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Canadiens Analysis: Evaluating Montreal’s Improved Production
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- Canadiens Analysis: Evaluating Montreal’s Improved Production
David Kirouac-Imagn Images
The Montreal Canadiens have become one of the highest scoring teams in the league, and much of the credit has to be given to the team's top line.
There have been changes in the lineup, but in this case, we're discussing the play of Nick Suzuki , Juraj Slafkovsky , and Cole Caufield , the most productive forwards in the Canadiens lineup.
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5v5 Production
All three members of the first line are on track to register a career high in points, a testament to their evolution, not to mention the impressive level of chemistry they have built in the last two seasons.
However, they're not actually producing more at 5v5. Believe it or not, all three players have suffered a notable decline in points per 60 this season.
Suzuki has suffered the greatest downtick, with Slafkovsky and Caufield in tow. It should be noted that they still maintained decent production rates at 5v5, as anything near 2.0 points per 60 is usually considered to be reasonably good.
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Powerplay Production
The most notable uptick in scoring has come on the powerplay, where all three players have enjoyed a considerable increase in production. However, Slafkovsky leads the pack by a significant margin, with Suzuki and Caufield lagging behind.
Their individual improvements are reflected in the team's overall improvements.
In 2024-25, the Canadiens were 21st in the NHL, with 7.27 goals per 60 on the powerplay.
In 2025-26, the Canadiens are 4th in the NHL, with 9.31 PP G/60. This represents a 28.1% increase.
Montreal Canadiens Brass Tacks
There's more to scoring on the powerplay than having three talented forwards in the mix. Or in Montreal's case, more often than not, there are four forwards involved.
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Having Ivan Demidov on the first powerplay unit has certainly led to an increase in scoring, however, I'd argue the greatest difference this season is having two talented powerplay quarterbacks available: Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson .
Hutson, for example, has produced 5.7 points per 60 on the powerplay, good for fifth among all Canadiens players. As for Dobson, he's producing 4.4 points per 60, yet another encouraging result when we consider he's often used on the second powerplay unit.
In that sense, we can absolutely give credit to Slafkovsky, Suzuki, and Caufield for their improvements on the powerplay, but we also have to share some of the praise with the defencemen, not to mention Montreal Canadiens management, for finally solving one of the team's most pressing issues, a lack of production on the powerplay.
The Canadiens scored just 2.4 goals per game on the powerplay last season, good for 17th in the NHL. This season, however, that number has risen to 2.8 goals per game, which is ranked 4th in the league.
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In other words, as per usual in hockey, it's a combination of factors that has led to Montreal's improved powerplay prowess.
All Montreal Canadiens statistics are via Natural Stat Trick .
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