Danault will join his family soon, after taking the ice for the Montreal Canadiens against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NESN, TSN2, RDS) for his first game with Montreal after he was traded from the Los Angeles Kings on Friday. And, as he injected in English into an answer in French, "Nothing better than TD Garden."

Also in this week's notebook, the ups and downs of Nick Suzuki's new line and Juraj Slafkovský landing in his playmaking happy place.

The legendary Sidney Crosby is turning in yet another brilliant campaign, and he tops our NHL props for Sunday. Free NHL player prop picks for December 21, 2025.

Sidney Crosby broke Mario Lemieux’s franchise scoring record and Rickard Rakell had the deciding goal in the shootout as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Sunday night to snap an eight-game losing streak.

Rookie phenom Ivan Demidov has recorded a helper in five consecutive games, finding some serious chemistry on the second line alongside Juraj Slafkovsky and fellow rookie Oliver Kapanen. Additionally, both he and Suzuki are on the team's top power-play unit, which has operated at an impressive 25.6% clip, good for fifth in the league.

While the idea of adding a clutch playoff performer sounds enticing, Danault's offensive downturn and contract are a concern.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jacob Fowler made 33 saves in his NHL debut and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 on Thursday night.

Every single day brings more Montreal Canadiens content to be absorbed, and we’re all bound to miss some news. […]