The 2025 NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and the Montreal Canadiens’ front office chose to sit on their hands. While some may call it patience, others might see it as hesitation. Regardless, this is the team Kent Hughes believes can “Git ‘R Done,” to borrow a phrase from Larry the Cable Guy.
So now, with their playoffs’ chances standing at 14.8%, the Canadiens are left to march forward with what they have.
Nick Suzuki, their captain and cornerstone, will be leaned on heavily, tasked with logging 20-25 minutes a night while playing at an elite level. He’ll need to fill the void left by the absence of a reliable second-line center.
Alex Newhook will continue “playing pretend” at taking faceoffs, while dragging Patrik Laine along, and watching rookie Owen Beck scrambles to make the most of his 8-9 minutes on the ice each game. The rookie’s challenge isn’t just to survive—it’s to thrive in a role that leaves little room for mistakes.
Jake Evans will do what Jake Evans does: kill penalties like a pro and provide honest, hardworking minutes on the fourth line. Meanwhile, Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia will aim to offer some steady, if unspectacular, defensive reliability and Dvorak chipping in on faceoffs.
Yes, the price is high. Yes, the work is hard. Yes, prospects picks will be lost.But this team has a finite ceiling with no 2C. And it’s no playoffs. You want to wait for Hage? Super, let’s wait. And then hope he has the goods when he arrives in 2027. 😀make sure you check your whining tho
— Brian Wilde (@bwildemtl.bsky.social) 2025-03-07T14:24:03.808Z
Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher will be called upon to lead by example, their battered bodies dragging them to the front of the fight once again. These two warriors, who have spent their careers leaving everything they have on the ice, will need to keep pushing forward, even if it means playing through pain.
On the blue line, a couple of defensemen will continue battling while playing on their off-side, scrambling to cover the additional chaos that sometimes erupts when Samuel Montembeault struggles to control rebounds or smother pucks.
Mike Matheson and Lane Hutson will need to play 25 minutes or more a game in order to give the team a chance at winning, hoping not to run out of gas along the way.
All of this while hoping not to suffer from injuries…
This is apparently the “reward” promised by management, for clawing their way back into the playoff race—twice—after being written off both times. The Canadiens made a valiant push, defying expectations along the way. Yet when the deadline came, no reinforcements arrived. The players who pulled the team back into the mix are now left to carry that burden the rest of the way. But they like each other, thankfully.
Sure, the big moves are often saved for the offseason, but it’s hard not to wonder if just a little help now might have tipped the scales. The Canadiens had trade chips in their pocket, yet none were played.
Instead, fans believe that “next year will be better,” a mantra that seems more fitting for the Toronto Maple Leafs than the once-mighty Canadiens. The franchise built on expectations of championships now seems content to play the waiting game.
But some of us still believe and remember that in hockey, once you make the playoffs, anything can happen. Memories of the Canadiens’ improbable run in 2021 still linger, even if some have already forgotten.
So, let’s do what the NHL encourages—let’s gamble. Let’s hope the cards the Canadiens are holding prove to be enough. Maybe we’ll see the team that rattled off impressive winning stretches this season. Or maybe we’ll see the version that couldn’t escape its cold spells. The chips are down, and all we can do now is watch and wait.
Because in Montreal like in Toronto, there’s always tomorrow…
