This year, I've come up with some great holiday treats again for you to enjoy while you're overcooking the proverbial turkey.
So get your Tia Marias and your Baileys ready, let's go!
Kapanen and Dano: not bad in the top 9
Heading into the Bruins game, Oliver Kapanen was on track for a 43-point season while maintaining a neutral differential (+/- 0). This season, at 5 on 5, he even shows more than a certain Nick Suzuki…
Michael Hage, the Habs' second center of the future?
Not so fast.
Oliver Kapanen deserves MUCH more respect. Admit it, the numbers presented here may surprise you…
The battle in the center promises to be exciting, and all the better for it.
. pic.twitter.com/NLg4bCUZqm
– Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) December 23, 2025
Now, oddly enough, 43 points is the same number of points that Phillip Danault scored in Los Angeles last year… while maintaining a +20 differential.
We don't know if Danault has any more 40-point seasons under his belt, but it's hard to imagine that a man who also scored 8 points in 6 playoff games against the Oilers last spring suddenly became a “complete” player over the summer.
My hypothesis is rather that Quinton Byfield has gradually been given more responsibility. As a result, Danault's ice time this season was reduced by more than a minute and he was forced into an even more defensive role.
After scoring just 2 points on the power play last season, he had none in this situation. Let's remember that in the previous two seasons for the Kings, Dano played actively and achieved great success in the power play: 22 points in the 22-23 formation and 12 points in the 23-24 formation.
Feeling, by his own admission, less useful and welcome with the Kings, I think his motivation simply waned and he decided that as long as he had that role, he would be happier doing it in front of his fans in Montreal, on a team on the rise.
So I'm expecting a much more motivated Danault for the Habs, who with so many injuries could even play some minutes on the field. PP second block.
Two “transitional” centers?
It's fair to say that under normal circumstances, the Habs now have two centers capable of scoring close to 40 points on the second and third lines.
It's not as ideal as having a second center with 55-60 points and a third who can score forty, but as my mom so subtly said, “it's better than a kick in the ass…”.
Especially when your starting center can score 90 points and all these guys are pretty good defensively.
Not to mention, having two such creative, puck-moving forwards on the second line in Slafkovsky and Demidov goes a long way toward making up for it.
In short, Kapanen and Danault are “decent” second and third centers that will hold down the fort in the top 9 while we wait for the development of Zharovsky and Haig and/or, who knows, the arrival of Crosby or another big name.
When the time comes, we'll see to what extent and for how long Kapanen, who remains fairly mediocre in terms of puck possession games, can “fight” against such individuals…
Speaking of Haga…
Besides LJ Mooney, if there are two other players I'm looking forward to at the WJC, which starts in a few days, it's Michael Hage and Cole Hutson.
Back in the summer of 2024 Some part-time sports analyst dared to put Cole Hutson 8th placein his final draft ratings.
No one held it so high.
Then, a few weeks later, in our project layout, he was chosen by the same analyst 17th for the Capitals. In the end it was the same Caps who drew it… 43rd!
In the same project layout, I also mentioned Michael Hage Name V 21 st. for kings. The rest is history. It was the Habs who ultimately selected him at this spot after (another!) trade with the Kings.
I didn't hate what I saw of Michael Hage in the warm-up match against Sweden last week. And actually, since he was drafted by the Canadiens, I was thrilled every time I saw him. Hage has a good physique, shoots and passes the puck very well, skates like the wind and seems to have a fairly adequate hockey IQ.
Michael Hage gets a great assist from Gavin McKenna on Brady Martin's goal for Canada
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) December 18, 2025
He is expected to be one of Unifoglie's good players in the next two weeks and could even make his NHL debut later this season.
The Canadiens clearly didn't bet on the wrong horse, but did they bet on the better one? That's the question.
Remember that Hutson completely dominated CMJ last year. The tournament's top scorer and record holder for the most points among American defensemen (11). He was even clearly better than Ze'ev Buyum in only his second appearance.
Speaking of wolf – or killer whale, as the case may be – I have Buyum ranked third in 2024, just behind the prolific Celebrini and Demidov. I preferred him to Cole Hutson at the time. Buyum impressed me at his first World Cup and Hutson caught my eye at the U18s.
If only Quinn Hughes was worth all this…
Now, if we flash forward to the present, recent rumors have it that the Capitals aren't too keen on the idea of letting Cole Hutson go in exchange for Quinn Hughes.
Still, it's strange to think that the Canadiens, who drafted Lane Hutson, 62nd Overall, 2022 turned up its nose at its younger brother Cole, apparently no worse than 2024.
The Habs number 48 has quickly become a superstar and in a similar style, may already be better than Quinn Hughes.
Now that same Quinn Hughes has just been traded for big money: Zeev Buyum, Marco Rossi, Liam Ogren and a 2026 first round draft pick!
So my point is this: if Cole Hutson was roughly the equivalent of Bouyum in 2024 and presumably as good as Lane at the same age: why didn't you draft him? 21 st. in 2024?
As you can hear in this is an interview with Frank Seravalli at 8:30Despite being “up” at No. 43, the Habs never considered taking Hutson at No. 21. Kent Hughes noted that he's already counting on Laine and Adam Engstrom for a puck-moving D style and that he has some other stuff to fill.
Fair. But top-ranked superstars are hard to come by. 21and Hutson, without a shadow of a doubt (at least in my opinion!), was the best player in the world.
COLE HUTSON COLLEGE HOCKEY GOAL OF THE YEAR
pic.twitter.com/DB0CFu7iro
– Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) February 26, 2025
So the Habs could rely on Laine and Cole, putting them in two different duos and perhaps together on the power play. Both are physically very strong and very resilient, despite their small stature. Cole is even a little stronger and more effective defensively than Lane.
Now, if we were ever to trade one of the two to meet a need elsewhere, as was the case with Quinn Hughes, it's not hard to imagine that the returns could be absolutely spectacular, staggering, incredible, etc.
However, in this parallel universe, we might want to say goodbye to Michael Matheson or Adam Engstrom. We'll never know.
However, the Canadiens certainly won't be left empty-handed with Michael Hage, who should develop into a good, if not great, player, whether at center or on the wing.
But we might well wonder if his hands might be even fuller with Cole Hutson.
While we shouldn't jump to conclusions about CMJ, I can't wait to see how these two players perform at the end of the competition…
