Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes calls head coach Martin St. Louis “the most positive guy in the world.”
“We can play the worst game and he’s going to find something good about it and I’m probably the guy that could watch us play the best game and look at something that we could do better,” Hughes said last month when he was a guest on The Sick Podcast With Tony Marinaro. “So I feel like as we assess our group all the time — at least I’m always thinking about and I know Gorts (president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton) is the same — what are we going to do better? What do we need to add? So I hate to say that anything’s ever accomplished. I think we accomplish something when we win the Stanley Cup. But are we heading in a direction that we’re comfortable with? Yes.”
So it’s not a surprise St. Louis had a positive attitude after the Canadiens’ season came to an end Friday night with a 6-1 loss to the Hurricanes in Carolina in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final.
The Hurricanes will now meet the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup final with Game 1 slated for Tuesday in Carolina (8 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports).
Canadiens’ Nick Suzuki and Taylor Hall of the Carolina Hurricanes shake hands following a 6-1 Hurricanes victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final. Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
St. Louis told reporters in Carolina after Friday night’s game the Canadiens made a lot of progress this season — which they certainly did — and learned a lot as the youngest team to make the playoffs for the second straight season. The coach said he also learned a lot in the playoffs and that he was proud of his group.
“Apart from the result, there’s not a lot of negatives,” St. Louis said. “I feel like it’s something we’ve built and we keep growing and we’re going to learn a lot through this process in failing and advancing — but you learn way more through the failures. This year, I know we’re not moving on, we’re not going to win the championship, but there’s a lot of wins in what we did this year. I think it’s going to help us to keep progressing.”
While St. Louis was looking at the positive side of things, there’s no doubt Hughes is looking at the negatives and already thinking about what needs to be done this summer to make the Canadiens better next season in Year 5 of their rebuilding process.
The Hurricanes are in the playoffs for the eighth straight year and had lost in the Eastern Conference final in two of the last three years. The Hurricanes have played 102 playoff games over the last eight seasons and are now in the Stanley Cup final for the first time since winning the championship in 2006.
The road to a Stanley Cup championship isn’t a short or easy one — especially for a rebuilding team like the Canadiens.
“I think the one thing with Carolina, I feel like they really play to their identity and they got a lot of details inside that,” St. Louis told reporters in Carolina. “I think for us we’re going to keep trying to play to our identity, but elevate the details a little bit and I think the details just come with maturity and experience. It’s a really good team (the Hurricanes). A lot of experience. You got to give credit to how well they played. They made it really hard on us and we’re going to learn from a lot of that stuff.”
Merci à tous nos partisans! Vous êtes les meilleurs!
Thank you to the best hockey fans in the world!
GHG!!!
— Geoff Molson (@GMolsonCHC) May 30, 2026
Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki also kept a positive attitude despite losing to the Hurricanes after beating the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres in the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Canadiens finished sixth overall in the NHL standings during the regular season with a 48-24-10 record.
“Just a lot of fun,” Suzuki told reporters in Carolina about the season as a whole. “An amazing group of guys that just love being around each other. Every single guy just wants to come out there and do their best for the team. There were a lot of highs this year and a lot of big moments. … I will remember this team very fondly, for sure.
“They’re a really good team,” Suzuki added about the Hurricanes. “They’ve been in that system for a long time. They know exactly what’s going on for them and they defended really hard and limited a lot of our offence. It’s something that we got to look back on in the summer and see what we can do better because I’m sure we’ll see these guys a bunch down the few next years.”
With the Habs’ do or die game tonight against the Hurricanes, it was hard to know what to draw for Saturday’s #MontrealGazette. So, I came up with this, congratulating the team for an excellent, entertaining season, no matter what happens this evening. Please share! Terry Mosher pic.twitter.com/gJcvNgLXow
— Terry Mosher (@TerryMosher1) May 29, 2026
The Hurricanes had an 11-day break before the Eastern Conference final after sweeping the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in the first two rounds, while the Canadiens played seven games against both the Lightning and Sabres.
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“They play a fast, high-paced game,” Suzuki said about the Hurricanes. “I don’t know if the games caught up to us. I don’t want to use any excuses, but they really brought it. Obviously, there’s things that we can do better and learn from and when we’re in this situation again I think we can do a better job.”
Now it’s up to Hughes to put in the work this summer making changes to put the Canadiens in a better situation next season. The Hurricanes showed there’s still a lot of work to be done.
“You never know how many chances you’re going to get to a few games away from the Stanley Cup final,” Suzuki said. “Obviously, the future is bright with a lot of young players and a core that can hopefully stay together for a long time and do a lot more winning.”