The holiday season is a good time to talk about Canadians.

The question that comes up most often when eating turkey or pie this year is this: Will CH make the playoffs?

Let's assume that the discussions are interesting, intense, lively and passionate.

Apparently the team's final games before the Christmas break have revived the hopes of some fans. Martin St-Louis' team has won three of their last four games (3-0-1). The Canadians have also been chasing points in seven of the last nine games (5-2-2).

At the time of the Christmas break, the Habs are four points out of a playoff spot. It is important to note that the Hurricanes, Devils and Red Wings are ahead of the CH and that these teams are also currently excluded from the playoff list. Plus, the Penguins and Sabers aren't far behind the Canadiens.

Every year one or two teams come out of nowhere and surprisingly qualify for the playoffs. Think about the Seattle Kraken last year. Nobody predicted it.

For the Cinderella teams, I always divide the calendar into four parts. American Thanksgiving, Christmas break, All-Star break and trade deadline.

One step at a time. Over the years, many teams have had a good start, but at some point they ran out of energy at one of the four stages mentioned above.

I'll still remain cautious until the trade deadline before I really believe in this team's chances of surprising and making the playoffs.

I have the same philosophy with the Canadiens this year. The team is still in the playoff picture at Christmas. In order. Now let's see if the team can pick up its pace before the All-Star break.

Because if Montreal wants to make the playoffs, the team has to collect and string together wins. Canadians are not alone. There are also Philadelphia, Washington, Tampa, Carolina, New Jersey, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Buffalo. That leaves the drafted teams with eight teams plus Montreal competing for the two available spots.

Personally, I refuse to let the emotions of the moment take over at the expense of rational and calm reasoning.

We'll talk about the playoffs again at the All-Star break.