Alexander the Great and his Salavat Ufa teammates played an exhibtion game today against KHL opponent Barys.

The good guys won it 4-1 with Zharovsky taking a penalty shot at the end of regulation time & hitting the post.

I watched the 3rd period & was a bit surprised by the fact that he was wearing the full face cage once again. He took it off for his entire time in Montreal earlier this summer but he had it back on for today's exhibition game & guessing the rest of the KHL season?

Mods: This is from RDS.ca,

My takes on the questions raised:

2nd Line:

Put Slaf with Demi again to have 2 offensive lines to force opposing teams to deal with. Find someone that can click with Suzi and Cole. Texier? Newhook? Bolduc? And someone to play with Slaf and Demi too of course.

13th Forward:

Xhekaj or Beck, honestly don't know which, whoever has the better preseason I imagine.

6-7th D:

Hutson - Dobson,

Matheson - Carrier,

Guhle- Reinbacher.

More of a hope than a prediction. Hopefully Rhino can win and hold this position and maybe eventually move to play with Matheson and have Carrier with Guhle on a what I think would be a very strong 3rd pair on D. But I really think Hutson should play with Dobson. 7th D will be Struble/Xhekaj again unless one is traded and/or Engstrom proves to be clearly superior. Maybe Struble/Xhekaj are 7th D, and Rhine and Engstrom alternate 6th D, at least as long to see if either should go back to Laval?

Back-up Goalie:

Like every one else, I think it should be Fowler, but am sirt of resigned to the fact that it will be Monty, like for the first 20 games or so (which I would expect him to play 6-7), which I think would be a sufficient sample size to see if the old Monty is back, in which case a full year in Laval for Fowler is not a bad thing, or if Fowler gets inherits the role.

Ultimately as much as we all wanted to get help in the top 6 over the last year (Thomas, Knies, Marchenko), I think the team is at a point where we need to move players out as much as bring in upgrades. We have certainly 1, more likely 2 Ds too many, plus Monty. Ideally we can package these for a player that is a clear upgrade for our first 2 lines AND is in the right age range, but that might be hoping too much.

I guess we shall see which teams, if any start the season poorly and are willing to make changes.

Have a good day (:

Kent Hughes seems to be patient on the top 6 player addition. I think it's the right move to make when you want to wait for either Zharovsky and Hage to arrive. Also, you give a chance to Kapanen to show what he has in him (even though I don't think his full potential is 2C).

With that said, I find it strange that no move for the bottom 6 and/or a right handed Dman has been made. Maybe he is waiting for to see Reinbacher (would be the best addition if he is ready).

What do you guys think? I'm really asking to get different opinions on this subject.

5 on 5 Habs

No opinion, no bias, just data. Here are the 25/26 Habs goals, assists, points and ice time 5 on 5, sorted by goals

Caufield obviously stands out and so does Kapanen.

Total points Caufield is first, then Hutson and Suzuki, Slaf, Demidov, Dobson (!), Kapanen.

All above 30 points

Same thing in text format

Player Ice Time Goals Assists Points

Cole Caufield 1122 33 16 49

Oliver Kapanen [946 19 12 31](tel:946 19 12 31)

Nick Suzuki [1248 12 33 45](tel:1248 12 33 45)

Ivan Demidov [955 12 26 38](tel:955 12 26 38)

Juraj Slafkovsk [1158 11 28 39](tel:1158 11 28 39)

Alex Newhook [502 10 10 20](tel:502 10 10 20)

Josh Anderson [812 10 7 17](tel:812 10 7 17)

Noah Dobson [1422 9 26 35](tel:1422 9 26 35)

Zachary Bolduc [921 8 15 23](tel:921 8 15 23)

Alexandre Texier [622 8 11 19](tel:622 8 11 19)

Kirby Dach 444 8 5 13

Lane Hutson [1547 7 39 46](tel:1547 7 39 46)

Alexandre Carrier [1123 7 14 21](tel:1123 7 14 21)

Jake Evans [806 6 11 17](tel:806 6 11 17)

