Nick Suzuki and Martin St-Louis are staring at a nasty opening stretch before the Canadiens even get a home puck drop.
The NHL set Montreal up with a road opener in Toronto on Tuesday, September 29, then another road game in Pittsburgh on Saturday, October 3. That's a rough way to launch an 84-game season.
And the home opener does not offer much relief. The first regular-season game at the Bell Centre is Tuesday, October 6 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
That means Martin St-Louis' group opens with travel, noise, and pressure before the Bell Centre crowd even gets its first look.
For a young team still pushing upward, that's no gift from the league.
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Toronto on opening night is already a spotlight game. Pittsburgh's home opener on the first Saturday night of the Canadiens' calendar only adds another charged building to the mix.
Then comes Carolina, the defending Stanley Cup champion, in Montreal's first home date. That is not a soft landing for a club trying to settle into its rhythm.
The NHL gave Montreal no easy runway: Bad structure by Gary Bettman
The bigger issue is the structure. The league expanded the regular season to 84 games, adding two more divisional matchups for every team. Montreal gets extra mileage and a harder opening runway at the same time.
That matters because early-season points shape everything. A slow start changes line deployment, power-play patience, and the mood around the bench before Thanksgiving even arrives.
The preseason is shorter too. Montreal plays five exhibition games across three dates: September 19, September 21, and September 26 against Toronto and Ottawa. That's less runway before the real grind begins.
So yes, the Canadiens can handle it. Suzuki, St-Louis, and that room won't duck the challenge. But pretending this opening setup is balanced would be nonsense.
The NHL could have eased Montreal into the schedule. Instead, it handed the Canadiens travel, rivalry heat, and the champs in their Bell Centre opener.
That's not just tough scheduling. From Montreal's side, it looks like the league hung the Canadiens out to dry before October even got moving.
Did the NHL set the Canadiens up to stumble out of the gate?
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