Habs fans got a glance at their players, coaches and management on Monday at the annual golf tournament, which unofficially launches the NHL season. There was a whirlwind of news leading up to the tournament. Coach Martin St-Louis signed a multi-year extension; Josh Andersand was named the alternate captain (replacing Brendan Gallagher), Derek Lalonde was appointed associate coach, and the player booed relentlessly while he wore a New York Rangers sweater, Chris Kreider, is now a Hab. “It’s pretty amazing, pretty iconic logo, so [I’m] thrilled to be here,” said the player who inadvertently crashed into former Habs goalie Carey Price in 2014, injuring the netminder’s knee. “It’s a passionate fan base. I think they’ve got long memories,” said Kreider on Monday. “You know what happened in the past happened. Obviously, what I’ve said, and I’ll continue to echo that, but it was not intentional in any way. I was just a young kid and a pretty bad skater at the time, trying to score, and things happen. So it’s hockey, it’s fast, but we move on, and happy to be here.” As for the team, the Habs are looking to improve on a historic season that saw the team break the 100-point mark in the regular season (first time in almost a decade), make the conference finals (first time since 2021), and have a player score 50 goals (Cole Caufield), and one with over 100 points (Nick Suzuki). They know, however, that work remains. “Personally, I think there’s still lots to improve,” said Suzuki. “I think at points in the season, personally and as a team, there were dips, and if we can limit those, I think we put ourselves in a good position to get home ice in the playoffs and be a team that is firing all cylinders heading into the playoffs.” Suzuki’s coach agrees. “Suzi’s right,” said St-Louis. “We’ve continued to evolve as a team, and every year we’ve taken great steps, and how big of a step we’re going to take, I don’t know, but I know one thing: if we do things with a little bit more detail, I think it’s going to help us to maintain that trajectory that we’ve been on. Is that going to be enough? I don’t know, but our intentions have to be at the front of that, and we’ve got to do the things that we talk about, and I’m glad that Nick is talking about that already.” Suzuki won the Selke Trophy for best defensive forward last year, a first for a Hab since 1992 when Guy Carbonneau won it. His 101 points (29 goals, 72 assists) made him the first Hab over the century mark since Marcus Naslund in 1985-86. Caufield won the Lady Byng for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct, and is coming off a 51-goal season. He’s the first to win that trophy since Naslund in 1987-88. Caufield, however, did not have an exceptional playoff run (six goals, seven assists, -10 in 19 games. “Just keep doing what we’re doing, but dialling it in a little bit more on details,” he said. “Obviously, every team gets better every summer, and we’re just pushing in the same direction as always and doing the same things. I don’t think there’s anything crazy that we need to change or anything, but just keep doing the little things better, and experience obviously helps too.” His sometimes linemate Juraj Slavkovsky had similar sentiments. “What I need to improve is to have the same energy and the same intensity for 105, 110 games,” said the 30-goal-scoring 22-year-old. “Just be same, same good. I can’t get tired. I’ve been working on that, and we’ll see how it goes.” Habs owner Geoff Molson is coming off his best season as an owner but knows they were seven wins short of a Stanley Cup, after bowing out to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games. “I don’t like using the word expectation necessarily,” he said. “I think that our team is is hungry. We saw it last year. We saw it the year before, and they’re going to keep on building... They did great last year, and I have no doubt that they’re going to come back and try and be even better this year.” Molson’s president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton feels his team is in a good spot and is now attracting free agents such as Kreider, willing to add experience. “We have really good players. We have a nice future, obviously, and it’s Montreal. It’s original six.” said Gorton. “It’s a team with so much history. The players that have played here, I think it’s nice to know around the league that NHL players are recognizing that. They come in, and they see what it’s like on game day for us to be in that building to see what it’s like. It makes us all feel pretty good about where we’re at.” His captain echoed the sentiment. “Guys, just want to be a part of winning cultures and winning programs, and I think we’ve established that we’re in that mode and heading in the right direction for a long time,” said Suzuki. “Guys are excited about that opportunity to come to a good team and sign long-term deals, and, you know, [that] hasn’t always been the case here, and it’s nice to have that. I think teams, and players around the league see us as a good spot to go to now.” A Hall-of-Fame Stanley Cup-winning player with the Tampa Bay Lightning, St-Louis knows that with continuity comes expectations. St-Louis also knows that the team has increased its talent and expectations will only be higher in 2026-2027. “Our standards have always been really high, and they’re going to continue to do that,” said St-Louis. “Are we ready to take a big enough step to keep going? I don’t know. We’ll figure it out... So I see us attacking it the same way, you know. And we’ll see where it takes us.”
