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Montreal Canadiens Top 10 Players | LeoVegas

Top 10 Montréal Players Shaping the Future of the Canadiens

At the time of writing, the Montréal Canadiens had the second-youngest effective age, which factors in players’ time on the ice. Despite also being the third-shortest team, the Habs did rank in the top ten for average weight, meaning that they can certainly throw their weight around when required.

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In the 2024/25 season, we look to be entering the upswing of the Canadiens’ rebuild. The core is seemingly established, and there are some exciting prospects in the pipeline who’re raring to battle for a place in the NHL lines. While still a couple of seasons away from competing in the postseason, the Habs look very promising.

This is a look at that emerging core of the Montréal Canadiens, ranking the top ten players now and going forward towards a potential Stanley Cup push down the line.

1. Nick Suzuki (C)

  • Position: Center
  • Years Active: 6
  • Games Played: 429
  • Goals: 123
  • Assists: 215
  • Total Points: 338

Snapped up with the 13th overall selection in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Nick Suzuki was the Vegas Golden Knights’ second-ever pick as a franchise, taken seven places after Cody Glass. A year later, he was traded to the Canadiens in a bundle deal for Max Pacioretty, and after one more season in the OHL, he was thrust into the NHL.

Making his debut in 2019/20, Suzuki was swiftly able to showcase his crafty skill set on the puck, ending the season with 13 goals and 41 points in 71 games. While his season was cut to a mere 56 games in his sophomore NHL campaign, Suzuki managed to match the 41-point haul of his rookie year. Since, he’s been very reliable for the Habs.

While his efforts haven’t swung the playoff odds for the Habs to make it, Suzuki looks to remain as consistent as ever, nearing the point-per-game mark again in 2024/25. Last season, he set a career-best mark of 33 goals and 77 points in 82 games. By the 56-game point this season, he was on 15 goals and 52 points.

2. Cole Caufield (RW)

  • Position: Right Wing
  • Years Active: 5
  • Games Played: 261
  • Goals: 107
  • Assists: 91
  • Total Points: 198

Cole Caufield caused a bit of a ruckus at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. The top-tier scorer who’d crushed all-time records set by Auston Matthews and Phil Kessel in the USNTDP was ranked by all as a top-ten prospect. So, the Montréal Canadiens couldn’t believe their luck when he fell to 15th overall.

The Wisconsin native was given the better part of a couple of seasons to refine his game. In 2021/22, the 5’8’’ right-shot was given a full run out in the NHL, for which, he returned 23 goals and 43 points. Scoring 26 goals in the following season and 28 in 2023/24, the 2024/25 campaign looks to be his big breakout with 26 goals by just the 56th game.

3. Juraj Slafkovský (LW)

  • Position: Left Wing
  • Years Active: 3
  • Games Played: 174
  • Goals: 32
  • Assists: 58
  • Total Points: 90

With a 6’3’’, 225 lb frame, Juraj Slafkovský certainly stands out among the current Canadiens. In the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, he was the natural pick for the Habs selecting first overall. He was already competing in the Finnish top division of men’s hockey, Liiga, and had tasted first-class success.

In February before the draft, the prospect had been pivotal in getting his country the bronze medal at the Winter Olympics – Slovakia’s first medal in the event. Slafkovský didn’t enjoy a seamless rookie campaign, struggling to put up points for a subpar Habs team and sustaining a season-ending injury in January.

He came roaring back last season, though, putting up 20 goals and 50 points in 82 games. With eight goals and 30 points in 53 so far this season, the Slovakian left wing has made himself a popular pick in the player points betting markets.

4. Kirby Dach (C)

  • Position: Center
  • Years Active: 6
  • Games Played: 268
  • Goals: 43
  • Assists: 78
  • Total Points: 121

In a stacked 2019 draft featuring the likes of Jack Hughes, Bowen Byram, Kaapo Kakko, Trevor Zegras, Peyton Krebs, Spencer Knight, and Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach was taken third overall by the Chicago Blackhawks. Three years later, with the Blackhawks going for a full rebuild, Dach went to the Habs for the 13th overall pick and a third-rounder.

