With the exception of baseball's New York Yankees, no North American sports team has had as storied and as successful a history as the Montreal Canadiens, the oldest team in professional hockey. They have won 24 Stanley Cups, eleven more than the team with the next largest number – the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Nevertheless, their rivalry with the Toronto Maple Leafs is the longest in North American professional ice hockey. The rivalry began in 1917 when the Maple Leafs came into existence. It has enhanced since they were the only two Canadian teams for more than thirty years, and are seen as representing each of Canada's main language groups.
1909-32: The Early NHL
Logo worn from 1913-17.
Before there was an NHL, there was a Montreal Canadiens team. They were a charter member of the league's forerunner, the National Hockey Association (NHA), in 1909, operating as the Haileybury Hockey Club. The next season, the Club Antique-Canadien, seeking admission to the NHA, threatened suit for copyright infringement over the NHA's Les Canadiens club, and were admitted to the league, taking over the Haileybury franchise and renaming it the Canadiens, while the former Les Canadiens franchise was taken over by Toronto interests the next season.
The Canadiens and four other NHA team executives formed the NHL in 1917. Two years later, they once again faced Seattle for the Stanley Cup, but tragedy struck with the series tied at two games apiece: a Spanish Flupandemic hit Seattle, and star Joe Hall died. The remainder of the series was cancelled.
In addition to Hall's death, the next season they lost Joe Malone, the league's leading scorer. Malone was on loan from the dormant Quebec Bulldogs, but that team returned to the ice in 1919.
Generally, however, the Habs stumbled in the playoffs until they won their third Stanley Cup in 1930, defeating the seemingly invincible Boston Bruins. The "Flying Frenchmen" once again beat the regular-season champion Bruins in the 1931 playoffs, then beat the Ottawa Senators to win their fourth Cup.
1932-67: The End of Morenz to the end of the Original Six
Logo used (1926-53)
The Canadiens' stars (Morenz and Joliat) faded out in the early 1930s, and they had the worst record in the league by the 1935-36 NHL season. Stunned by such a horrible performance, the NHL gave the Habs rights to all French Canadian players for two years. They had the second-best record in the NHL in 1936-37, but were stunned again by Morenz's death following an on-ice injury from a serious hit by Earl Seibert of the Chicago Blackhawks. The Canadiens were once again mired in mediocrity for several more seasons, until a team led by the "Punch Line" of Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Hector "Toe" Blake and Elmer Lach lifted the Cup again in 1944 after losing only five games in the regular season. The freshman Richard proved he was not "small, fragile and too brittle for the National Hockey League", as coach Dick Irvin, after Richard's rookie year, concernedly voiced. If anything, he was Morenz's successor as one of hockey's preeminent superstars. Like Morenz, Richard was a great goal-scoring forward — and both Richard and Morenz were quite physical. Richard, in fact, became the first earner of 1000 penalty minutes.
In 1945, Richard made NHL history by becoming the first player to score 50 goals in one season, reaching the mark on the final night of the season. Despite their power, the Habs lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the semi-finals. The team was to be invigourated in the 1946 playoffs, winning their sixth Stanley Cup. But in 1947, despite Rocket Richard winning the Hart Memorial Trophy as NHL Most Valuable Player, the Habs lost in the Stanley Cup Final against bitter rival Toronto Maple Leafs.
Montreal fell into a state of unbridled love, if not obsession, with the Canadiens. At no time was this more evident than when Rocket Richard was suspended for the rest of the season on March 13, 1955, for assaulting an official and a Boston player in the aftermath of a stick fight in a game against the Bruins. Montrealers rioted in the streets at the following game (on March 17, at home versus the Detroit Red Wings), causing millions of dollars in damage. The Canadiens had to forfeit the game, and went on to lose in the finals to the Red Wings. The previous year, the Habs had also fallen at the hands of the Red Wings, when Doug Harvey (considered one of the best defencemen of all time) redirected a clearing attempt by the Red Wings' Tony Leswick into the Montreal net past Canadiens goalie Gerry McNeil. In 1956 the Canadiens established a "farm team" in Peterborough, Ontario (now known as the Peterborough Petes), which is in the OHL (Ontario Hockey League).
