Canadiens’ Special Teams Need Plenty of Work

On the flip side, surviving those dreadful minutes on the PK was a different matter. They finished 18^th in the league, staving off only 78.23 of short-handed opportunities. Considering that 16 clubs earn a ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, an uppity pundit could argue they didn’t have a playoff-calibre PK unit. Then again, their PP numbers acted as a counter. They did tally 106 regular-season points, after all. 

Power-Plays Wasting Away

So far, that equilibrium-aspiring PP effectiveness has been absent this season. Head coach Martin St. Louis’ ensemble has suffered a three-fold tumble in the PP rankings. Through five contests, they are a woeful 30^th, with a mere 5.88 percent success rate.

The argument that they have drawn only the 18^th-most penalties (17, to be specific) only holds so much water. The Anaheim Ducks (16 chances), Minnesota Wild (16), Boston Bruins (16), and Los Angeles Kings (15) have enjoyed fewer opportunities, yet their PP percentages are vastly superior.

The PK has slipped somewhat, which is alarming given the figures from the last campaign. The Canadiens rank 22^nd, surviving 76.19 percent of the time. Not helping matters is that they’ve been rather naughty: in five contests, they have been relegated to the sin bin 21 times, eighth-most in the NHL. Arber Xhekaj has spent 12 minutes in the box, the most on the team.

Canadiens Lack PP Punch

General stats tell part of the story. In-depth numbers tell another. So does the eye test. A delightful statistics page is Money Puck. First, it’s colourful and easy to read. Second, filtering through the hockey situations is fairly simple.

When the Canadiens have played 5-on-4 this season, their expected goals for (xGoal) is a baffling 1.93, good for no better than 28^th in the league. The Philadelphia Flyers sport a 3.36 and, as fellow The Hockey Writers scribe Andrew McGuinness explains, that club is going through a historically poor start to the season. 

Their expected goals above average is, well, below average at minus-0.93, which puts the Canadiens in 24^th place. The killer stat, or one of the worst, is the percentage of shots blocked on the power play. Montreal has unbelievably seen 38.24 percent of their PP attempts parried by opposing defenders to rank 32^nd. 

And what of the eye test? When analyzing any sport, it doesn’t do to isolate oneself by looking at one side. One must glance at other teams to understand how they are doing in relation to the team one covers. The Ottawa Senators and Seattle Kraken have power-play units that shoot the puck at the net. A novel concept, to be sure.

Ottawa isn’t a great PP club, ranked 24^th, but their efficiency doubles Montreal’s: 12.50 percent versus 5.88 percent. Seattle is a bit of a funny one, as they aren’t known for their attacking prowess, but 23.53 percent (10^th best) doesn’t lie. But they’re firing the puck whenever they can, and that’s the point.

Lane Hutson, Caufield, and Suzuki mostly dance around with the puck, looking for the perfect shot. They are impressively talented players, offensively gifted in ways most humans who lace up for a hockey game dream about. That said, sometimes a team just needs to fire away. 

Make or Break Special Teams

The 2025-26 campaign was exhilarating. The Canadiens went from one of the sorrier sides just a couple of seasons ago to an Eastern Conference finalist. But the team cannot rest on its laurels. St. Louis is a smart coach, and the roster is replete with intelligent players. They know this. 

Sometimes, when a team reaches a level of success, the group is prone to thinking that things will just come to them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Is Montreal complacent on the power-play? Maybe not, but the killer instinct isn’t there either. Most of the players who performed on that unit last season are still there, so they know what to do. In a league where competitive parity is real and part of its allure, those two minutes with the man advantage can separate the decent sides from the great ones.