The Canadiens will look for some upgrades for their roster this offseason as they hit free agency with a plan to take that next step.

The Montreal Canadiens have officially begun the process of exploring a trade involving veteran forward Brendan Gallagher. Reports say Gallagher has been permitted to have his representative help search for a potential landing spot before the 2026-27 NHL season.

The Canadiens had two power-play goals in the five games against the Hurricanes, the second coming after falling behind 5-0 in Game 5. They entered the conference final with a 25 percent success rate on the power play (13-for-52) and then went cold (2-of-13, 15.3 percent) against a team that doesn't allow many even-strength goals.

Brendan Gallagher is the longest tenured player on the Montreal Canadiens, but his tenure is coming to an end.

The most encouraging development for the Canadiens was that both the Caufield goal that tied it early and a pair of Juraj Slafkovský goals that put the game out of reach in the third earned five-on-five points for all three members of their top line, which had struggled to produce at even strength through two rounds.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes left Game 4 of the NHL‘s Eastern Conference Final with another loss on his record, but the Bell Centre crowd still gave him one of the loudest ovations of the night.

The new kids on the block cheering on le bleu-blanc-rouge are more pumped and more optimistic than the old guard. Older Habs fans tend to be grumpy, always comparing these middling teams to Les Glorieux of the 1950s,

Rookie netminder Jakub Dobeš has been the lone bright spot for a team that simply has no answer for the relentless Hurricanes.