Canadiens’ Special Teams in Crisis: Power Play Plummets to Historic Lows

The Montreal Canadiens finally exhaled on Saturday night, securing a narrow 1-0 victory over the visiting Detroit Red Wings. The hard-fought win, earned under bizarre circumstances including three disallowed goals, provided some relief after a challenging three-game slide.

While the victory snapped a three-game losing streak and offered a brief moment of relief, significant challenges remain. Foremost among these is the team’s underperforming special teams, which continue to drag down overall efforts.

Looking Back at Last Season’s Stability

While comparing last season’s squad directly to the current team on the power play (PP) or penalty kill (PK) is unfair—given the contrast between a full 82-game season and the current modest five games—certain trends from the previous campaign remain highly relevant.

To be clear, Montreal was never a dominant special teams powerhouse last season. If anything, their efficiency on the man advantage overshadowed their struggles on the penalty kill. The power play operated at a respectable 23.14 percent success rate, ranking 10th in the NHL.

Furthermore, the team ranked 11th in power-play opportunities, demonstrating a strong volume of chances and capitalizing effectively. This unit was driven by key contributors, including Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield, who tallied 15, 11, and 11 goals, respectively.

Conversely, surviving short-handed situations proved to be a major challenge. The Canadiens finished 18th in the league with a penalty kill success rate of just 78.23 percent. While critics could argue that this ranking suggests a lack of a playoff-caliber PK unit—especially since only 16 teams qualify for the postseason—their strong power-play performance ultimately helped the team secure 106 regular-season points.

The Power Play’s Steep Decline

Thus far in the current season, any hopes of replicating that balanced special teams effectiveness have vanished. Head coach Martin St. Louis’s squad has witnessed a dramatic regression, with the power play ranking a woeful 30th in the league. Through five games, they have managed a meager 5.88 percent success rate.

While it is true that the team has only drawn the 18th-most penalties (exactly 17 opportunities), this excuse holds limited weight. Teams like the Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild, Boston Bruins, and Los Angeles Kings have generated fewer chances but converted them at vastly superior rates.

The penalty kill has also slipped, which is particularly alarming compared to last year’s numbers. Montreal currently ranks 22nd, surviving only 76.19 percent of short-handed situations. Compounding these issues, the team has been highly disciplined, spending a total of 21 minutes in the penalty box over five games—eighth-most in the league. Arber Xhekaj leads the team with 12 minutes spent in the sin bin.

Lack of Offensive Firepower on the Power Play

Basic statistics only paint part of the picture, while advanced metrics and the eye test reveal deeper concerns. An excellent resource for this analysis is Money Puck, a colorful and user-friendly platform that simplifies filtering through specific hockey situations.

When playing at 5-on-4 this season, Montreal’s expected goals for (xGoal) is a disappointing 1.93, ranking no better than 28th in the league. For comparison, the Philadelphia Flyers post a 3.36, a stark figure considering—as fellow The Hockey Writers contributor Andrew McGuinness notes—the Flyers are enduring a historically poor start to their campaign.

Their expected goals above average sits below average at minus-0.93, placing them 24th. Perhaps the most telling and alarming statistic is the percentage of shots blocked on the power play. An unbelievable 38.24 percent of Montreal’s PP attempts have been parried by opposing defenders, ranking 32nd in the league.

What about the eye test? In sports analysis, isolating a single team’s perspective is a mistake; one must look at league-wide benchmarks to gauge performance. For instance, both the Ottawa Senators and Seattle Kraken possess power-play units that simply shoot the puck toward the net—a basic, yet seemingly novel concept in Montreal’s case.

Ottawa is not an elite power-play unit, ranking 24th, but their efficiency is double that of Montreal’s, operating at 12.50 percent compared to the Canadiens’ 5.88 percent. Seattle presents an interesting case; not traditionally known for offensive firepower, they nonetheless rank 10th with a 23.53 percent success rate. The key difference? They simply fire the puck on net whenever possible.

In contrast, players like Lane Hutson, Cole Caufield, and Nick Suzuki often dance around with the puck, endlessly searching for the perfect shooting lane. While they are incredibly talented, offensively gifted individuals, sometimes a team simply needs to generate volume by firing shots on goal.

The Make-or-Break Factor

The 2025-26 campaign was nothing short of exhilarating, as the Canadiens transformed from one of the league’s weaker teams into Eastern Conference finalists. However, the organization cannot afford to rest on its laurels. Head coach Martin St. Louis is an intelligent tactician, and the roster features highly competitive, smart players who understand the demands of the league.

Often, when a team achieves a high level of success, they fall into the trap of believing success will come naturally. Nothing could be further from the truth. While Montreal may not be outright complacent on the power play, they are currently lacking the essential killer instinct. Although most of the key players from last season’s successful unit remain, the execution of their strategy has faltered. In a league defined by genuine competitive parity, those precious two minutes with the man advantage are what ultimately separate average teams from elite contenders.

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