Montreal Canadiens Role Profiles: Alexandre Carrier

As we get into the dog days of summer and until training camp, thesickpodcast.com will profile Montreal Canadiens players based on their expected role for the 2026-27 NHL season.

Montreal Canadiens defenseman Alexandre Carrier has been a reliable, solid defensive presence when he plays a simple game, but there were times that he tried to do a little too much, which caused multiple errors. Will the 2026-27 season be the same for Carrier, or will he be able to settle in the correct chair?

After a very good 2024-25 season with the Montreal Canadiens, Carrier had an up-and-down year during the 2025-26 campaign that often saw him trying to play a role that isn’t suitable for someone of his size. 

Standing at 5-foot-11 and just 174-pounds, Carrier is on the smaller side of defensemen in the league. With that being said, he was often put in a role to be the defenseman that clears bodies in front of the net, which led to goals by opponents because he would often get outmuscled. Yes, Carrier has great defensive instincts and more often than not will be the stay-at-home defenseman on his pairing, but unfortunately his ability to prevent his opponents from getting loose pucks in front of the net is rather weak. Therefore, the Montreal Canadiens need to pair him up with a bigger defenseman that is able to box out opponents in front of the net, which leads to fewer goals being scored against when Carrier is on the ice. 

Where Carrier’s defensive game thrives most is as a shot blocker. His 2.12 block shots per game ranked second on the team, just behind Noah Dobson, who blocked 2.35 shots per game. However, in the playoffs with Dobson banged up due to a broken finger, Carrier was the one who stepped up most to make up for Dobson jumping in front of shots less often. Carrier finished with a team-best 52 blocks in 19 playoff matchups. 

One area of his game that improved during the 2025-26 season was his goal-scoring abilities from the back end, as he scored seven goals, which nearly doubled his previous career-high of four goals in a season. Carrier showed that when the Canadiens needed a goal, he could come up big for them.

During the month of January alone, Carrier scored five of his seven goals, as he had a very hot start to the calendar year of 2026. This included a crazy sequence where he managed two goals in a matter of just 20 seconds during a game against the Vancouver Canucks.

The chances that Carrier becomes anything more than a player who goes on a hot streak when it comes to his goal-scoring abilities are low, but it is good that he can provide offence to support his team when it is needed. In fact, Carrier seems to join the rush a lot, which can be both a good and bad thing. He seems to like joining the rush a lot, as Carrier started doing it a lot more in the 2025-26 season compared to his first half season with the Canadiens after he was acquired from the Nashville Predators for defenseman Justin Barron.

While he is providing offence, it has also led to odd man rushes going the other way. This is something that he will need to clean up and time his pinches better in the future so that he can play his role to the best of his abilities. Another thing that Carrier needs to fix is having better control of his stick. It happened too many times last season that he got called for double-minors for high-sticking penalties. Surely, if that continues, he may start to lose ice time given by head coach Martin St. Louis. 

The 2025-26 season was tough for the 29-year-old at times, but he still managed to have a good overall season. As for his exact role for the 2026-27 campaign, Carrier will most likely play on a pairing with Mike Matheson, who he has played his best hockey with in Montreal. They will be expected to be the second defensive pairing. Both defensemen have had their ups and downs as a pairing, but when they stick to their respective roles, they can do a good job as a shutdown pairing.

On top of being on the second pairing, Carrier will be a staple on the Montreal Canadiens’ penalty kill, where his job will be to block shots and clear the puck out of the zone off the boards. As long as he doesn’t have to be the defenseman that boxes out the forward in front of the net, he should be successful in that role.

In terms of offense that he should bring, the expectations are low, as he should return to scoring only three or four goals and 20 points over a full season. Unless he has another hot streak, he likely will stay more of a stay-at-home defenseman.

Carrier will be expected to handle around 18-20 minutes a night as a fourth or fifth defenseman, similarly to Kaiden Guhle in terms of ice time. Being one of two regulars on the Canadiens blueline that shoots right-handed, he will have an important role once again this upcoming campaign.

If Carrier can control his stick and play his role effectively like he has in the past, there could also be a contract extension for the 29-year-old during the season, whose contract expires following the conclusion of the 2026-27 season.

In case you missed it, check out yesterday’s role profile on defenseman Adam Engstrom.