How Stars Earn Their Stripes: Montreal vs. Washington

Tonight, the Montreal Canadiens will play game one of the Stanley Cup playoffs in Washington. Montreal only qualified for the playoffs – its first since 2021, when some fortuitous circumstances facilitated the Canadiens’ run to the Stanley Cup finals – in the regular season’s final game. The Canadians have a new roster, with excellent young talent, one notable reclamation and a potential future superstar the team only added two weeks ago. In Ivan Demidov, it’s fitting that one of the more hyped Russians in recent memory should make his debut against the best player his home country ever produced. 

On the other side, Alex Ovechkin is now the most accomplished goal scorer ever. He captains the top-seeded Washington Capitals, a team whose success no one anticipated prior to this season. Outside of Ovechkin, the Caps have a capable lineup, and lost in excitement of the record’s transfer were excellent seasons from Dylan Strome, the little talked-about Aliaksei Protas (currently injured), Tom Wilson and usual underachiever Pierre-Luc Dubois. This is enviable offensive depth, and at least statistically, superior to what Washington will see from Montreal.

But goals and assists only tell one part of the story, because Montreal has seen a renaissance. Already a bigger, heavier team than in past iterations, this year, new Hab Patrik Laine entered the mix to provide 20 goals in 52 games, rookie Lane Hutson emerged as a sure-fire defensive superstar-to-be and captain Nick Suzuki established himself as the one of the league’s best centres. Of course, the recent acquisition of Demidov (drafted fifth overall last year) and his electric first game has dominated all recent Habs discussion. Whether he’ll be a better player than the outstanding Macklin Celebrini – as some hyperventilating fans concluded after Demidov’s only two regular season games – remains to be seen, but he has succeeded the early eye tests. 

In Suzuki, Hutson and perhaps Demidov, the Canadiens can finally lay claim to position players who are among the league’s best. When was the last time Montreal could say this? Over a fourteen year career, Carey Price was one of the NHL’s most valuable players, but he was a goalie – one whose excellence was wasted during those years the Canadiens wandered blindly in the offensive desert. Yes, there were fine players during this span (Andrei Markov and, sometimes, Alexei Kovalev) and large personalities (whatever one’s thoughts of him, PK Subban), but the reliable play of Tomas Plekanec was far from the most exciting brand of NHL hockey. 

Today, the Canadiens have skaters that even non-fans care about. And for a franchise steeped in its remembrance of things past, whose two best players over the last forty years were paid to prevent goals, rather than produce them, this is overdue. Even Montreal’s coach – local product Martin St. Louis, a man whose hiring laid track for the team’s overhaul and whose demise seemed assured prior to the Canadiens’ turn in fortune – is a former Hart Trophy winner. 

While hockey is a team game, the NHL is increasingly a league of stars. In Ovechkin, Washington has one of the league's brightest ever, and despite his age, a 44-goal season confirmed he’s still too productive to be considered a supernova, which occurs only at the final, fading end. But however young they might be, Montreal’s new lights may have enough energy to outshine Washington’s old constellation.  

Prediction:

This will be a physical series where Montreal’s new bulk will take on greater importance. Look for Juraj Slafkovsky to play a fast, heavy game, Josh Anderson to become the player he only sometimes shows flashes of during the regular season, and expect the timely insertion of Arber Xhekaj should Tom Wilson get too brave. Montreal will continue the strong play which turned around its season and outlast a tired Capitals team that struggles offensively. Habs in seven.