The Montreal Canadiens are one of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) storied franchises. Whether you are a seasoned hockey fan or you are just starting to enjoy the sport, a well-known symbol around the league is the red, blue and white logo of the Habs.
Throughout their history, Montreal has won 24 Stanley Cups.
Many of those came in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. Back then, the team had players like Jean Beliveau, Guy Lafleur and Maurice “Rocket” Richard suit up night after night. The team last won the Cup in 1993, being this the last time a team from the north of the U.S.-Canada border captured the Stanley Cup.
Despite the team’s historic lineage and winning record, the Habs have run into a bit of a rough patch recently.
Over the last three years, the team has ended with a losing record. The team is in a rebuilding phase, where they’ve been drafting solid players and developing future stars.
This season, Montreal has got over the hump in their rebuild phase.
The Habs started the season losing six of their first seven games. However, the team has picked it up as of late, becoming one of the hottest teams in the NHL.
After the calendar flipped to 2025, Montreal has a record of 7-3-2. Many of those wins have come against recent Stanley Cup winners, such as the Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Montreal sits 6th in the Atlantic and is in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Not bad for a young team still seen in rebuild mode.
Fullback for the St. Thomas men’s soccer team, Samuel Choinière, is a die-hard Montreal Canadiens fan and has been since he was old enough to start watching hockey.
Much of his love for Montreal comes from his dad’s side of the family, as well as the culture of hockey in his home province of Quebec.
“The thing I like about this year is that we have a very young team. There’s players playing extremely well, even our core players right now. It’s very promising for the future,” said Choinière. “I’m sure the team is going to be able to reach another level next year.”
He has a point. This season, much of Montreal’s winning ways have come from their core group of young guns. Players like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky are leading the way offensively.
Suzuki is leading that category, totalling 47 points in 47 games and running at a point-a-game click.
Apart from the team’s big guns, rookie defenseman Lane Hutson has been a massive catalyst for the team’s success this season.
Drafted 62nd overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, the Michigan native has put together an impressive rookie campaign, collecting 39 points in 47 games. Those numbers are good enough for tops among rookies in the NHL this season.
Because of his impressive season, Hutson is among the best choices to win the Calder, the league’s top rookie. If this happens, he would be the first Canadien to win the trophy since goaltender Ken Dryden in the 1972-73 season.
“Other than just points, he is the number one defenseman in Montreal right now,” said Choinière. “He’s on the first power play [but] doesn’t play in when we’re down a man because I would say his size and maybe still [has] defensive work to do.”
“He’s coming in the league at 20 years old and he’s probably already among the best defensemen in the league offensively.”
First-year student at STU, Andrew Walls, said he was “born as a Habs fan,” inheriting his fandom from both of his parents.
“I think we’re just letting up less goals. I think our defense is better,” said Walls about what’s been behind the team’s recent success. “I feel like sometimes our defense will just implode on itself, but they’ve been not doing that as often lately, so I think that’s basically what it comes down to.”
Both Walls and Choinière have similar hopes for the rest of the season, which is to make the playoffs.
“You don’t know if you’re going to get in as a wild card team … you just got to make it. As long as they just keep playing this, like there’s no way they’re not going to make the playoffs,” said Walls.
