3 Montreal Canadiens players who disappointed the most in 2025 NHL playoffs ft. Patrik Laine

The Montreal Canadiens were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs in five games by the Washington Capitals.

The Canadiens snuck into the playoffs as the eighth seed as they had an incredible second half of the season. Yet, Montreal was overmatched as the Canadiens couldn’t keep up with the Capitals, who cruised to a series win.

“It’s disappointing,” veteran forward Brendan Gallagher said, via NHL.com. “It just kind of felt like every game there were one or two things that were the difference, and that’s part of learning. You’ve got to go through this. It was for most of our group the first experience here and it’s the stuff you have to go through, a lesson you hopefully don’t have to learn again. I’m assuming they’ll say the same thing, it felt like every game was close. They just made a few less mistakes and it burned us.”

After Montreal was eliminated, here were three players who disappointed the most.

3 Montreal Canadiens players who disappointed the most in 2025 NHL playoffs

#1, Patrik Laine

The Montreal Canadiens made a bold move to acquire Patrik Laine in the offseason to try and help their offense.

The former second overall pick is known as a sniper, but his lack of defensive ability and work ethic has been knocked.

In the playoffs, Laine only played in two games and had one assist, but was a -2. He ended up being scratched due to an injury, but if Montreal was going to upset Washington, Laine needed to produce more offense.

#2, Ivan Demidov

Ivan Demidov was playing in his first Stanley Cup playoffs as he made his NHL debut near the end of the season.

The Russian looks like a future star as he has great playmaking ability and can also score. However, in the playoffs, Demidov’s lack of experience showed.

Demidov finished the series with 0 goals and 2 assists. But, he was also a -5 as his defensive ability was always a question mark, and he did struggle in Montreal’s end.

#3, Josh Anderson

Montreal’s Josh Anderson got into it with Tom Wilson and played a physical game, but what makes Anderson good is his defensive ability, and adding some secondary scoring.

Yet, against the Capitals, Anderson struggled to produce. He finished the series with just 1 assist and was a -2 and had 20 penalty minutes.

The Canadiens needed Anderson and the other depth scorers to step up to beat Washington, but that didn’t happen.