They may not be the Montreal ‘Canadians’, but they could one day be Les Glorieux, the Montreal Canadiens of years gone by if a deep pool of young talent meets expectations.

Montreal has missed the playoffs three straight seasons and is trending in that direction again, but the team and its fans can take some comfort in knowing better days may be ahead.

The Canadiens are No. 1 in TSN’s annual NHL team ranking of U-24 players.

Bolstered by a group of five players born outside Canada, the all-time Stanley Cup leader has a core of young players projected to be as strong as or better than any in the league.

The operative word is: projected.

The top five rated players in the Canadiens’ organization who entered the season 23 or younger are No. 1 American left winger Cole Caufield (23), No. 2 Russian right winger Ivan Demidov (18), No. 3 Slovak left winger Juraj Slafkovsky (20) , No. 4 American defenceman Lane Hutson (20) and No. 5 American goalie Jacob Fowler.

“Montreal, the city, and Montreal, the hockey team, have always been international melting pots,” says TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button.

Not that it makes the Canadiens unique now, but they were among the first teams to draft Russians – Slava Fetisov in 1978 and Vladislav Tretiak in 1983 – and they went on a binge in the first decade of the 21st century,........

© TSN