The Montreal Canadiens embark on a new season, 2024-25 beginning October 9, 2024. The Canadiens open the season at home, for a change, against their division rivals Toronto Maple Leafs. According to Betvictor Canada , Canadiens will be hard pressed to make the playoffs this season,
Since the Canadiens went to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021, the Canadiens have gone through three losing seasons. Finishing last in 2022, and fifth from the bottom the last two seasons.
New Faces
This season, the Canadiens hope to make inroads into the standings. Their big off-season acquisition was acquiring Patrick Laine. Unfortunately, Habs fans will need to wait to see Laine until Christmas at the earliest, as he succumb to a knee injuring during a pre-season game.
However, all eyes will be on rookie defenseman Lane Hutson. Hutson played the last two games at the end of last season, but will now be counted on to play top-3 minutes on the team.
Free-agent acquisition , forward Alex Barre-Boulet will fill the third line. Other new faces to start the season with the team are Oliver Kapanen, 2021 second round draft pick. And 2020 4th round pick, forward Emile Heineman.
Fans are also excited and hoping that they will see more of Kirby Dach this coming season. Last season, Dach’s season came to an abrupt end during the second game of the season when he suffered torn ACL and MCL ligaments in his right knee when being checked into the boards in a game vs the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Bell Centre
Off-ice, the biggest change is the new scoreboard at the Bell Centre. As per Canadiens.com; the previous scoreboard installed in 2008 was 29’ x 16’ on all four sides. The new board measures 41’ x 21’ along the length of the ice and 32’ x 21’ facing the ends – a total video surface of nearly 2,900 square feet. It features an ultra-high-definition image with 2.5 times the resolution of its predecessor and integrates rounded corners to allow for enhanced visuals that incorporate 360-degree video and forced perspective. Additionally, two angled screens measuring 21’ x 6’6” will be installed below the longer sides of the board to provide better viewing angles for fans in lower seats.
TV/Radio/Streaming
For local fans, no real change on the airwaves. TSN Radio Montreal and 98,5fm will broadcast all games on radio. On TV dial, RDS has regional rights to 60 Habs games. TVA Sports has the remaining 22 games. In English, TSN regional will broadcast 50 games. Sportsnet and its partners (CBC/City-TV) will broadcast 27. But this year, national TV rights holder, Rogers has sub-licensed their Monday night Canadian national TV rights package to Amazon Prime TV. So 5 Canadiens games will be on Amazon Prime starting October 14 vs Pittsburgh Penguins.
For Habs fans outside the Canadiens’ regional network, they can watch all games by subscribing to Sportsnet+ premium, or NHL Centre Ice.
For fans outside Canada, Canadiens games can be streamed on ESPN+.