Improving Habs becoming a threat once again

-By Bruce Penton

Jan 13, 2025

Key Points from this Story:

• Canadiens winning more games recently
• Cole Caufield leads team in goal scoring
• Nick Suzuki team captain with most points
• Lane Hutson emerging as exciting young defenseman
• Patrik Laine adds offensive power
• Team battling for playoff wildcard position

The Canadiens, the league's flagship team and winner of more Stanley Cups than any other franchise, have fallen on bad times in recent years, but are one of the league's surprise success stories this season.

Crave TV ran a documentary on the Habs, called 'The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens', that focused on efforts made by front-office staff to return the Canadiens to their glory days. And judging by recent results -- nine wins in an 11-game span over Christmas and into the new year, for instance -- it's working. At one point, Montreal was two games above .500, which was something worth celebrating. In one late-December stretch, Montreal won back-to-back-to-back road games against Tampa Bay, Florida and Vegas, following up later with road wins over Cup contenders Colorado and Washington.

The Canadiens, whose 24 Stanley Cups wins are 11 ahead of second-place Toronto, have had three successive last-place finishes in the NHL's Atlantic Division, but find themselves in a battle for an Eastern Conference wildcard playoff position as the season approaches its halfway mark.