Three things for Canadiens fans to get excited about in 2025

LAS VEGAS — The Montreal Canadiens ended 2024 with a bang, rattling off consecutive wins against three of the last four Stanley Cup champions to make it six wins in their last seven games, and nine wins in their last 13.

With the run, they signaled they might be ready to turn the corner in their rebuild.

We don’t know if rounding that bend takes them to the playoffs in the fourth month of 2025, but everything coming between then and the last day of this new year promises more excitement than Canadiens fans have enjoyed since the team reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.

There’s been a lot of pain since, and there was a lot more of it than expected before the team’s latest surge up the standings.

But pleasure finally appears to be on its way to Montreal.

With that, here are three ways we think it’ll be delivered to Canadiens fans in 2025.

1. Ivan Demidov’s arrival in North America

At the NHL Board of Governor meetings in Palm Beach, Fla., in early December, I struck up a conversation with an Eastern Conference executive who brought up Demidov’s name, unsolicited.

“He’s a bona fide superstar, who will arrive in Montreal and immediately make an impact,” he said, adding he thought it wouldn’t take long for the Russian dynamo to become the Canadiens’ best player if he didn’t immediately start on that foot by next fall.

If that happens, it’s a bonus, because Demidov’s imminent arrival after his KHL contract expires this spring is enough of a gift on its own to the Canadiens and their fans.

By all accounts, the fifth-overall pick in 2024 is coming, and you don’t have to be an NHL executive to foresee what the injection of his talent might do for the team’s scoring potential.

Now, we always caution against judging a player based exclusively on YouTube highlights.

Even watching full games on video fails to adequately paint the type of complete picture you’re looking for to make a proper evaluation of a prospect.

But Demidov’s sizzle reel reveals enough to infer he’s going to be a special player in the world’s best hockey league. And this excellent video analysis from David St. Louis of eliteprospects.com is just one of the in-depth scouting reports out there that helps justify that inference.

Hence Demidov’s arrival topping our list of things Canadiens should be excited about for 2025.

I know how the executive I spoke to would feel about that ranking.

“We had eyes on him ahead of the draft, and we were blown away,” he said. “He’s the complete package.”

The Canadiens were obviously convinced, with their opinions of Demidov likely only reaffirmed on a recent trip to meet with him and watch him play in Russia.

General manager Kent Hughes, advisor Vincent Lecavalier and co-director of amateur scouting Nick Bobrov had to have been impressed with what they saw, as Demidov snapped a scoring drought and continued to build on his overly impressive rookie campaign with SKA St. Petersburg in their presence.

Since then, the 19-year-old has increased his totals to 10 goals and 26 points in 38 games and has finally seen the type of playing time his play merits.

It's not known if it’ll remain at close to 20 minutes when Demidov has been played for less than 10 in 15 of his games, but Canadiens fans can look forward to him getting on the ice plenty with their team over the coming months.

2. Lane Hutson’s pursuit of the Calder Trophy

The NHL’s rookie of the month for December will continue to make a push toward being named rookie of the year in 2025, and Canadiens fans will be hanging on every ankle-busting move he makes along the way.

Lane Hutson has already brought them out of their seats dozens of times since training camp began, and you know he’ll be doing it a lot more with each passing game.

We’ll see if it allows the Chicago native to put his hands on the Calder Trophy come June.

It’s a three-horse race for the award right now, and we’d argue Hutson is slightly behind.

Philadelphia’s Matvei Michkov (12 goals, 29 points) is trailing Macklin Celebrini — the first-overall pick in 2024 who has 12 goals and 27 points but has played eight fewer games than Michkov has.

Hutson might have only two goals, and he may have three fewer points than Michkov has, but he’s also a defenceman, and I think that could weigh heavily in the final tally if both players remain as close in scoring from here to the end of the season.

What could tilt it Hutson’s way is how much he’s being depended on. So far, it’s a lot, with him leading all rookies in ice-time at 22:26 per game.

Hutson is also playing on the Canadiens’ top pair, against top-quality opposition nearly eery shift at five-on-five, and he’s quarterbacking their top power-play unit.

Still, even if the 20-year-old lands above Michkov, chasing down the 18-year-old Celebrini (whom he played with at Boston University) is a monumental task Hutson might not being able to complete.

But that won’t make watching him try any less exciting, and watching Hutson continue to take huge strides in his development will easily be one of the most compelling things for Canadiens fans in 2025.

3. Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield potentially busting long-standing Canadiens droughts

The Canadiens haven’t had a point-per-game player over a full season since Alex Kovalev had 84 points in 2008, but both Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield are threatening to change that.

Suzuki has been closer for most of the season, dipping just below the mark this past week to make it 36 points in 37 games. But Caufield has 34 in 37 games and he could give Suzuki a run for his money by netting a gaggle of goals in any given game.

The Wisconsonite already has 19, putting him on pace to score more than 40 for the first time in his career.

If Caufield does it, he’ll become the first Canadien to get at least 40 in a season since Vincent Damphousse did it in 1993-94.