Maurice Richard and Jean Beliveau built the legend that still hangs from the rafters in Montreal, the oldest continuously operating franchise in professional hockey, dating to 1909. The Canadiens' 24 Stanley Cups remain the most of any NHL club by a wide margin. The bleu-blanc-rouge sweater, worn at the Bell Centre today, is among the most recognized in all of sports.
As of Nov 3, 2026, here are the most recently projected forward lines, defense pairings and power-play units for the Montreal Canadiens. On the top line, the Montreal Canadiens are currently projected to run left wing Cole Caufield, center Alex Newhook and right wing Juraj Slafkovsky together, a trio expected to log the heaviest 5-on-5 minutes on the roster, though without last change on the road it does not always draw the other team's top shutdown pairing. On the blue line, the top pairing is Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson, who typically log the heaviest 5-on-5 minutes on the back end and face the toughest zone starts, though the team's primary penalty-kill pairing is not always the same duo. On the power play, the PP1 unit runs Juraj Slafkovsky, Alex Newhook, Zack Bolduc, Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson, the unit most teams send out first on a power play, though a delayed-penalty scramble already in progress or a late matchup change can put a different five over the boards. These combinations reflect pre-game reporting rather than real-time tracking, and can change between games and even between periods, so check the today's lines tool for the most current deployment before puck drop.
| # | Player | Off | Def | PP | PK | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cole Caufield | 86 | 33 | 70 | 0 | 96 |
| 2 | Nick Suzuki | 63 | 39 | 75 | 64 | 94 |
| 3 | Lane Hutson | 79 | 53 | 70 | 46 | 93 |
| 4 | Ivan Demidov | 54 | 38 | 61 | 0 | 80 |
| 5 | Juraj Slafkovsky | 58 | 13 | 59 | 0 | 79 |
As of Nov 3, 2026, the most recently projected lineup for the Montreal Canadiens includes 4 forward lines, 3 defense pairings and 2 power-play units, updated whenever a new pre-game lineup is reported.
As of Nov 3, 2026, the top line projected for the Montreal Canadiens is left wing Cole Caufield, center Alex Newhook and right wing Juraj Slafkovsky.
These projected lines are drawn from Daily Faceoff's pre-game reporting, typically beat writers covering morning skates and warmups before puck drop. They reflect the coaching staff's intended deployment rather than shift-by-shift tracking collected once a game is already underway, and can still shift between a morning skate and the opening faceoff.
Lines can change from game to game, and sometimes within a single game, as a coaching staff reacts to matchups, injuries, scoring droughts or chemistry. Check back before each Montreal Canadiens game for the latest projected combinations, or browse the historical lines archive to see how often this team's lines have shifted recently.
