Welcome back to The Contrarian, the feature where you state the obvious and then I tell you why you’re wrong. It’s been over a year since we’ve done this, because I forgot I’ve been waiting for you to come up with some worthy challenges. But with Slow News Summer crawling along, this is as good a time as any for me to do what modern sports media is apparently supposed to do best: Argue loudly and aggressively for positions I may or may not actually believe in.
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It’s getting dangerously close to where the Montreal Canadiens have to win it all to meet expectations. What should be the goal in 2026-27?
There comes a time in every meticulously planned rebuild when a general manager (GM) has to look at his board, swallow hard, and consider trading away something that genuinely hurts…
Introduction
The past couple of years this has mostly been an extension of the Top 25, with too many players showing NHL ability to fit into the official countdown. With the six graduating NHLers, the quality isn’t quite the same this year, and more in line with what this section of players has usually been: skaters with an NHL skill or two but not the full set required to crack a roster, and some unproven goaltenders.
Every one of the nine players we’ll profile here did receive at l...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
The Xhekaj story, from refugee roots to NHL dreams. [ Instagram – UNHCR ]
Three players who could surprise at training camp. [ The Hockey Writers ]
Will Ville Koivunen’s contract impact the Zachary Bolduc negotiations? [ Journal de Montreal ]
WHL players and alumni within the Canadiens prospect pool. [ WHL ]
Around the league and elsewhere
The Pittsburgh Penguins gave Koivunen a stunningly unnecessary eight-year, $32 million...
The Montreal Canadiens are always looking for diamonds in the rough, including when they selected L.J. Mooney with the 113th […]
With training camp just a few weeks away, most NHL rosters are close to being finalized. That doesn’t mean teams are done adding players. Every year, several veterans and NHL…
The Montreal Canadiens are still in the market for a top-six scoring forward; could veteran Vladimir Tarasenko be a fit? Tarasenko had a solid year with the Minnesota Wild last season, where he scored 23 goals and 47 points in 75 games. It was a great bounce-back season after having just 11 goals and 33 […]
The post Montreal Canadiens Potential UFA Target: Vladimir Tarasenko appeared first on The Sick Podcast .
The Montreal Canadiens have been quite aggressive when it comes to moving up at the NHL Entry Draft, a strategy […]
Training camp is one of the most exciting times of the NHL calendar. While most roster spots are already spoken for, every year a handful of players exceed expectations and…
Get ready to start your day with the latest and hottest Montreal Canadiens news, plus NHL trade and free agent rumours from around the hockey world! Here are your Sick Puck Links for today: Sick Links Nick Lariviere continues his offseason Montreal Canadiens Expected Role Profiles focusing on Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble. Sources have confirmed […]
The post Sick Puck Links: Canadiens And MacKinnon? Red Wings GM; NHL Trade Rumors appeared first on The Sick Podcast .
Introduction
Getting closer to the top players in the organization, we find a group that is neither on a track to play in the NHL nor appearing hopeless to do so. These prospects have generally performed better than those we just discussed as Long Shots, with a larger base of skills to work with.
Three of the players are from the 2026 NHL Draft class, but there is an equal number of off-season additions for the Laval Rocket. In both cases, they are new players to the project, which t...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Players worth considering if Kent Hughes is serious about accelerating the rebuild. [ The Sick Podcast ]
Unrestricted free agent Patrik Laine could be a fit for teams looking to add offence without breaking the bank. [ Montreal Gazette ]
Cole Caufield is getting some well-deserved recognition, coming in ninth in the NHL Network’s ranking of wingers. [ Montreal Gazette ]
Noah Dobson is the third Canadiens player to become a...
Much has been made about the fact that the Montreal Canadiens are yet to re-sign defenceman Arber Xhekaj. The 25-year-old […]
The Canadiens continue to be a feel-good story all around. However, there are five moments that stick out in 2025-26:
As we get into the dog days of summer and until training camp, thesickpodcast.com will profile Montreal Canadiens players based on their expected role for the 2026-27 NHL season. There will be a tough internal battle for the sixth defenseman spot at Montreal Canadiens training camp in September and defenseman Jayden Struble could have the […]
The post Montreal Canadiens Role Profiles: Jayden Struble appeared first on The Sick Podcast .
We’ve reached the No.12 player in our annual Montreal Canadiens prospect ranks, as voted on by Habs fans: defenceman Bogdan […]
There is an old saying in hockey that if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Kent Hughes has never struck me as a general manager who is afraid to pick up the phone, even if the answer is likely to be “no”. In fact, he has reportedly been calling about players considered unavailable, in hope […]
The post Trade Targets Still Worth Pursuing For The Canadiens appeared first on The Sick Podcast .
The calendar has turned to August and the NHL Trade market is officially in the dog days of summer but could the Montreal Canadiens still pull off the impact trade Canadiens fans and media were expecting by now. According to multiple NHL insiders and sources the Sick Podcast Network has spoken to, that hasn’t been […]
The post NHL Trade Targets Still Worth Pursuing For The Canadiens appeared first on The Sick Podcast .
Besides the Canadiens signing an RFA, the NHL offseason has been quiet this August, but that’s expected. However, there’s some […]
The post Daily Bean: Bergeron Interview; Atlantic Division Grades; Hughes, Makar Extension Talk appeared first on Boston Hockey Now .
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Alex Newhook is back in Newfoundland for the third annual Alex Newhook and Friends Golf Classic. [ CBC ]
What should Alexandre Carrier’s role be? [ The Sick Podcast ]
Looking back at a Jonathan Drouin trade that backfired from day one. [ A Winning Habit ]
How LJ Mooney and Timofei Runtso performed at the WJSS. [ The Hockey Writers ]
The top 5 Canadiens feel-good stories of 2025-26. [ The Hockey Writers ]
Off-season grades for th...
The 2026 World Junior Summer Showcase wrapped up Saturday, August 1st. While the games themselves do not count toward the official World Junior Championship, they provide a first glimpse at…
Sidney Crosby stunned Patrice Bergeron during Team Canada's 2005 camp.
Perhaps one of the most revolutionary players to ever play the game of hockey, Maurice Richard brought hockey in Montreal to an elite level and set the bar high for…
Arber Xhekaj is the only player on the Montreal Canadiens’ crowded blue line without a contract for the 2026-27 NHL season, and the longer he remains unsigned this summer, the more trade rumors will continue to swirl around the 25-year-old. That continued late last week, when Montreal Gazette columnist Herb Zurkowsky linked Xhekaj to two […]
The post NHL rumors: Canadiens’ Arber Xhekaj linked to 2 teams appeared first on ClutchPoints .