Before a season gets loud, I like to ask a simple question: what kind of team are we actually looking at? Not the record and not the standings, just the Canadiens roster. How old is it, how big is it, where do the players come from, and how did the organization get them?
The league numbers for 2026-27 give us a clean benchmark, so we laid the Montreal Canadiens’ roster on top of them, player by player. The Canadiens figures in this article come from the NHL roster as it stands on Oct. 21: 26 players, made up of 15 forwards, 8 defensemen and 3 goalies. All of the data comes from the NHL, and the league averages and team comparisons come from The Athletic’s breakdown of every team, which was published around Oct. 12 and 13. Because of that timing, a few of its team figures can differ slightly from today’s roster.
The short version: this is one of the youngest teams in the league, half of it was drafted by Montreal, and the back end is lighter than the average NHL blue line. Here is what that means, one category at a time.
Age: One of the Youngest Teams in the NHL
The average NHL player is 28.5 years old. Forwards average 28.2, defensemen 28.7 and goalies 29.4. The Canadiens sit well below all three. On today’s roster the average age is 26.3, and The Athletic’s early-season count of 26.6 puts Montreal among the five youngest teams in the league, with Calgary, the Rangers, Buffalo and Anaheim.
| Position group | Canadiens | NHL average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forwards | 26.6 | 28.2 | 1.6 years younger |
| Defensemen | 25.9 | 28.7 | 2.8 years younger |
| Goalies | 25.8 | 29.4 | 3.6 years younger |
| All players | 26.3 | 28.5 | 2.2 years younger |
The biggest gap is in net and on defense. The Maple Leafs have the oldest blue line in the league at 32.7 and the oldest goalie tandem at 35.4, while Anaheim has by far the youngest defense group at 24. Montreal’s defense is not far from that end of the scale: Reinbacher is 22.0, Hutson 22.7 and Engstrom 22.9, and the oldest defenseman, Mike Matheson, is 32.6. Up front, six forwards are under 24 years old (Demidov, Florian Xhekaj, Slafkovský, Beck, Kapanen and Bolduc), while Kreider, Danault and Anderson are all past 32.
| # | Oldest Canadiens | Age | Youngest Canadiens | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Kreider | 35.5 | Ivan Demidov | 20.9 |
| 2 | Phillip Danault | 33.7 | Jacob Fowler | 21.9 |
| 3 | Mike Matheson | 32.6 | David Reinbacher | 22.0 |
| 4 | Josh Anderson | 32.5 | Florian Xhekaj | 22.3 |
| 5 | Jake Evans | 30.4 | Juraj Slafkovský | 22.6 |
For reference, the oldest player in the NHL is Brent Burns of Colorado at 41.6, and the youngest is Anaheim’s Nikita Klepov at 18.3. Demidov, at 20.9, is the youngest Canadien, about a year younger than Fowler (21.9).
Height: A Hair Under the League Average
NHL forwards average 73.1 inches, defensemen 74.1 and goalies 74.9, which is just shy of 6-foot-3 for a goalie. The league average is 73.6 inches. The Canadiens are a touch under that at every position, and The Athletic has the team at 73.3 inches overall, tied with the Islanders. The tallest team in the NHL is Washington at 74.7.
| Position group | Canadiens | NHL average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forwards | 73.0 | 73.1 | 0.1 inch shorter |
| Defensemen | 73.8 | 74.1 | 0.3 inch shorter |
| Goalies | 74.7 | 74.9 | 0.2 inch shorter |
| All players | 73.4 | 73.6 | 0.2 inch shorter |
| # | Tallest Canadiens | Height | Shortest Canadiens | Height |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirby Dach | 6-4 | Cole Caufield | 5-8 |
| 2 | Noah Dobson | 6-4 | Lane Hutson | 5-9 |
| 3 | Arber Xhekaj | 6-4 | Alex Newhook | 5-11 |
| 4 | Jakub Dobeš | 6-4 | Nick Suzuki | 5-11 |
| 5 | Seven players tied at 6-3 | 6-3 | Alexandre Carrier | 5-11 |
The seven players at 6-3 are Anderson, Kreider, Slafkovský, Florian Xhekaj, Guhle, Reinbacher and Montembeault. At the other end, Caufield is one of eight players in the NHL listed at 5-8, the shortest height in the league. The tallest players in the NHL are Seattle’s Curtis Douglas and the Rangers’ Matt Rempe, both 6-9.
