Montreal Canadiens
Guhle May Have Spoiled Canadiens – Capitals Series Start Date
The NHL is going to release the official 2025 NHL Playoff schedule on Thursday morning, but according to Montreal Canadiens defenceman Kaiden Guhle, the series versus the Washington Capitals is set to start on Monday, April 21.
Guhle met with the media following Montreal’s big 4-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes, which secured the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. The 23-year-old defenceman scored two goals to help secure playoff hockey at the Bell Centre for the first time since their surprise run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.
#Habs Kaiden Guhle told the media they play on Monday
— Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) April 17, 2025
If Guhle is correct, the Canadiens will have four days of much-needed rest, a blessing when you consider head coach Martin St-Louis has had to push his team to the limit just to qualify for the playoffs. There’s a laundry list of players that could use a few days off, including Joel Armia, Brendan Gallagher, and Josh Anderson. Beyond those who are clearly not playing at 100 percent, almost every NHL player has some sort of nagging issue at this time of the year.
Assuming Game One of the series does indeed take place on Monday, Game Three and Game Four would likely take place on the weekend, a perfect situation for all Montreal Canadiens fans heading to the Bell Centre to enjoy springtime hockey.
Few analysts expected the Canadiens to qualify for the playoffs in the first place, but thanks to excellent performances from captain Nick Suzuki and super rookie Lane Hutson, among others, the team has taken advantage of a weak Eastern Conference to receive an invitation to the big dance.
Considering the Habs only started the rebuild process in earnest three season ago, it’s safe to say the rebuild is well ahead of schedule.
Regardless of how the series versus the Capitals turns out, this is a clear season of growth for the Montreal Canadiens.
In the first half of the season Washington had 58 points in the standings and Montreal had 43 points in the standings, a big difference of 15 points. But in the second half of the season Washington had 53 points and Montreal had 48 points a difference of only 5 points.
So I think it could be a close series, perhaps going 6 or 7 games.
Montreal was 7-1-2 in their last ten games, Washington 4-6. Let’s hope that translates to the playoffs.
Great point by Marc that the Habs can really benefit from 4 days to prepare for game 1 with the Caps . Injuries as mentioned and the young players in their first NHL playoffs can make good use of the time . A kid like Demidov who has been thrown into the deep end so to speak can learn a lot in the next few days especially on the defensive end . GHG
Good article except one incorrect comment. Dumont says Habs made the playoffs by taking advantage of the weak Eastern Conference. In fact the teams in the east collected 1450 points to the west’s 1445. More importantly, Montreal played in the toughest division. The Atlantic teams amassed 737 total points outpacing the west central teams which had 735 total. Dumont seems to have missed the fact the teams in the west were able to play bottom feeders San Jose, Chicago and Nashville more often. To complete the record the Metropolitan teams collected 713 points and the west pacific 710.