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Montreal Canadiens forward Alexandre Texier – Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

Canadiens Double Down on Texier with Two-Year Extension

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Ryan Szporer | Last updated Jan 15, 2026 8:45 AM ET

When the Montreal Canadiens first signed forward Alexandre Texier, fresh off having his contract terminated by the St. Louis Blues, they weren’t making a huge gamble. It was at least with house money. They gave Texier just $1 million for a single year, while they had been coming off an especially rough stretch of their season with one win in their last six. They had little to lose, in other words.

Now, having extended Texier for two more years at $2.5 million per, the Canadiens are raising the stakes. However, even with the higher cap hit, it’s hard to envision the modest commitment they’re making to the French forward coming back to bite them significantly.

Texier Fits on Canadiens’ First Line (for Now)

Admittedly, that’s the easy hot take at the moment, based on Texier’s production, which has been impressive, especially as of late. Overall, he has seven goals and 16 points in 25 games with the Canadiens, a (23-goal) 52-point pace, which is significant. However, largely thanks to two consecutive career-high three-point performances (including a hat trick), he has 10 points in his last eight games.

Granted, those points have come while Texier has complemented Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield on the top line, deployment he has never experienced before, at least not over extended stretches. His highest average over a single season prior to this one was 15:50 per game in 2020-21 with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He’s recently played as much as 18:21 in a game (Jan 12., against the Vancouver Canucks).

To be fair, once the Canadiens (hopefully eventually) get back to full health, it’s unlikely he’ll remain where he is in the lineup. However, it is nevertheless reassuring to know he has chemistry with the team’s two aforementioned stars. Should head coach Martin St. Louis so desire, he has the option to keep this experiment going longer, by opting to play a returning Kirby Dach or Alex Newhook lower down the lineup to give the forward lines more depth.

The truth is, it was fairly clear the Canadiens signed Texier out of desperation to shake things up and fill gaping holes in the lineup due to injury. The not-so-working theory had been that, once the Canadiens get healthy, Texier would find himself on the fringes of the lineup, at risk of being a healthy scratch. While that’s still a possibility, it’s becoming increasingly remote based on his undeniable success as a quote, unquote “top-line forward.”

Canadiens Bet on Texier

Feel free to remain skeptical regarding Texier’s perceived ability to stay hot. You’re not alone. A relatively high 16.3% shooting percentage suggests it won’t last (even though, in 2021-22, also with the Jackets, he shot 18.6% over 36 contests). That’s not the point, though.

At $2.5 million a season, general manager Kent Hughes isn’t thinking it will last either (although, in the back of his mind, he’s probably hoping it does). At $2.5 million, he’s more so thinking Texier is merely a good fit on this team, which is hard to deny at this point, and that he could probably add secondary scoring, albeit at a lower pace than fans have witnessed up to now, elsewhere in the lineup. That may not be guaranteed, but it is a reasonable deduction. And, when you consider the Canadiens just acquired the full $5.5 million cap hit of Phillip Danault, who’s projected to produce significantly less, it should put in the proper perspective how little, i.e., less than half, Texier is counting against the cap.

With Patrik Laine, who has a forward-group-leading $8.7 million cap hit, having played on the fourth line before his injury, the Canadiens come out ahead, even if Texier gets relegated to similar bottom-six duty. As Laine is presumably coming off the books this summer, they can certainly afford to take this risk, although it’s worth mentioning the new contracts of Mike Matheson and Lane Hutson are also coming into effect. So too is an increase to the salary cap, though. Overall, the Habs, who are 14-7-4 since Texier was signed, remain in good financial shape, and fans have little reason to doubt Hughes’ ability in that regard.

When Hughes first signed Texier, this writer posited that, if the Canadiens actually improved in the standings (instead of treading water) following his acquisition and that of Sammy Blais before getting healthy, Hughes should win the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award. He should then hand it to Texier for having taken his game to a previously unreached level, because no one, not even Hughes, could have predicted the degree to which the forward could have contributed. He never really has before anyway, although his aforementioned 36-game 2021-22 resulted in a similar, but still lower point-per-game pace.

Well, here we are. Before Texier played a game in a Canadiens uniform, the Pittsburgh Penguins edged them out for the last Eastern Conference playoff spot. They are now in third place in the Atlantic Division. Texier may not solely be responsible for the turnaround, but he has had a hand in it. It’s definitely worth taking a $2.5 million risk in each of the next two seasons to see if his success carries over, and, if it does, Hughes alone will have earned whatever accolades come his way. If it doesn’t, it isn’t a big deal.

It literally isn’t a big deal.