Montreal Canadiens 2025-26 Game Preview: October 8th vs Toronto (season opener)
- Noah Guttman
- Oct 6, 2025
- 5 min read
The Montreal Canadiens will kick off their 2025-26 regular season when they take on their historic rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, in Toronto.
With this game serving as the opening game of the season, this game preview will serve both as a preview of the game and of the Canadiens’ season as a whole.
I will look to preview the Habs’ outlook against Toronto (and the division to an extent) and to discuss the X-factors that will help the team to win their season opener; my colleague Aylee will cover the projected lineup and some hot takes heading into the regular season.
Outlook: can Montreal gain early ground on the division?
Montreal’s opening two games see them play Toronto and Detroit, both of whom are division rivals. With all three teams either firmly fixated in the playoff picture or looking to break into it, winning either game (or both) will be of the utmost importance if Montreal is to gain some early footing in the divisional standings, something that could be of benefit come the spring.
On that note, the Habs went 1-2-1 against the Leafs last season, with the lone win coming in the season opener. The three defeats were by respective 7-3, 4-1, and 1-0 (overtime) scorelines. However, despite the poor record against Toronto, Montreal was 17-4-1 against their remaining seven divisional opponents.
With the Leafs fielding a somewhat-new offence following the offseason departure of Mitch Marner, this will be a chance for Montreal to take a point or two off of their rivals and to start to reverse the poor record they had against Toronto. Even though the Habs had a good record against the division, they will need to once again secure as many wins as possible from within the division if they are to get back to the postseason; beating Toronto and then Detroit to open the season will help Montreal to make good on that goal.
X-Factors:
Ivan Demidov:
Arguably the favourite to win the Calder Trophy, Ivan Demidov’s debut at the conclusion of 2024-25 left Montreal fans with plenty of optimism heading into 2025-26. With the likes of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Patrik Laine to work with, Ivan Demidov has the pieces and the coaching to help him succeed and to grow into his role in the lineup.
The big question for the young prospect: can he translate his end-of-season performance, in which he scored a goal and an assist in his two regular-season games of action, into a strong 82-game campaign? Not only will his ability to do so impact his chances to win the Calder Trophy, but it will also play a role in the Canadiens’ success on offence throughout the season.
Against a somewhat-fresh Toronto offence that could pose a challenge both in terms of scoring and physicality, Montreal will look to use its offensive depth to counter and to claim points in the standings. With that in mind, I expect Demidov to at least put himself in position to claim a point via goal or assist.
The defence as a whole:
According to ESPN, the Habs ranked 22nd in the NHL in goals against last season, surrendering 3.18 goals per game over the course of the regular season. Conversely, Toronto was 8th in goals against, with the Leafs’ rotation surrendering 2.79 goals per game.
Despite that, the Habs gave up slightly less shots against throughout the 2024-25 regular season; the Leafs gave up 2,405 shots throughout the regular season, while the Habs surrendered 23 less.
With this in mind, the Habs’ defence will need to step up against Toronto and throughout the season as a whole to not only minimize the goal-scoring, but to also give their goalies the opportunity to stop any scoring chance that gets through. Failure to do so could see the Habs’ goaltenders getting exhausted quickly, and an inability to defend could also serve as a bad omen for the team’s hopes at getting back to the playoffs.
Projected lineup:
After trials and tribulations, the Montreal Canadiens lineup is starting to take shape. With the start of the NHL season being just days away, we finally have a glimpse of what the final pairings could look like. While training camp, preseason injuries, and hard work have all impacted the picture, we’re feeling pretty confident with this formation.
Forwards
Cole Caufield - Nick Suzuki - Juraj Slafkovsky
Patrik Laine - Kirby Dach - Ivan Demidov
Zach Bolduc - Alex Newhook - Oliver Kapanen
Brendan Gallagher - Jake Evans - Josh Anderson
Defense
Mike Matheson - Noah Dobson
Kaiden Guhle - Lane Hutson
Arber Xhekaj - Alex Carrier
Goalies
Samuel Montembeault
Jakub Dobes
.
PP1
Caufield - Suzuki - Slafkovsky - Laine
Hutson
PP2
Dach - Newhook - Bolduc - Demidov
Matheson/Dobson
I would like to see players like Owen Beck and Jacob Fowler get their flowers in the NHL this season as well. We can also take a look at how the special teams will be lining up. With Demidov now being in the NHL for the full season, we may see his skills being utilized on either PowerPlay Unit
Fan Hot Takes:
No season preview is complete without a few bold predictions. I asked fans to share their hot takes for the Canadiens this year, here are some of the boldest ones:
Hot Take: “Montembeault will be in Vezina running”
My thoughts: His game has definitely improved every year, and with more consistency in his game, it’s not out of the picture. Vezina might be a bold take, but if (fingers crossed) we make the playoffs it is a definite possibility.
Hot Take(s): “Slafkovsky 60/65/70+ Points”
My Thoughts: Expectations are clearly high for Juraj Slafkovsky. He showed what he is truly capable of during the second half of the 2024-2025 season finishing with 51 points. If he’s able to start the season strong and stay consistent then 65 Points shouldn’t be a problem for him.
Hot Take: “Laine traded by deadline”
My Thoughts: If Laine is able to stay healthy and produce five on five along with his power play scoring, he will be a big part of the success of this team. Trade rumors will always be floating around but I believe that playing and living in the city of Montreal will ignite prime Patrik Laine.
As per usual nothing during the NHL season can be accurately predicted this early on, but it will be interesting to look back and see what the fans' collective thoughts were. With the Canadiens ending their preseason run with a 4-2-0 record, it will be exciting to see what the regular season has to offer.
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This article was written in collaboration with Aylee Ahmadzadeh, a writer for Insta Tricolore.
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