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Come playoff time, teams need their top players to be their top players.  But to get through a series, someone else will also need to step up to make some key contributions.  Our writers make their predictions on who might fill that role for the Habs this spring.

Terry Costaris: This is a tough question. Aside from the obvious players, this Habs team is very much a TEAM. That is, it is filled with a collective of difference-makers. So, really, the best answer, in my opinion, is which of the unobvious players are possibly going to step up and take their game to another level?

For me, Alex Newhook is my first choice. He’s already upped his game these last few weeks and has a Stanley Cup ring – meaning that he’s got key experience. He’s been the de facto second-line centre and has done a very admirable job. So, why not assume that his potential to go even further is very likely?

As honourable mentions, I’m going with Alex “the shootout king who will not be in any shootouts” Texier. He could potentially pot a few key goals here and there. He’s got the hands.

Arber Xhekaj is another player with more to offer. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, nah, total wishful thinking, but maybe, a proverbial lightbulb switch flips if he is given more runway due to team injuries. If the lightbulb flips, then this may end all trade speculation concerning him.

The playoffs are a whole new season. The chalkboard has been wiped off. He might no longer have to write on it,

“I, Arber Xhekaj, promise to pay better attention in class and not unnecessarily lose my fiery temper” 100 times.

Finally, and this is even more of a crap shoot, Kirby Dach may also be a difference-maker. This is a pivotal contract year for him. What if he manages to realize his potential – injury-free?

Speculation is a fun thing until two weeks later, when you are held to what were, at best, simple guesses, yet nevertheless, you mocked all summer long by your buddies for making them.

Please don’t make me write 100 times,

“I, Terry Costaris, apologize for providing such lousy X factor guesses in the Tampa-Montreal series and will never do so again.”

Brian Davis: I have two bubble players that I think could surprise a few in the playoffs, those being Joe Veleno and Zach Bolduc.

Both have developed during the season into becoming more and more rugged, ranking second and third in team hits (behind Xhekaj) but also have shown that they are not afraid to get in when all the post-whistle scrums come in. In a series that is going to have all sorts of shenanigans occurring after the whistle, and with Xhekaj not guaranteed a regular shift due to his patchy play, Josh Anderson could end up having to do the dirty alone. These two, along with Brendan Gallagher, can be the “third-tier” pest types that can help marshal some of the rough stuff.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if they couldn’t provide some secondary scoring two. More so Bolduc, who has shown he has a wicked shot and is a very streaky scorer. If he were to catch fire in the playoffs, he could suddenly become a danger outside the first two lines.

Allan Katz: The task seems to be to pick a player who will not only outproduce his season totals, but is also not part of the core group. Among the goalies, Jacob Fowler could replace Jakub Dobes if the Habs are down 0-2 and he could steal the series and pull a Ken Dryden. Not impossible. Kaiden Guhle could replace Noah Dobson and has the talent to dominate and score a range of timely goals. Not impossible. Texier has one of the highest Plus/Minus totals among borderline talent and has the speed and chops to fill in on any line and surprise with an offensive burst we’ve already seen once this season. His in-season pickup reminds me of another Hab talent off the scrap heap that surprised us to no end not so long ago: Master Paul Byron. Now that would be fun, mythical, and not impossible. But I’m going to go with Speedy Gonzales, namely Alex Newhook. Alex was a +10, scored over 10 goals and had over 10 assists. He can play multiple positions on a variety of lines, has a Stanley Cup pedigree, is experienced on a team that has little of it, is still young, played only 42 games yet was tenth on the Habs in scoring, was a first-round pick, but most of all, has shown a grit on a more consistent basis than ever before and seems capable of having a coming-out party in these playoffs. Absolutely possible.

Brian La Rose: Think back to the 2021 playoff run.  The Habs had three blueliners that played a lot during the regular season (Jeff Petry, Shea Weber, and Ben Chiarot) with a fourth that played a bigger role in the playoffs (Joel Edmundson).  While they aren’t stylistically the same players, today’s team looked to be the same way.  The minute-munchers during the regular season were Lane Hutson, Mike Matheson, and Dobson, and Guhle is the player people were probably hoping could play a bit more than he did this year when his ATOI was the lowest of his young career.

And then Dobson got hurt which changed the equation.  Instead of hoping Guhle could step up, now they’re needing him to be the type of impactful blueliner he has been at times in the past but very seldomly this season.  On top of that, he’s going to be in a role that probably draws the biggest checking assignment on a pairing (with Matheson) that has had some success in the past but this year, frankly, has really struggled.  (Natural Stat Trick has the numbers, sort by CF%, GF%, SF%, or xGF% and start scrolling down.  It’s not pretty.)

But with Dobson out and a bunch of question marks beyond their top guys, they don’t have a choice.  They need Guhle to be at his best and if he rises to the challenge, it’d be a huge help toward bridging the gap for Dobson.  If he’s not, they might not be around long enough for Dobson to have a shot at coming back.

Peter Longo: The X-Factor for the Habs in the playoffs won’t come down to one unexpected hero. It will be how the team as a whole responds to the gruelling and physical play. In last year’s playoffs against Washington, Habs players were literally pushed around and intimidated by the physicality of Washington. They simply couldn’t compete. Will this year be different?

• Has Martin St. Louis learned from his mistakes? Will he play Jayden Struble and Xhekaj regularly to bring some physicality to the back end and give forwards pause before they go into the corners? Or will he play Alexandre Carrier and watch him get run over again along with the team’s momentum?
• Will a one-year older and a much more physical Juraj Slafkovsky be able to impose his will and open up space for Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield on the top line?
• Do the additions of hitting leaders Bolduc and Veleno, along with the return of Anderson, bring enough sandpaper to wear down the defence?
• Gallagher is fourth amongst forwards for hits, first for relentless grinding, and has the most experience in playoff games on the team. Will he continue to be a healthy scratch in favour of perimeter players like Kirby Dach?

The last two regular season games against Tampa Bay were especially physical with lots of emotion and nastiness. This is setting the stage for what will be an emotional series that will, in large part, be determined by physicality. Do the Habs have enough?

Richard Roy: Among the offensive sleeping talent, Dach could completely change the dynamic of the secondary scoring aspect of the team.

Dach has both size and talent to be an elite player in the NHL. He has yet to show it consistently but the occasional stretches of games where he has played at the top of his game. He can be a unique mix of grit, talent, and size that would contribute significantly, especially in a playoff situation where these types of players thrive.

If he can bring this game to the table for Martin St-Louis, Kirby Dach could simultaneously spark the second line with, say, Newhook and Demidov, and give St-Louis the one-two punch he has been wanting to find the entire season. This would also create a domino effect where a momentum line of Anderson, Bolduc, and Texier (or Veleno) could give lasting fatigue and bruises to the opposing defence.

Dach will need a new contract at the end of the season. It could be his ultimate chance to prove that he belongs to the core of this team.