The Buffalo Sabres snapped their 15-year postseason drought, winning the Atlantic Division and advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but after an offseason that saw Bowen Byram and Alex Tuch being dealt, the task of repeating as division champion or finishing in the top three of the Atlantic could be significantly more difficult.
This week, we will finish up looking at the seven other teams in the Atlantic to see where they stand in comparison to where they were at the end of last season and see where they potentially stack up as competition with the Sabres.
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The Montreal Canadiens are a club that closely resembles the Sabres in that they have improved by developing prospects internally, but have hastened their progress by adding players through trades. Montreal missed the playoffs three straight seasons after making the Cup Final in 2021, and were eliminated by Washington in the first round in 2025. Last season, the Canadiens surprisingly eliminated Tampa Bay in the first round and got by Buffalo on Alex Newhook’s Game 7 OT goal, but were outmatched in the Eastern Conference Final against Carolina.
GM Kent Hughes to this point in the offseason has kept his powder dry, and not made any significant additions, but he did lock up goalie Jakub Dobes on a three-year contract extension.
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Additions
None
Subtractions
Brendan Gallagher – Traded to Vancouver with 50% retention ($3.25 million)
Joe Veleno – Left via free agency to the New York Rangers
Patrik Laine – Unsigned
Patrick Kane signs with the Blackhawks
Outlook
The Canadiens are at this point following the same model that Jarmo Kekalainen is with the Sabres, but they are not dealing with any major departures as Buffalo is. The majority of the Habs core group are 25 and under, and have more playoff experience and success than the Sabres. Their top six of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky will only get better with more experience, and 20-year-old Ivan Demidov scored 62 points as a rookie.
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Defensively, Lane Hutson has been an offensive dynamo, scoring 144 points in his first two seasons. Free agent Noah Dobson battled through injuries in the playoffs after a solid first year in Montreal, and the their blueline depth is solid, with veterans Mike Matheson, Kaiden Guhle, Alexandre Carrier, Jayden Struble, and Arber Xhekaj. In goal, Dobes grabbed the net from Samuel Montembeault last season and did not relinquish it, but rookie Jacob Fowler is expected to push for playing time next season.
The Canadiens seem to have less question marks in all three areas than the Sabres heading into next season. The combo of Dobes and Fowler appears stronger than Buffalo’s three-headed monster, defensively the Sabres are not as good after the trade of Byram, to the point that the Habs blueline is either equal or better entering next season.
Montreal has better firepower at the top of their forward group, but their achilles heel remains the lack of a second line center to take some of the offensive burden off of Suzuki. Buffalo is deeper up the middle and is at least equal to the Canadiens in the bottom six. At this point, it appears that Montreal is bound for a top three spot in the Atlantic, while the Sabres currently appear to be in the mix for a wildcard spot.
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