The low season that leads to the 2025-26 season continues, and with the large events such as the NHL Entry Draft and Free Agent Frenzy completed, the dog days of summer clothing absorb while NHL management groups take a little breathing break before the training camps start. In this series I will try to investigate every schedule of Montreal Canadiens, summarize their last season and look ahead to this coming season. I will look at their place in the organization, their role and their possible impact.
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In the next step of the series I will continue to look at the Blue Line Corps of the Canadiens, continue with Noah Dobson.
2024-25 season Summary
Only two seasons ago Dobson had a career-high 70 points (10 goals, 60 assists), which placed him in defense points (seventh) among the competition leaders (60; sixth) and Power-Play points (24; Tens). In the 2024-25 season he took a considerable dip into production. He again scored 10 goals this last season, but his assist total was cut in two from 60 to 29. It would be easy to say that he played poorly, especially given his career high in giveaway (108); However, that was less than Lane Hutson and even Cale Makar. The fact that he had the puck so often can explain most of them, given the average time on ice that he had from 23:16 (second on the New York Islanders).
Dobson’s dip in production and the conviction he played poorly could have a lot to do with the fact that the islanders were not a good attacking team last season. They had the 27th ranked attack by the NHL with a sad 222 goals for, which was lower than 245 in 2023-24. They also had the 31st ranking Power Play (PP) and fell more than eight percentage points of 20.4% in 2023-24 to a sad 12.6% last season. It is not surprising that Dobson PP point totals fell considerably As a result, from 24 points in 2023-24 to only 12 last season.
2025-26 season expectations
Much more is expected from Dobson in 2025-26, especially after tHe Canadiens made a blockbuster trade To acquire him and to have him sign for an eight -year -old deal who pays him $ 9.5 million, making him the second highest paid player in the history of the franchise, only Carey Price on $ 10.5 million behind it. In one Exclusive interview with RG.orgIlya Sorokin said, although the trade was a surprise, it was a by -product of the salary limit.
“He surprised me, but realistically the team could not retain both Romanov and Dobson. The salary caps force serious decisions – it is business. Dobson got a good deal in Montreal, and I wish him nothing but success.”
– Ilya Sorokin
The performance of last season can show that he just had a bad year, but his advanced statistics tell a slightly different story. Despite the low attacking totals of the entire island resident grid, Dobson had a Corsi of 55.9% for the percentage and a very strong target percentage From 58.9%, which shot up to 91.7% on the PP. The most meaningful statistics of everything is the created expected goals minus real expected goals of 2.5, which makes him third in the NHL behind Makar and Quinn Hughes. This indicates that he scores more goals than expected.
The Canadiens Banks on Dobson that are able to return to his 70 points in a seasonal form, especially because it is surrounded by much more attacking capable players than last season. Despite the dip in one season, he is what Montreal needed the most, an established best -handed right -handed defender. He will also get PP tasks, but whether they are on the upper unit or secondary unit, can still be seen as Hutson has earned the role in the Canadiens, and the arrival of Dobson can indicate a shift in PP formats by the coaching staff. Anyway, Dobson will see a lot of playing time, especially in an attacking role, and it is easy to see how he can again deliver 70 points in 2025-26. He may be able to exceed career high if the forward group of Montreal continues to score at the high speed they did after the 4 Nations Face-Off.
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