{"id":415216,"date":"2026-01-19T01:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T01:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/415216\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T01:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T01:50:15","slug":"canadiens-week-ahead-schedule-storylines-laine-caufield-trade-rumours-and-more-the-hockey-writers-montreal-canadiens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/415216\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Laine, Caufield, Trade Rumours and More – The Hockey Writers – Montreal Canadiens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are the key storylines for the Montreal Canadiens and their upcoming schedule for the week ahead of Jan. 18-25, 2026.<\/p>\n

The Imminent Return of Patrik Laine<\/p>\n

The biggest news surrounding the team is the potential return of star forward Patrik Laine. He has been out since late October following core muscle surgery but returned to practice<\/a> this past Friday in Ottawa alongside Kirby Dach and Jake Evans.<\/p>\n

Laine\u2019s return would provide a massive boost to the top six, potentially slotting in alongside Nick Suzuki to create more space for Cole Caufield. While he is skating with the team, his exact return date remains a day-to-day decision, but he is officially \u201cclose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole Caufield\u2019s Scoring Touch<\/p>\n

Cole Caufield<\/a> remains the offensive catalyst for Montreal. He recently played the hero in a thrilling 6\u20135 overtime comeback win against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (Jan. 17), scoring the game-winner just 33 seconds into the extra frame. Caufield has hit the 48-point mark in 49 games<\/a>, proving to be the consistent sniper the team needs despite the team\u2019s up-and-down season.<\/p>\n

Trade Rumours Heating Up<\/p>\n

With the March 6 trade deadline approaching, the Canadiens are active in the rumour mill.<\/p>\n

There is persistent (albeit complicated) speculation about the Canadiens acquiring<\/a> the Quebec native Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re from the New York Rangers, though cap constraints and Rangers\u2019 asking prices make this difficult.<\/p>\n

Reports indicate Montreal has shown interest<\/a> in Calgary Flames forward Blake Coleman<\/a> to add grit and championship experience, though Calgary may be reluctant to move him. They have also been linked to center Nazem Kadri and defenseman Rasmus Andersson.<\/p>\n

Ivan Demidov\u2019s Rookie Campaign<\/p>\n

Rookie sensation Ivan Demidov continues to impress, having recently become the first rookie this season to hit the 40-point milestone<\/a>. His development remains a bright spot in a rebuilding year, with chemistry building on the second line.<\/p>\n

Canadiens Schedule Jan. 18 \u2013 25<\/p>\n

DateTime (ET)OpponentVenueNotesTue, Jan. 207:00 PMMinnesota WildCentre BellMinnesota enters with a strong defence led by trade acquisition Quinn Hughes.Thu, Jan. 227:00 PMBuffalo SabresCentre BellA rematch against an Atlantic Division rival; Buffalo won the previous meeting 5\u20133 on Jan. 15.Sat, Jan. 247:00 PMBoston BruinsTD GardenThe classic rivalry continues in Boston on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

AI tools were used to support the creation or distribution of this content, however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of The Hockey Writers editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our Editorial Standards<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are the key storylines for the Montreal Canadiens and their upcoming schedule for the week ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5103],"tags":[8157,265,971,5,638,264,21,5147,4,640],"class_list":{"0":"post-415216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal-canadiens","8":"tag-blake-coleman","9":"tag-canadiens","10":"tag-cole-caufield","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-ivan-demidov","13":"tag-montreal","14":"tag-montreal-canadiens","15":"tag-montrealcanadiens","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-patrik-laine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115919259791640474","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}