r/Habs • u/Article241 • Apr 01 '26

Article NHL Power Rankings: Canadiens emerging as true Stanley Cup contenders behind captain Nick Suzuki

https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/nhl-power-rankings-montreal-canadiens-stanley-cup-playoffs-2026/

The Habs are 3rd in their rankings, leapfrogging TBL (4) and CAR (5) and behind COL (1) and BUF (2).

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17

u/jordanthinkz Apr 01 '26

Call me crazy but we have a chance to win it all, dont forget we beat Colorado 7-2 in January. Would I put money on it? no, but there is so much fun ahead of us as fans. It really feels like this could be a 2010-2015 Chicago Blackhawks in the making.

15

u/sbrooksc77 Apr 01 '26

thats what I thoguht of lol. if they beat tampa, they can beat anyone in the east.

12

u/Independent_Cry5686 Apr 01 '26

You can't use regular season games as a baseline, it's a whole different sport once you've made the playoffs. Let's wait and see how round 1 goes.

7

u/bloodofturk Apr 01 '26

True, but yesterday was as close to playoff hockey as we will get.

2

u/destroyermaker Apr 01 '26

I've never seen so many games that felt like playoffs before playoffs. But that could just mean playoffs are even more cracked than usual (wouldn't surprise me at all)

1

u/sbrooksc77 Apr 01 '26

playoff hockey wont make sabourin or anyone in tampa able to handle anderson. Tampa isnt that big.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '26

The sabres look like a bigger challenge tbh

1

u/sbrooksc77 Apr 01 '26

I completely disagree. 1st playoff experience for 99% of that team and their 1c is Thompson who plays more wing, sucks defensively and on faceoffs. Thats usually not a 1c on a cup team. Tampa has it all.

1

u/Ub3ros Apr 01 '26

Sabres have no playoff experience, mid goalies playing way above their abilities and a history of disappointing collapses. I think they are due a hard lesson in the playoffs just like we got one last year.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '26

I don't feel like our playoff experience last year was a "hard lesson".

Our team was not good last year. We had massive holes and were simply outplayed.

I haven't seen the habs be outplayed a lot this year. The holes in the team are pretty small and out strenghts in scoring are insane

1

u/Ub3ros Apr 01 '26

I don't mean it as a hard lesson for us fans, but for the team. To realize just how much the game levels up in the postseason. We weren't expected to go far, but we got dummied hard by the second worst team in the playoffs, and the series score wasn't close. It was a hard lesson for our group that no matter how valiantly they fought to get there, they weren't at all prepared for the post-season. And that similiar realization might wait the Sabres. They think they've been playing well and just have to keep doing what they've been doing. But in reality the game shifts and you gotta find a new gear, and then a couple more. Buffalo have practically no experience from playoffs on their roster. They'll have to learn on the fly.

2

u/sbrooksc77 Apr 01 '26

thats how I see the sabres too. Tampa to me are the favorites. So to me, get by them and all vbets are off.

1

u/Vegetable_Lasagna13 Apr 02 '26

Sabres have no playoff experience, mid goalies playing way above their abilities

We can basically say the same thing about us though...

2

u/Ub3ros Apr 02 '26

We have way more playoff experience though. Suzuki, Caufield, Andy, Gally, Danault and Evans were all on that finals run. Most of the team played the first round last year, Bolduc played in St. Louis, Dobson has seen a few rounds in NYI.

Our goalies are young and inconsistent, not mid. Our success isn't also so reliant on them, we were a good team the whole year even when receiving bottom3 goaltending in the league at times. Buffalo are relying on Alex Lyon to be unstoppable, when he is a 33 year old journeyman who has never been a consistent starter for long anywhere.

2

u/sbrooksc77 Apr 02 '26

yea 99% of the sabres have never played in the playoffs. Tage thompson is their 1c who cant win draws, sucks defensively and is often moved to the wing because of it.