Weight: Lighter on D, Heavy in Net
The NHL average is 201.3 pounds. Forwards average 199.3, defensemen 205.1 and goalies 201.9. The Athletic ranks Montreal 13th in the league at 202.3 pounds, so the team as a whole is slightly above average. The split by position is where it gets interesting.
| Position group | Canadiens | NHL average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forwards | 202.6 | 199.3 | 3.3 pounds heavier |
| Defensemen | 196.8 | 205.1 | 8.3 pounds lighter |
| Goalies | 218.7 | 201.9 | 16.8 pounds heavier |
| All players | 202.7 | 201.3 | 1.4 pounds heavier |
| # | Heaviest Canadiens | Weight (lb) | Lightest Canadiens | Weight (lb) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arber Xhekaj | 240 | Lane Hutson | 162 |
| 2 | Chris Kreider | 232 | Alexandre Carrier | 174 |
| 3 | Josh Anderson | 226 | Cole Caufield | 175 |
| 4 | Juraj Slafkovský | 225 | Zachary Bolduc | 187 |
| 5 | Jacob Fowler | 223 | Jake Evans | 190 |
Hutson at 162 pounds is the lightest player in the entire NHL. The heaviest player in the league is Matt Rempe of the Rangers at 268. Montreal’s goalie weights come from a sample of only three, so I would not read too much into that 16.8-pound gap. The defense number is the one to watch: the Canadiens’ blue line is more than 8 pounds lighter than the league average.
Nationality: One of the Most Canadian Teams in the League
Across the NHL, 43 percent of players are Canadian, 26.2 percent are American and 30.8 percent are European. Canadian players are up about 2 percent from last year and more than 10 percent among goalies, while the number of American goalies who played dropped to 14 from 23. Canadian teams are also more Canadian than American teams, 47 percent versus 42 percent.
Montreal leans even further that way. The Athletic counts the Canadiens as the third most Canadian team in the league at 59 percent, behind only Colorado (71) and Seattle (63). Here is the full count by country for today’s roster:
| Country | Players | Share | Canadiens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 15 | 57.7% | Anderson, Beck, Bolduc, Dach, Danault, Evans, Newhook, Suzuki, Florian Xhekaj, Carrier, Dobson, Guhle, Matheson, Arber Xhekaj, Montembeault |
| United States | 4 | 15.4% | Caufield, Kreider, Hutson, Fowler |
| Sweden | 2 | 7.7% | Kapanen, Engstrom |
| Russia | 1 | 3.8% | Demidov |
| Slovakia | 1 | 3.8% | Slafkovský |
| France | 1 | 3.8% | Texier |
| Austria | 1 | 3.8% | Reinbacher |
| Czechia | 1 | 3.8% | Dobeš |
| Position group | Canada | United States | Europe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forwards (15) | 9 (60%) | 2 (13%) | 4 (27%) |
| NHL forwards | 43.5% | 25.5% | 31% |
| Defensemen (8) | 5 (63%) | 1 (13%) | 2 (25%) |
| NHL defensemen | 44.8% | 28.7% | 26.5% |
| Goalies (3) | 1 (33%) | 1 (33%) | 1 (33%) |
| NHL goalies | 33.3% | 22.2% | 44.4% |
| All players (26) | 15 (58%) | 4 (15%) | 7 (27%) |
| NHL overall | 43% | 26.2% | 30.8% |
Because HABSHQ counts the 26 players on today’s NHL roster, the percentages can differ by a point or two from The Athletic’s early-season roster count. The picture does not change: the Canadiens have more Canadians and fewer Americans than the league average on the blue line and up front.
