They\u2019re good and they\u2019re going to get better. Six Cups in eight years good? No. There were 14 teams in 1971, there are 32 now. There\u2019s a salary cap and a players\u2019 union. You have to be realistic, but the Habs are way ahead of schedule in a rebuild with a goal: sustained excellence.<\/p>\n
Yet if I read the headlines or dive into social media, it\u2019s like we\u2019re talking about a different team.<\/p>\n
The Canadiens aren\u2019t big enough.<\/p>\n
They aren\u2019t tough enough.<\/p>\n
They need that second-line centreman.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re missing that big, tough right-shot defenceman. They\u2019ll never win with Martin St. Louis.<\/p>\n
Honestly. There are times when the fans and some in the sports media in this city deserve the Toronto Maple Leafs. The whining, moaning, bleating, lamenting, whinging, griping \u2014 it\u2019s enough to make an aging journalist yearn for a sane beat like, oh, American politics.<\/p>\n
![\"Canadiens](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0328-spt-col-todd-polaris-embed.jpg\")
Canadiens defenceman Jayden Struble scores his first goal of the season on Columbus Blue Jackets\u2019 Jet Greaves during first period in Montreal on Thursday. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
On this sunny March morning, Toronto has 75 points in 73 games. Barring divine intervention, they\u2019ll miss the playoffs. Ten seasons with alleged superstar Auston Matthews and Toronto has won two playoff series<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important, therefore, not to be too accepting, not to put up with any old ramshackle mess. If you don\u2019t care, if you fill the lower bowl with guys in suits who spend the game on their phones and barely notice yet another loss, you end up with the Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n
Neither do you have to go off the deep end with every loss. The Canadiens, the league\u2019s youngest team, have 90 points in 71 games, good for third in the titanium-tough Atlantic Division. They have won four of their last five games against the Bruins, Islanders, Hurricanes and Blue Jackets \u2014 all teams scrapping for a place in the big dance.<\/p>\n
Now they have a goaltender in rookie Jakub Dobes and another goalie in rookie Jacob Fowler. They are building momentum. If you have your ear to the ground, you can hear it, that unique Montreal buzz that builds when the Canadiens have any kind of post-season run. You feel it on the street, you hear it in the caf\u00e9s, you see it in the red jerseys that sprout like spring flowers.<\/p>\n
There is something about this team that goes beyond analytics, something the nervous Nellies and caterwauling critics miss entirely. It\u2019s a team, with bonds as strong as the ties that once bound the legends who waltzed into Toe Blake\u2019s every spring. It\u2019s the secret behind their resilience, the determination that turns a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead in a flash of Cole Caufield\u2019s stick.<\/p>\n
Do I understand why they have yet to call up David Reinbacher or why the wildly popular Arber Xhekaj has been benched?<\/p>\n
Not really. It doesn\u2019t matter, because I trust the people behind this minor miracle. They\u2019re getting it done.<\/p>\n
If it feels like it\u2019s 1971 or 1979, 1986 or 1993 all over again, it\u2019s because we are beginning to glimpse what is possible \u2014 perhaps sooner than we think.<\/p>\n