Likeliest Canadiens to Win NHL Awards in 2026-27 – The Hockey Writers – Montreal Canadiens

From an awards (and just about every) perspective, this past Montreal Canadiens season was an incredible success. Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield won the Frank J. Selke Memorial and Lady Byng Memorial trophies as the league’s top defensive forward and most gentlemanly player, respectively, putting an exclamation point on a campaign in which the Habs impressively reached Round 3, as the youngest team to start 2025-26 no less.

After the Canadiens built on their year-over-year success for the fourth consecutive season, it’s getting to the point where betting against them is unwise. So, what do they have on tap for an encore? Which Habs are likeliest to win awards in 2026-27? Here are the top five:

Jacob Fowler (Calder Memorial Trophy)

When the entries on this list were first being determined, Sam Montembeault emerged as a potential candidate for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the player who best exemplifies perseverance and dedication to the sport (with Carey Price winning in 2022, the last time a Habs player managed to, after overcoming a debilitating injury and personal demons that forced him on the shelf before he managed to return to play five games at the end of the season).

However, realistically the only way Montembeault would win is if Jakub Dobes, who effectively usurped the No. 1 job from him, falters to first give the former a chance to rebound after posting a 10-8-4 record, 3.43 goals-against average and .872 save percentage last season. Montembeault would then have to make good on it.

However, if Dobes does falter, one has to ask themselves, in whom do the Canadiens have more faith to right the ship: a goalie on the last year of his contract likely on his way out of the organization one way or the other or Jacob Fowler, one of the top goaltending prospects in all of hockey, who got in 17 NHL games last season, and actually backed up Dobes in the playoffs, relegating Montembeault to a third-string role?

Simply put, chances are better Fowler would get the nod. And, in such an instance, Fowler at least has a chance to get some Calder Memorial Trophy votes, just like Dobes did last season, when he finished fourth to win rookie-of-the-year honours.

Martin St. Louis (Jack Adams Award)

Nothing against head coach Martin St. Louis, but one gets the impression the ship has sailed on his chance to capture the “shock and awe” vote, where the Canadiens come from out of nowhere to exceed all analyst expectations. That would have been this past season, when the Habs finished with 106 points and St. Louis did fifth in voting for the trophy handed to the league’s best coach. He actually did worse than in 2024-25, when he was the second runner-up.

Despite having established himself as a legitimate candidate, St. Louis can really only win it one of two ways with the Canadiens. He can either be awarded it as a kind of lifetime achievement award in the eyes of broadcasters (who vote on it) after years of sustained success, which would only come a few seasons down the road at least… or the Habs can win the Presidents’ Trophy now. That’s pretty much the only thing they can do to one-up themselves in 2026-27..

What are the chances? They’re decent relatively speaking, but it’s (all) unlikely, all the same.

Cole Caufield (Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy)

Obviously, the Lady Byng wasn’t the trophy Caufield most had his eyes on. After becoming the first Canadiens player to score 50 goals since 1990 (Stephane Richer), he fell just a few short of winning the Rocket Richard Trophy, which ultimately went to Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche as the league’s best goalscorer with 53.

Caufield had been seen as a possibility to capture the award in this piece last year, but was nevertheless seen as the least likely of the listed Canadiens to win in the end. Ironically, he was arguably the one to come closest, though. So, why is he only in third place, here?

Scoring 50 goals is hard (obviously). MacKinnon has done it before (2023-24). Then he dropped all the way down to 32 the next season. So, doing it in back-to-back seasons would be an incredible, but unlikely accomplishment, especially taking into account how Caufield scored on a career-high 19.8% of his shots last season, with a career shooting percentage of 14.2%.

It would be disingenuous to suggest Caufield can’t win, because he’s absolutely proven he can in any given year. However, statistically, he probably won’t in 2026-27.

Nick Suzuki (Frank. J. Selke Trophy)

This is where things get interesting, because Suzuki hadn’t really been on the radar to win the Selke, unless you count him finishing 13th in voting in 2024-25. However, the field opened up once favourite (and 2025 winner) Aleksander Barkov suffered a season-long injury in training camp. On the strength of a 100-point season, the first anyone in a Canadiens uniform has been able to put together since 1985-86 (Mats Naslund), Suzuki turned heads, to say the least.

Barkov winning two straight and three of the previous five (with ex-Boston Bruin Patrice Bergeron winning the others) shows that, after first having been acknowledged as an elite 200-foot player by voters (hockey writers), Suzuki has a legitimate shot of repeating. That’s especially true with Bergeron (and Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings, another perennial contender) now retired. However, with Barkov healthy, Suzuki has his work cut out for him.

Writers love a good a story. Barkov’s comeback would be a great one to be able to write.

Lane Hutson (James Norris Memorial Trophy)

On last year’s list, Lane Hutson was acknowledged as a possible James Norris Memorial Trophy winner, but a relative long shot to be named the league’s best defenseman nevertheless. Then he built (significantly) on the success he enjoyed in his Calder-winning rookie season, finishing fourth in scoring among defensemen with 78 points and sixth in Norris voting.

What’s most impressive (and there is a lot that should impress about Hutson) is it’s not just about point totals. The analytics also say Hutson is elite and capable of doing it at both ends of the ice, despite suggestions to the contrary from the armchair experts who don’t actually watch all the games they claim and go off on reputation alone.

An article by Scott Maxwell at Daily Faceoff even had Hutson winning the Norris because of his underlying numbers (at least if analytics had more of an impact on voting). Granted, he also had Hutson winning the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP, based largely on Evolving-Hockey’s goals-above-replacement model. And, as deserving as it might be, that’s not going to happen. First things first, at least. Well, second things second after the Calder. The Norris would be next.

Could it come as soon as this coming season for Hutson? If his contributions at either end of the ice continue to grow, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be seen in the same light as the Cale Makars (who he trailed by a single point in end-of-season scoring) and Quinn Hughes-es (who he outscored by two) of the league. In reputable circles, he already is.