Draft Round: Half the Roster Was Drafted by Montreal
The first round carries the draft. Around 41.9 percent of NHL players were picked in the first round, 11 percent in the top five and 19 percent in the top 10. The later rounds are shots in the dark, partly because teams are choosing 18-year-olds, and 12.6 percent of NHL players were never drafted at all, especially goalies, who develop after their draft year.
| Round | Canadiens | Share | NHL share | Canadiens players |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 13 | 50.0% | 41.9% | Bolduc, Caufield, Dach, Danault, Demidov, Kreider, Newhook, Slafkovský, Suzuki, Dobson, Guhle, Matheson, Reinbacher |
| 2nd | 4 | 15.4% | 16.6% | Beck, Kapanen, Texier, Hutson |
| 3rd | 3 | 11.5% | 9.9% | Engstrom, Fowler, Montembeault |
| 4th | 3 | 11.5% | 8.3% | Anderson, Florian Xhekaj, Carrier |
| 5th | 1 | 3.8% | 4.7% | Dobeš |
| 6th | 0 | 0% | 3.6% | None |
| 7th | 1 | 3.8% | 2.5% | Evans |
| Undrafted | 1 | 3.8% | 12.6% | Arber Xhekaj |
Two things stand out. First, 13 of the 26 players were drafted by Montreal: Beck, Caufield, Demidov, Evans, Kapanen, Slafkovský, Florian Xhekaj, Engstrom, Guhle, Hutson, Reinbacher, Dobeš and Fowler. Second, four players were picked in the top five (Slafkovský first overall in 2022, Dach third overall in 2019 by Chicago, Demidov fifth in 2024 and Reinbacher fifth in 2023), which is 15 percent of the roster against 11 percent for the league. At the other end, Jake Evans was a seventh-round pick (207th overall) and Arber Xhekaj was never drafted.
How I See the Canadiens
From the bench, this roster tells a clear story. It is young, it is built through the draft, and it has a small group of veterans around a large group of players still learning the league. That matters for how the team plays.
- Age is the opportunity and the risk. A team 2.2 years younger than the league average has more room to grow, and the core of Slafkovský, Hutson, Demidov and Caufield is still ahead of its best years. But young teams pay tuition. Turnovers, penalties and games that slip away late are part of that tuition (we broke that down in Why Can’t the Canadiens Protect a Lead? and in our latest game report against the Sharks), and the veterans (Kreider, Danault, Anderson and Matheson) have to set the standard every night.
- The draft is working. Half of this roster arrived through Montreal’s own picks, and a 62nd overall pick like Hutson shows it is not only the first round. You can see every Canadiens pick on our Draft Picks page. That is the kind of foundation you want when the next step is learning how to win close games.
- Size is a choice, and a few players carry it. Caufield and Hutson are small, but they are skill players who do not need to win the physical battle. The size and weight are in Arber Xhekaj, Dach, Dobson, Kreider and Slafkovský. With the blue line more than 8 pounds lighter than the league average, how those defensemen win puck battles and defend the front of the net is the thing to watch.
- A Canadian core with a European edge. Fifty-eight percent of the roster is Canadian, and the European group (Demidov, Slafkovský, Kapanen, Texier, Engstrom, Reinbacher and Dobeš) brings a lot of the skill and puck movement.
If I had to sum it up in one line: this is a young, homegrown team with the right pieces, and the next step is turning that potential into habits. The numbers say the Canadiens have time on their side. Now they have to use it.
Follow every player’s numbers on our Canadiens Stats page, see who is closing in on a career milestone on Milestone Watch, and check the contracts on the Contracts page.
Sources: all player data (roster, birthdates, heights, weights, birth countries and draft details) comes from NHL.com. The league averages and team comparisons come from The Athletic, which built its 2026-27 roster breakdown (age, height, weight, nationality and draft round) from the NHL data and published it around Oct. 12 and 13. Canadiens figures use the 26 players on the NHL roster as of Oct. 21, 2026, and ages are calculated as of that date.
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