The 6’4’’ center immediately saw an uptick in his production – despite previously being lined with Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat. He went from 26 points in 70 games in his third season in Chicago to 38 points in 58 games with the Habs.

The 2023/24 season opened with Dach getting two assists, but in his second game, Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi checked him into the boards, tearing his ACL and MCL to end his season. Dach’s back now, primed for a season-best for scoring, and has improved a bit in the faceoff circle – notoriously his weak spot.

5. Lane Hutson (D)

  • Position: Defenseman
  • Years Active: 2
  • Games Played: 58
  • Goals: 3
  • Assists: 40
  • Total Points: 43

Taken at the foot of the second round in 2022, 5’9’’ defenseman Lane Hutson has surprised many with how swiftly he’s become a key piece of the puzzle for the Habs. Expected to need a few seasons of junior and AHL hockey to become NHL-ready, after a couple of games and points in 2023/24, Hutson was launched into the lines this season.

At the time of writing, the left-shot was firmly the Habs’ third top point scorer. After 56 games, he’d already collected three goals and 41 points. Very much among the frontrunners in the Calder Trophy odds, the blueline dynamo has vaulted the offensive potency of the Canadiens and regularly gets himself in the shooting lanes, too.

6. Kaiden Guhle (D)

  • Position: Defenseman
  • Years Active: 3
  • Games Played: 158
  • Goals: 14
  • Assists: 40
  • Total Points: 54

Very much a stay-at-home defenseman, the towering Kaiden Guhle is all about blocking shots, snagging takeaways with his rangy poke check, laying down crunching hits, and eating up minutes. Back in 2020, he was taken 16th overall in the draft by Montréal. Afterwards, he was given plenty of time to learn the nuances of the game.

Top-four injuries meant that, in his rookie season, Guhle predominantly featured on the top line for the Habs. However, it’d be a stop-start season for the 6’3’’ left-shot due to knee, shoulder, and ankle injuries in succession. Last season, he played in 70 games to collect 22 points and already boasts 14 points in 44 games in 2024/25.

7. David Reinbacher (D)

  • Position: Defenseman
  • Years Active: 0
  • Games Played: 0
  • Goals: 0
  • Assists: 0
  • Total Points: 0

A fifth overall selection from the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and standing 6’3’’, 207 lbs, David Reinbacher was expected to start in the minors this season, but required knee surgery that’ll have him out until at least March. So, the thinking for the speedy, high-IQ Austrian defenseman is that he’ll start with the Laval Rocket next season to get back up to speed.

8. Michael Hage (C)

  • Position: Center
  • Years Active: 0
  • Games Played: 0
  • Goals: 0
  • Assists: 0
  • Total Points: 0

Michael Hage is one of the most recent of Montréal’s top-rated prospects to join the pool. The right-shot centre was picked 21st overall in 2024 and has since been playing for the University of Michigan in the NCAA. Through just 29 games, the teenager scored 13 goals and 19 points. The Habs have high hopes for the flashy forward, but it'll likely be at least another season before he breaks into the NHL lines.

9. Logan Mailloux (D)

  • Position: Defenseman
  • Years Active: 2
  • Games Played: 8
  • Goals: 2
  • Assists: 3
  • Total Points: 5

At 21-years-old and 6’3’’, defenseman Logan Mailloux is very much Montréal’s next man up when it comes to the blueline corps. This season, when the somewhat injury-prone Guhle has gone down, it’s been Mailloux on the call-up.

The 2021 first-rounder has stepped up seven times this season to record four points to couple his nine goals and 23 points in 39 games for Rocket. With David Savard out of contract at the end of the season, the assumption is that Mailloux will become an NHL regular.

10. Joshua Roy (RW)

  • Position: Right Wing
  • Years Active: 2
  • Games Played: 27
  • Goals: 4
  • Assists: 5
  • Total Points: 9

Similarly to Mailloux, Joshua Roy is plying his trade in the AHL with the Laval Rocket, taking any opportunity he can to prove himself in the NHL lines. Taken in the fifth round of 2021, he scored 32 points in 41 AHL games last season and has 30 in 38 to date this season. In 2023/24, the right wing converted his 23 run-outs in the NHL into four goals and nine points.