Montreal Canadiens, Kent Hughes, Patrice Bergeron, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Juraj Slafkovsky

MONTREAL, QC — As we move closer to the end of the NHL’s off-season, the news about the Montreal Canadiens begins to ramp up. We have hand-selected several interesting stories for you this week.

Bergeron Never Heard From Hughes

Even though it was clearly Boston or retirement, the rumors about Patrice Bergeron potentially signing with the Montreal Canadiens never fully went away until Monday.

After mulling his hockey future for almost three months, the Bruins captain and future Hall of Famer decided to return for another season on a team-friendly one-year contract worth $2.5 million.

Canadiens GM Kent Hughes previously served as a player agent. The L’Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec native was one of Hughes’ top clients, so it was easy to speculate that Bergeron would consider joining Montreal. But according to the five-time Selke Trophy winner, Hughes never reached out to see if he would consider joining Boston’s main rival.

“No, I think he knows better. He did not,” Bergeron explained, via Jimmy Murphy. “We’ve known each other for 20 years. So, he knows that the Bruins is – that was the only place that I wanted to be. And if things would have been different, if I had thought any differently, he knew that maybe I would have reached out after July 13. But there was never a doubt in my mind. So, he knew that he had to stay out of the way and just let me make my decision with the family.”

Having launched in the province back in April, Canadians can now bet from Ontario using popular apps such as Caesars, BetMGM, FanDuel and DraftKings. The variety of different bets through these apps include parlays and futures.

The options for “futures” bets include the NHL division winners and Stanley Cup champion. At FanDuel, the Habs are +10000 to win the Stanley Cup (tied for the third-lowest odds with the San Jose Sharks and Seattle Kraken. Montreal also has the lowest odds of winning the Atlantic Division title at +8500.

Bergeron has been a thorn in Montreal’s side through his illustrious career. He has 59 points in 74 regular season games against the rival team. On top of that, his Bruins eliminated Montreal from the opening round of the 2009 and 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Montreal and Boston won’t see each other next season until January 24, when they meet at the Bell Centre.

Caufield Loves Montreal

The Habs may be coming off one of their worst seasons in franchise history, but young stars like Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky certainly give the fans tremendous reason for long-term optimism.

Caufield was drafted 15th overall by the Canadiens in 2019, and it certainly hasn’t taken him long to emerge as a fan favorite and cornerstone piece. The former Wisconsin standout was along for the Canadiens run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, where they fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.

After a sluggish start to his first full NHL season, Caufield finished on a high note and tallied 23 goals and 43 points in 2021-22.

For all the talk about how hard and demanding it is to play in a pressure-filled hockey market, Caufield has come to love what the city presents. He talked about his admiration for Montreal during an appearance on Chris Nilan and Tim Stapleton’s The Raw Knuckles Podcast.

Caufield said he “loved it from day one.” He cited the city’s unique layout and the passion of the Canadiens fanbase.

“The layout of the city is great. You’ve got Mount Royal in the back just looking over everything, and you’ve got the buildings, the river. There are special moments that can happen anytime walking down the street. They’re so passionate about the team. It’s just really cool to see and I don’t think you’re getting that anywhere else.”

Caufield is entering the final season of his rookie deal, but it’s surely only a matter of time until the Habs reach an agreement on an extension with the 21-year-old.

Suzuki Enjoyed Leafs’ Elimination

Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki couldn’t help but admit his delight in seeing the Habs’ other heated rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs, once again fall flat in the postseason.

The Maple Leafs haven’t won a playoff series since 2004. They’ve qualified for the postseason every year since 2018 (if you include the expanded 24-team format in the 2020 bubble) but haven’t been able to lock down a single best-of-seven series win.

Last year, Toronto blew a 3-1 series lead against the heavy underdog Canadiens. This year, they led their opening round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 but failed to close out the defending champs in consecutive games.

During an appearance on “Habs Tonight,” Suzuki expressed his content with the Leafs falling short in round one.

“The Leafs? Uhhh, it was the first time I was cheering for Tampa…” Suzuki said. “It was weird cheering for the team that beat you last year but it turned out pretty good.”

Although Tampa and Montreal reside in the Atlantic Division together, the NHL changed up divisional alignment for the shortened 2020-21 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new format led to them squaring off for the Stanley Cup, but the Habs were no match for the star-studded Bolts.

Toronto’s season ended in a Game 7 home ice loss for the second straight year. Tampa Bay outlasted them 2-1 in the decisive game enroute to a third straight Stanley Cup Final appearance.

However, the Colorado Avalanche held off the resilient Lightning — bidding for a third straight cup — by outlasting them in six games. The loss prevented Tampa from becoming the first team to three-peat since Mike Bossy’s New York Islanders, who won four championships in a row from 1980 to 1983.