The 2025-26 season is shaping up to be very important for several Montreal Canadiens players.

Even though you can still describe the Habs as a rebuilding organization, the fact that they qualified for the playoffs by the skin of their teeth last season will lead to elevated expectations from fans, both from a team and individual standpoint.

While team results will dictate their fate, individual play will go a long way in dictating whether some players, young or old, have a future with the club.

3. Mike Matheson

At 31 years old, Matheson is now officially the oldest player on the blue line, which speaks to the impressive youth movement in Montreal. With the addition of Noah Dobson to the lineup, and Lane Hutson’s emergence as a top defenceman, Matheson will no longer be counted upon to play No.1 minutes while being paid as a No.4 defenceman, which should lead to fewer overwhelming defensive assignments.

In case you were wondering, only two defencemen have spent more time on the ice per game (all situations) than Matheson (25:19) in the past two seasons: Zach Werenski (25:40) and Drew Doughty (25:20).

On that note, you’d be hard-pressed to find many NHL defencemen who get paid less than $4.875 million per year and provide more offence than the Montreal native, except perhaps those currently offering their teams excellent discounts due to the fact that they’re signed to an entry-level contract.

With 93 points in the bank over the course of the past two seasons, Matheson ranks 20th among all defencemen in all-situations production, and his ability to play on his offside last season goes to show that he also brings versatility to the table. It’s only fair to say most of the defencemen who managed to outscore Matheson in that stretch, including Dobson, are signed to very rich contracts.

To make matters more interesting, Matheson is in the final year of his contract, which means there’s a legitimate possibility the Montreal Canadiens may attempt to trade him should their playoff ambitions fall apart. On the flip side of the coin, it will also be Matheson’s final opportunity to sign a rich, long-term contract, which should light a fire under the mobile defenceman throughout the year.

WOW.

Mike Matheson with an early goal-of-the-year candidate.

End-to-end beauty. pic.twitter.com/MLJLiz5bSf

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) October 25, 2023

2. Patrik Laine

The Canadiens had nothing to lose when they acquired Patrik Laine from the Columbus Blue Jackets, except perhaps cap space. Unfortunately, an injury in preseason action complicated an already complex situation, as Laine would be forced to miss almost an entire calendar year before eventually making his debut with the Habs in early December.

His powerplay impact was immediate and necessary, as it allowed the Canadiens to bank precious points in a stretch where they weren’t playing their best hockey of the season. There are many factors in play throughout a year, but we can safely say the Habs would have missed the playoffs if Laine did not possess one of the best powerplay shots in the league.

And yet, his frustrating 5v5 play was impossible to ignore, with most lines that featured Laine struggling to maintain respectable underlying numbers on any given night.

Now that Laine will have the benefit of an entire training camp on his side, not to mention some semblance of familiarity with his teammates and team, the expectations will rise.

It’s a particularly important season from a contract standpoint, as it represents the final year of a four-year deal that pays him $8.7 million per season.

He won’t make as much in his next contract, but there’s still a chance he can convince a team to give some a little job security moving forward, with a more reasonable cap hit. Whether that job security comes from the Montreal Canadiens, or another NHL club, will be up to Laine.

Patrik Laine wasted no time scoring his first goal for the #GoHabsGo.

PP goal, Canadiens up 1-0. Hutson and Suzuki with the assists. pic.twitter.com/1ghjwpEIIT

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 4, 2024

1. Joshua Roy

Much has been written about Joshua Roy’s place in the organization, and though I maintain the criticism has been unreasonable in his case, time is running out for the 22-year-old winger, to a certain extent. He, too, is in the final year of his contract, however, unlike Matheson and Laine, he will be a restricted free agent once it expires.

Seeing as the Canadiens now have several talented forward prospects in the mix, Roy is at risk of being lost in the fold. Remember, he’s a holdover from the previous regime, and represents one of the few players drafted under Marc Bergevin with legitimate NHL potential.

It was much easier to project Roy in the NHL before names like Ivan Demidov or Michael Hage were in play. And now that the Montreal Canadiens went out of their way to acquire Zachary Bolduc, Roy’s NHL ambitions have been muddied further.

MUST READ: Canadiens Prospect Rankings – The Enigmatic Joshua Roy

The good news is that Roy is still young, which means he can improve his outlook by enjoying a fantastic 2025-26 season.

Whether that season starts in the NHL or AHL will once again be dictated by his play at training camp, representing an opportunity for redemption considering how poorly he performed at training camp the previous season.

With that in mind, Roy was hard at work this summer, reportedly losing 15 lbs while spending as much time as possible working out with a personal trainer, in a bid to improve his skating, among other facets of his play.

According to his trainer, Roy was the “MVP” of his summer workout program, an encouraging sign given that he has also worked with elite athletes such as George St-Pierre and Kris Letang.