The Montreal Canadiens have a few players who will be chasing significant milestones this season, some of which will help them climb their way into the franchise's record book.
While there’s one collective goal that will be on every Montreal Canadiens player’s mind this season, numerous Habs will also be chasing individual milestones. None of the players would tell you that these are important, but it’s still worth taking a look at them as they show how far this new iteration of the Canadiens has come in so little time.
Captain Nick Suzuki currently has 476 points in 537 regular-season games and will therefore be looking to reach the 500-point mark this year. Despite having a rich 117-year history, the Canadiens have had only 24 players reach the milestone. On his way to point 500, Suzuki will be passing Bobby Smith (482 points), now former teammate Brendan Gallagher (487 points), and Vincent Damphousse (498 points). Those are all names that have made a significant impact on the team’s history, and the fact that Suzuki will soon be passing them at age 27 is a true testament to just how talented the captain is.
As for sniper Cole Caufield, he now has 169 goals to his name in just 368 regular-season games, meaning that he’s highly likely to hit 200 goals this year as the Habs will be playing 84 games. How many 200-goal scorers have there been in Canadiens’ history? Just 25. On his way to the milestone, Caufield will go take over Smith (172 goals), Yvon Lambert (181 goals), Damphousse (184 goals), Saku Koivu (191 goals), Pierre Mondou (194 goals), Larry Robinson (197 goals), and Bobby Rousseau (200 goals).
Those are also pretty big names in Canadiens history, and none of them have played fewer games with the Sainte-Flanelle than Caufield has. Slowly but surely, the American winger is climbing his way up in the Habs’ record book. The only American who has scored more goals than Caufield with the Tricolore is Max Pacioretty, who has 226 goals to his name in 626 games.
Meanwhile, power forward Juraj Slafkovsky will be trying to score his 100th goal this season. He currently has 72 goals in 282 games, including a 30-goal campaign last season. Will he be able to repeat or at least reach the milestone? It’s highly likely that he will. Point-wise, his total now stands at 184, and unless he’s hit with an injury, there’s no way he won’t make it to 200 points this season.
Funnily enough, defenseman Lane Hutson will also be looking for 200 points. He currently has 146 points in just 166 games. In his rookie season, he put up 66 points, and he followed it up with a 78-point campaign. The sophomore jinx didn’t hit Hutson, and there’s no reason to think that he won’t better that total in his third season, so he should easily eclipse the 200-point mark.
As for veteran Phillip Danault, he’ll have his sights set on playing the 800th game of his NHL career; he currently has 786 games played, including 405 with the Sainte-Flanelle. Needless to say, by the time the season is over, he’ll long have passed game 800 and should be well on his way to nearly 500 games with the Canadiens. As things stand, his 405 games with the Habs are the 90th highest total of games played with the franchise. If he were to play all 84 games and reach game 489, he’ll move up to 71st place, tied with Pierre Bouchard.
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