Despite Rocket Richard's retirement in 1960, the Canadiens looked ready to win a sixth straight Cup in 1961; but they were stunned in the playoffs by the Chicago Blackhawks (who eventually won the Stanley Cup behind the offencive genius of left-wingerBobby Hull) in the semi-finals. The Canadiens continued to suffer (relative) playoff frustration until they won the Cup again in 1965, in Yvan Cournoyer's rookie season, and repeated in 1966. The following season, the favoured Canadiens lost to the Maple Leafs in the Stanley Cup finals, the last time the Habs and Leafs have met in the final round.
1967-86: The expansion era
With expansion in 1968, the Canadiens handily defeated the fledgling St. Louis Blues in the finals during each of the next two seasons. The Canadiens missed out on a playoff spot in 1970 on the final day of the regular season, thanks to a tiebreaker (and since Toronto missed out as well, it meant the only time in NHL history no Canadian teams made the playoffs.)
Of note, Dryden had only played six regular-season games in '70-'71, but Al MacNeil, Habs coach, had made a very wise choice for Dryden to start in the playoffs against Boston.
After losing in the quarter-finals to the New York Rangers in 1972 (Guy Lafleur's rookie season), they would once again win the Cup over Chicago in 1973.
The Canadiens were upset hard by the Rangers in the first round in 1974, and would lose out to the Buffalo Sabres in the semi-finals in 1975. But in 1976, under the leadership of head coachScotty Bowman, they went on to win the Cup again, thwarting the Philadelphia Flyers' hopes for a third consecutive championship. The series was so physical the Canadiens were dubbed "The St. Catherine Street Cannibals" and the Flyers were "The Broad Street Bullies". The team was led by Lafleur (who was in the midst of six straight 50-goal seasons, the league's first ever six-consecutive-time 50-goal and 100-point scorer), Cournoyer, Dryden, Steve Shutt, Pete Mahovlich, Guy Lapointe and Larry Robinson. In the 1976-77 season the Canadiens would set a modern day record by only losing eight games in an eighty game season. The Canadiens would then go on to win three more consecutive Cups to close out the 1970s.
Most of the Canadiens' best players were retired or traded by the early 1980s (the major exceptions being Bob Gainey, Robinson, and Lafleur). They would, however, pick up star Swedish left winger Mats Naslund, as well as Guy Carbonneau in the early 1980s. By the 1985-86 NHL season, they once again had a top goalie in rookie Patrick Roy. Roy would lead the Canadiens to their only Stanley Cup of the decade that season, defeating the Calgary Flames.
1989-Today: Original Six Now Not-So-Good
But the Flames got their own back three years later. They beat the Habs to the 1989 title. "Les Habitants" won their 24th (and, to date, last) Stanley Cup four years after their "fiery" defeat, against the Los Angeles Kings (which would not normally be easy as "Les Rois" [which is French for "The Kings"] had two great offencive rewriters: centre Wayne Gretzky and left winger Luc Robitaille; the latter of whom a Montrealer by birth). By 1995, the Canadiens disintegrated and missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 years. The final straw came in December of that year, when the Canadiens lost 11-1 at home to the Detroit Red Wings. Then-head coach Mario Tremblay refused to pull goaltender Patrick Roy from the net until after the ninth goal, despite the goalie's repeated pleas. After he was pulled, Roy, who had had quite enough by then, approached then team president Ronald Corey and told him, "I've just played my last game in a Montreal Canadiens uniform." Then he walked past Tremblay — "with a defiant spark in his eye" as some newspapers may have reported — and then he took his seat behind the bench. He was dealt to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche along with Mike Keane for Jocelyn Thibault, Andrei Kovalenko, and Martin Rucinsky.
