Canadiens lean on Montembeault and St. Louis’ mindset as expectations soar

As the Montreal Canadiens prepare to open their season Tuesday night in Toronto, they do so with a label that has been years in the making: legitimate contender. Inside the room, though, the message is about starting from scratch, led by a goaltender who has already lived both sides of the NHL roller coaster.

Samuel Montembeault closed out a near‑flawless pre‑season to secure his spot behind Jakub Dobes on the opening roster, but he was quick to underline that the slate is clean again for everyone. Not long ago, he went from one of the league’s most effective goalies to struggling to make saves, falling from a clear No. 1 to the outside in a matter of months. That experience has made him wary of reading too much into a strong two‑week stretch in September.

His approach mirrors what head coach Martin St. Louis has been preaching as the Canadiens transition from rebuilding team to one expected to challenge for the Stanley Cup. The focus, he insists, has to be on how they play each day rather than on what they accomplished last spring, when Montreal’s rise reached a new level.

From rebuild to contention — and a higher bar

The Canadiens’ new status is rooted in concrete results. They collected 106 points last season and knocked off Tampa Bay and Buffalo in the playoffs before losing to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final. After beginning their reset in 2022, they have moved quickly from hopeful upstart to a group expected to stay near the top of the standings.

Newcomer Chris Kreider has added his voice to that narrative since arriving in Montreal just over two weeks ago. Drawing on his time with both contending and rebuilding clubs in New York and Anaheim, he has praised the commitment he has witnessed, from early‑morning skill work to players lingering on the ice after practice. For St. Louis, that kind of endorsement from a veteran with a broad point of comparison is a sign that the culture he envisioned has taken root.

Organizational depth underlines how far the Canadiens have come. Young players who pushed hard in camp — Owen Beck, David Reinbacher and Jacob Fowler — were sent to the American Hockey League, while Florian Xhekaj and Adam Engstrom remained on the fringes of the NHL roster. The only truly inexperienced names in the Game 1 lineup are Dobes and Ivan Demidov, and both already have early Calder Trophy recognition on their résumés.

Leafs’ reset meets Canadiens’ rising core

Around them, almost every skater slated to dress in Toronto has logged at least 150 NHL games. Some have already made outsized impacts in relatively short time, such as defenceman Lane Hutson, while core forwards Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield are still seen as players with significant room to grow. That combination of experience and upside is a major driver of the heightened expectations surrounding Montreal.

On the other side, the Maple Leafs are looking to rebound from a humbling drop to 28th place last season after nine straight playoff appearances. With a reworked roster and home‑ice advantage on opening night, they have a chance to restore belief in Toronto and, if possible, plant early doubts in their long‑time rivals.

For the Canadiens, however, the real test will be internal rather than across the ice. St. Louis has acknowledged that the team has earned its new reputation but emphasizes the responsibility that comes with it. If Montreal can maintain the same process‑driven, even‑keel approach that fuelled last year’s breakthrough, they believe the results will follow naturally over the long grind of the season.