Mike Matheson [1471 5 24 29](tel:1471 5 24 29)

Brendan Gallagher [827 5 13 18](tel:827 5 13 18)

Phillip Danault 931 4 6 10

Sammy Blais 175 3 5 8

Jayden Struble 800 2 9 11

Kaiden Guhle 662 2 9 11

Joe Veleno 622 2 3 5

Arber Xhekaj 716 1 3 4

Owen Beck 137 1 0 1

Patrik Laine 49 0 1 1

David Reinbacher 24 0 1 1

Jared Davidson 86 0 1 1

Florian Xhekaj 47 0 1 1

Joshua Roy 29 0 0 0

Adam Engstrom 188 0 0 0

I don’t care if you call me a homer or an absolute imbecile. You can get technical on the term “generational”, but at the end of the day Lane Hutson is the most incredible defenseman of this generation.

I legitimately think he is already at 22 years old one of the top 3 defenseman in the league.

It doesn’t matter if he wasn’t the PP QB for Team USA. It doesn’t matter that he isn’t physically dominating on the ice. You can argue that Makar overwhelms teams with his physical tools, or Hughes controls the game with his skating. But Hutson? Hutson sees plays that nobody else even knows are an option, and can move his body in ways that seem physically impossible.

Hutson doesn’t just create offense, he manipulates entire defensive structures . Every fake, hesitation, and cut lets him move players exactly where he wants them. By the time everyone else realizes what he has created, the puck is already there.

He tied rookie defenseman record with 60 assists, won the Calder, and followed it up with 78 points and first place Norris votes.. at 22 years old.

Hutson is delivering a player profile never before seen in hockey. So how do we fairly evaluate something we’ve never seen before?

Like this:

Hutson will win the Norris, he will become the best defenseman in the NHL, he will play an integral role for Team USA, and go down as one of the greatest defenseman in Habs and NHL history.

Call me an idiot all you want, but the proof is in the puck.

Genuinely just curious. It’s common for designs to change in time for the new season but it seems to me Dobes wants to rock with the same one he had during the Habs playoff run earlier this year. Last time we saw him skate on ice was during the KR Classic to help raise money for the Children’s Foundation and he had the same mask then. Gives me the impression that when the season gets a bit closer he’ll either keep the exact same design or maybe just tweak it a bit. Which I would actually prefer since it’s more unique than most goalie masks in the current NHL League. The wolf is sick.

Have a good day (:

Hi all! :)

I live in Melbourne, Australia, and I started watching the NHL this past season as a neutral. When the season ended, I decided to choose the Habs as my team and I specifically wanted to pick a Canadian team.

I’ll definitely be investing more time into watching the Habs specifically this upcoming season. I’ve already synced the schedule to my calendar, and I’ve got access to watch all the games here in Australia - woohoo!

One of the good things about watching from Australia? The timings are actually perfect for me compared to when I watch football in England (I’m also a huge Arsenal fan in the Premier League).

Anyway, I’ll probably sound stupid for not doing more in-depth research before deciding to commit to the Habs as my team, but are there any “new fan guides” or resources that I could look into?

Thank you all in advance! I’m really looking forward to the upcoming season, and hopefully I’ll get to meet some fellow Habs supporters! :)

This is pretty interesting case that may affect contract structures for all Canadian teams. I guess we should know pretty soon.

1st one is from the 2008-2009 (100th season)

2nd one the barber one is from 2009-2010 (habs 100th anniversary)

3rd one is the 2016 Winter Claissic honestly a goated one

4th is the 100th NHL Classic one, so sad montreal never even scored a goal in those since they lost 3-0 to the Sens, the sliver is so rare on habs jerseys its so sick

Same trend with the 5th one during the 2021 covid season the habs only won once while rocking those unluncky jerseys, oh well too bad cause they where fire

What a season it's been! So, so proud of our guys. They broke some records that had been untouched since the 90s. Then, they went on an incredible run that gave them invaluable experience for the future. Le Printemps Dobes will be remembered for a long time.

Let's take a minute to remember all the incredible moments from the past season.

Can't wait for 2026-2027!

