tyler Toffoli sale ).

Zack Bolduc: traded for a young right-handed defenseman selected in the first round.

Jakub Dobes: selected in the draft with one of the team’s many 2020 picks.

We could even stretch the sauce by talking about Alex Newhook (traded for draft picks, which the Habs had in bulk), Mike Matheson (traded for a defenseman who had just taken the team to the Stanley Cup Finals), Alexandre Carrier (landed in Montreal because of Justin Barron, who had been acquired in the Artturi Lehkonen sale ) and Oliver Kapanen (selected in the second round in 2021).

In short, the Canadiens’ current success is due first and foremost to the fact that they lured the best free agents to Montreal at a discount in summer, were patient, were willing to gut the house before rebuilding it, and had a string of miserable seasons. Without that, the Habs would most likely still be languishing in the bottom third of the league, aiming for the playoffs with a gang of disillusioned veterans. #NoMansLand

People who savour the Habs’ performance in 2025-26 should constantly remind themselves of this..

Of course, there are a few exceptions/errors in the actions of the Jeff Gorton – Kent Hughes duo.

Finishing at the bottom in 2022-23, then selecting David Reinbacher with the fifth overall pick when Matvei Michkov, Ryan Leonard, Dalibor Dvorsky and Zachary Benson were still available could haunt the Habs for years to come. We’ll see.

Acquiring Patrik Laine didn’t pay the dividends we’d hoped for. Although, without him, the Canadiens’ youngsters aren’t learning how to play playoff hockey last spring..

Filip Mesar, selected in the first round, is likely to be a flop.

And Kirby Dach will probably never be better than Frank Nazar and Alexander Romanov.

Except that, on the whole, the Habs’ strategy was the right one. Nobody hits for 1,000 when they take risks..

Extension

The Canadiens announced last week that Patrik Laine would be out for three to four months for abdominal wall muscle repair (via surgery). In other words, Laine had a sports hernia in the “middle of his body”..

Except the Canadiens aren’t talking about mid-body yet . Thank god.

When Laine had to sit out (and seek a second medical opinion a few days later), the Canadiens were talking about a lower-body injury for Laine.

But when I asked the AI if the abdominal wall was in the upper or lower body, the AI replied: neither; it’s in between, in the middle of the body.

So here it is: Patrik Laine is currently in rehab for a mid-body injury. No one has yet ruled out where EXACTLY the lower body begins.

We’ll have to wait and see if Laine plays another game in a Canadiens uniform. It should, but it’s also safe to assume that Laine won’t have any rhythm when he laces up his skates again in a few weeks/months. It’s bad enough he hasn’t had any since he arrived in Montreal..

Note that pretty much everyone agrees on one thing this morning: Laine won’t be signing a contract extension with the Habs. I don’t see him fitting anywhere in Montreal next year.