Once again this year, Alex Newhook will be holding his goal classic and he'll be able to get a little help from his friends and teammates.
The 3rd edition of the Alex Newhook Golf Classic will take place on August 4, 2026, at the Bally Haly Country Club in St. John's, with numerous Montreal Canadiens teammates on hand to help raise funds. So far, Jayden Struble, Jakub Dobes, Arber and Florian Xhekaj, and Kaiden Guhle have all been confirmed to attend, as has Habs alumni Chris Nilan.
The Classic aims to raise funds for four organizations: the Cancer Care Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Iris Kirby House, the Real Program, and Kid Sport. The organizers describe their mission in these words:
From helping families facing cancer, to empowering women and children, supporting recovery, and ensuring every child has the opportunity to play, these incredible charities make our communities stronger every day.
The 2025 edition of the classic raised a total of $120,015 for the same causes and was attended by Dobes, Xhekaj (Arber), Struble, Michael Pezzetta, Justin Barron and Chris Nilan. This year will be Struble’s third attendance, as he was also present in 2024 alongside Barron, Josh Anderson, Curtis Joseph, Dawson Mercer and Maggie Connors.
The growing number of teammates willing to get involved with Newhook’s event is further proof of how tight this team has become and how much the players enjoy spending time together, even in the off-season.
Newhook will be an interesting player to watch this season; not only will he be playing the last year of his contract, but he stepped up in a big way in the playoffs, alongside Ivan Demidov on the Canadiens' second line. In 19 games, he put up 10 points, including seven goals, two of which were series-clinching. Had he not been injured last season, he would likely have had the most productive season of his career since he put up 25 points in just 42 games, a pace that would have seen him register 49 points had he skated in all 82 games.
If the Canadiens cannot find a way to improve their top six in the offseason, look for Newhook to return to the second line. Even if the Habs were to find another top six winger, it wouldn’t be all that shocking to see him get another shot at center. Last season, he won 47.5% of his draws, up from 42.8 % in 2024-25. However, his success rate plummeted to 38.8% in the postseason. Still, his speed is remarkable, and playing alongside Demidov last season, he had a 21.3% shooting percentage; the fact that the Russian winger provides such great setups surely helped.
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