Canadiens named Stanley Cup favorites in surprising NHL prediction

Nick Suzuki and the Montreal Canadiens just got tagged as the best team in hockey, not one of a handful.

NHL.com's Dan Rosen made that call in his season preview column Wednesday, and he didn't hedge for a second.

"If it's jarring to see the Canadiens as the favorite, not just one of a few favorites, to win the Stanley Cup, it shouldn't be," Rosen wrote.

"Montreal has everything it needs to go one round further and win it all," he added.

The resume backs him up. Montreal finished 48-24-10 last season, good for 106 points.

The Canadiens closed with a plus-27 goal differential and went 7-3-0 over their final 10 games.

Captain Nick Suzuki led the group with 101 points and a plus-37 rating.

The goaltending question that could derail Montreal's Cup case

Cole Caufield gives this roster its finishing touch. He scored 51 goals last season and piled up 88 points doing it.

Lane Hutson quarterbacks the blue line like a ten-year veteran, not a kid still figuring out the league. He put up 78 points from the back end.

Noah Dobson adds even more from that same blue line, chipping in 47 points in his first year wearing the jersey.

All of that added up to a third-place finish in the Atlantic Division and sixth overall in the NHL.

So why does this pick feel almost too easy?

Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov are still climbing, posting 73 and 62 points as this core grows up in real time.

This roster doesn't look like a team rebuilding, it looks like one that already tasted the finish line and wants more.

Here's the part Rosen glossed over. Jakub Dobes posted a .901 save percentage last season, and Samuel Montembeault sat at .873.

That tandem is the one variable that isn't settled, and it's the one that decides everything in April.

Rosen's pick puts a target on Montreal's back before a single puck drops this season. Whether Dobes and Montembeault can hold up under that weight is the one question nobody's answered yet.

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