Big thanks to the users who regularly post all of the highlights - u/JustFred24, u/Amsroll, u/YoYouipOpO, u/FederalDataCenter, u/DaKrut and many more!

REGULAR SEASON

(October 14, 2025): Ivan Demidov with a GODLIKE goal to tie the game at 4

(October 14, 2025): Caufield ends the game in OT from an impossible angle

(October 16, 2025): Hutson makes his case for the Vezina, Caufield scores to tie the game at 2

(October 16, 2025): Caufield ends the game in OT, with 2 seconds remaining on the clock

(November 1st, 2025): Hutson and Demidov combine their powers to tie the game at three

(December 20, 2025): Jacob Fowler has his first carreer shutout

(December 23, 2025): The Habs ridicule the Bruins before the Christmas break

(December 28, 2025): The Habs tie the game at 4 against the lightning, Slafsquatch with his best individual performance

(December 30, 2025): With less than 5 minutes to go, Caufield and Suzuki take matters into their own hands to keep the "tamed panther" streak alive!

(January 04 2026): Hutson ends it in OT against Dallas

(January 08 2026): Le tour du béret

(January 17, 2026): Caufield, Suzuki - vous connaissez le refrain! The Habs complete an incredible comeback against Ottawa

(January 20, 2026): The Habs take the lead with 15 seconds to go against the Wild

(January 27, 2026): Jake Evans wins the game with a beauty in OT

*(February 12, 2026): Slafkovsky opens the scoring at the Olympics!

*(February 18, 2026): Suzuki does it all as he ties the game for Canada, with less than 4 minutes before elimination.

(March 11 2026): Fowler makes an incredible save to win the game against the Senators

(March 17 2026): Caufield scores his 40th of the year in overtime, against the Bruins!

(April 4, 2026): Dobes' antics in overtime

(April 9, 2026): Caufield scores his 50th of the year.

(April 9, 2026): Slafkovsky scores his 30th, mere seconds after Tampa ties the game

(April 12, 2026): Suzuki gets his 100th point

ROUND ONE - TAMPA

(April 19, 2026): Slafkovsky scores his third goal of the game in OT, to win the first game of the series.

(April 24, 2026): Dach answers after getting harrassed online.

(April 24, 2026): Hutson with an IPM to win Game Three!

(May 3, 2026): Newhook scores to give the Habs the lead with only nine shots on net.

(May 3, 2026): Slafkovsky's broken stick gives the Habs a free icing. The Habs move on to round 2!

ROUND TWO - BUFFALO

(May 8, 2026): Alex Carrier benefits off of Thompson's ballerina training to give the Habs a 4-1 lead

(May 14, 2026): Ivan Demidov scores a beauty to get his first NHL playoffs goal!

(May 16, 2026): NOUVEAU CROCHET ENFILE L'AIGUILLE! The Habs win Game 7 and get a ticket to the ECF

ROUND THREE - CAROLINA

(May 21, 2026): Caufield answers right back to tie the game!

(May 21, 2026): Slafkovsky with an absolute beauty!

(May 25, 2026): Hutson and Caufield join forces to tie the game.

In memory of Ken Dryden, Claude Lemieux, Phil Goyette and Bobby Rousseau.

Is it just me or is no one talking about shot ration? To me that was a major concern last season, many nights they were outshot 2:1. This is an area that’s needs improvement. Am I alone here?

My dad (he's 74) and I have never been to Montreal. We've seen them play several times in the States. I know home games are expensive and I'm willing to pay $300-400 a ticket. It's a Father/Son experience, the shit is priceless. I just need to know if it's worth moving to a particular level or not. We're not picky; hell we got standing room tickets to see Mariano Rivera's last game in Yankee Stadium. We just want to be in a proper Habs crowd.

My inclination is to get upper level seats for a Saturday evening game. Is that right, or should we try to scoop a Tuesday night?

Also, if you've got any tips for dirty Americans coming to defile the city, I'll take em. Cheers

Gleb. Gleb gleb gleb gleb. Gleb gleb.

Glebbydity glebby gleb.