It’s hard to believe that we are already in mid-August and that soon, the Montreal Canadiens will take to the ice for training camp. As the 2026-27 season approaches, the landscape in the Atlantic Division has changed substantially. Some teams have improved, some have regressed, while others have essentially stayed where they were. So where does this leave the Canadiens?
In hockey, when you stand still, you often lose ground as other teams are improving. It’s okay to rely on young players to keep on improving, particularly when you have as many promising young players as the Canadiens do, but it’s also impossible to know how much improvement we can expect from each and every one of them.
Every other team has young players who could take another step, too, so simply expecting internal improvement to carry you forward can be a little like assuming everyone else will stand still while you catch up.
That’s why I thought it would be interesting to look at the Atlantic Division as a whole and compare where each team was at the end of last season with where its roster stands today. This isn’t about declaring winners and losers of the off-season. It’s about asking a simple question: did each team get better, worse or stay roughly the same?
Here is a snap shot of what Atlantic Division teams have done thus far, sorted based on last year’s standings:
2025-26
TEAM
LOSSES
ADDITIONS
NET ROSTER
1
Buffalo Sabres
Tuch, Byram
Zellweger, Crevier
↓ ↓
2
Tampa Bay Lightning
Raddysh, Paul, Bjorkstrand
Carlson, Mikheyev
↔
3
Montreal Canadiens
Gallagher, Laine, Veleno
—
↓
4
Boston Bruins
Arvidsson
Peterka, Borgen, Clifton
↑
5
Ottawa Senators
B. Tkachuk
Eklund, Burakovsky
↓
6
Detroit Red Wings
Kane, JVR, Talbot
Arvidsson, Kolesar, Tarasov
↓
7
Florida Panthers
Bobrovsky, Rodrigues, Samoskevich
B. Tkachuk, Markström, Gudas
↑ ↑
8
Toronto Maple Leafs
Woll, Hildeby, Maccelli, Carlo
Bobrovsky, Raddysh, McKenna, Roslovic, Paul
↑ ↑
What stands out immediately is that several of the teams that struggled last season have made the biggest moves. Florida finished seventh with only 84 points after winning consecutive Stanley Cups, while Toronto finished dead last with 78. Both have made significant changes and have legitimate reasons to expect a much better season.
A healthy and rested Florida Panthers team is bound to bounce back, particularly with Aleksander Barkov back in the lineup. The step between and aging Sergei Bobrovsky and Jacob Markström in goal isn’t huge, while adding Brady Tkachuk and Radko Gudas will bring more physicality and depth.
Toronto is harder to project, but the Atlantic’s bottom team is substantially improved and should be healthier. What that does in the standings remains to be seen, but games against the Leafs should be a lot more competitive as they pick up more wins.
At the other end, Buffalo and Ottawa have lost important pieces after making the playoffs, while Detroit also appears to have lost ground. Boston has quietly strengthened its roster, and Tampa Bay has essentially stayed where it was. Considering the Lightning finished second with 106 points, that’s hardly a bad place to be.
What it means for the Canadiens
Then there are the Canadiens, sitting in a rather interesting position. Montreal finished third with 106 points before making an impressive run to the Eastern Conference Final, and there is every reason to believe several young players will be better this season. Ivan Demidov has another year of experience, Juraj Slafkovsky should continue to mature, Alex Newhook should be healthier and several others could take significant steps forward.
The problem is that internal improvement is not the same thing as improving the roster, and the Canadiens have not addressed their biggest needs. They still don’t have a legitimate second-line centre, they haven’t added the top-six winger that could give Demidov a proven offensive partner, and they didn’t add the much-needed right-shot, top-four defenseman. The team still lacks size and grit.
That’s why Montreal gets an ever slight downward arrow in my assessment, even though I don’t believe the Canadiens have suddenly become a worse team. They could very well be better. The issue is that most teams have young players who will improve, making that “advantage” for the Canadiens a bit lesser than we think. If Demidov, Slafkovsky, Newhook and others take major steps, Montreal could improve internally while still losing ground if Florida rebounds, Toronto improves significantly and Boston takes another step.
Last season, the Canadiens finished with 106 points. If they finish third again but have 100 points instead of 106, they technically held their position in the standings, but they have still lost ground. The standings tell us where you finished; the points tell us how difficult it was to get there.
Assuming every team stays healthy, which we know won’t be the case but we cannot predict that, the new standings could very well be:
Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning
Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Ottawa Senators
Detroit Red Wings
Teams which have “regressed” didn’t do so drastically. Buffalo is the team having lost the most, but they had won the division, let’s not forget. Florida and Toronto have much improved. What this means is that games from within the division will be tougher and points should be spread more evenly.
I don’t think that projection is outrageous, although I wouldn’t be surprised if the gap between Montreal, Toronto and Boston is extremely small. That could become one of the most interesting races in the division, with all three teams having legitimate reasons to believe they can finish ahead of the others.