Montreal Gazette sports columnist Jack Todd has suggested that, because of the way management treated Roy, the Canadiens are under "the Curse of St. Patrick." However, while the team's Stanley Cup drought of 13 years as of the 2005-06 season is long by their standards, it is not one of the NHL's longer droughts, and their failures have not featured the kind of bizarre moments that seem to afflict other teams that are supposedly under "curses." It is still early to take a "Curse of St. Patrick" seriously, although the team has been struggling more than contending ever since the trade.
On March 11, 1996, the Canadiens defeated the Dallas Stars, 4-1 in the final game at the historic Montreal Forum. The final goal at the Forum was scored by Andrei Kovalenko. The Stars were chosen as the final Forum opponent because their captain, Guy Carbonneau, and their general manager, Bob Gainey, were both former Canadien captains. Following the game, a closing ceremony was held, in which each living Canadiens captain, wearing an up-to-date version of the uniform with his number on it, passed a torch, the older one to the younger one: Butch Bouchard to Maurice Richard to Jean Beliveau to Henri Richard to Yvan Cournoyer to Serge Savard to Gainey to Carbonneau to Pierre Turgeon, the then-captain. (Three living former captains were unavailable because they were still active with other teams: Mike Keane with the Colorado Avalanche, Kirk Muller with the New York Islanders, and Chris Chelios with the Chicago Blackhawks). Upon being introduced, 74-year-old Maurice Richard, the most popular player in team history, received an 8 minute standing ovation. Maurice Richard was, and is, according to Romanuk's book, a cultural icon, which also notes that when he died at age 78, his funeral was broadcast across Canada.
The team moved into the new Molson Centre (renamed the Bell Centre in 2003) the following Saturday, defeating the New York Rangers, 4-2. Despite solid players like Turgeon, Mark Recchi, Vladimir Malakhov, and Patrice Brisebois at various points in the late 1990s, the Canadiens would stumble and eventually miss the playoffs three straight seasons between 1999 and 2001. There was even brief talk of the team moving, especially after American investor George N. Gillett Jr. was the only interested buyer when the Molson family sold the team in 2001.
In the fall of 2001, it was revealed that centre Saku Koivu, who had been with the team since 1995, had cancer and would miss the season. However, he came back to win the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy and, along with the surprising strong play of goalie Jose Theodore (who won the Crozier Award, Hart Trophy and Vezina Trophy that season), inspired the team for a run to the 2002 playoffs as the final seed in the Eastern Conference. They then upset the Bruins in the first round, but lost to the cinderella Carolina Hurricanes in the second round.
On November 22, 2003, the Canadiens participated in the Heritage Classic, the first outdoor hockey game in the history of the NHL. Theodore helped the Habs grind down Ty Conklin and defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in front of more than 55,000 fans – an NHL attendance record – at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. The team seemed to turn a corner at that point, and finished the season in the 7th playoff seed with 93 points. The team would again play the Bruins in the playoffs. Coming back from a 3-1 deficit, the Canadiens would win the rest of the games, including a thrilling Game 7 in Boston, to again upset the Bruins. The team would run into that season's Cup winners, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and fall in a sweep.
The 2004 lockout prevented the Canadiens from gaining on the momentum of the 2004 season, but the team's future still looks bright.
During the 2005 training camp and pre-season, the main story was arguably the performance of the team's 2nd round pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, right winger Guillaume Latendresse. The 18-year old Latendresse won over fans, media, teammates and team management alike, playing with skill and passion, on-level with veteran players and surpassing other rookies. However, Latendresse was told he would not play with the Habs in 2005-06. He was sent back to the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) on October 2, 2005. Other stories included elite Swiss defenceman Mark Streit's quest at making the NHL after spending 10 years in the Switzerland National League A with the ZSC Lions and the race for the backup goaltender position left vacant by the injured Cristobal Huet (acquired from Los Angeles on June 25, 2005 in exchange for Mathieu Garon) between Carey Price, NCAABrown University alumni Yann Danis, and underdog journeyman Olivier Michaud. However, on January 13, 2006, with the team's performance not up to standards, Claude Julien was fired as coach, and replaced on an interim basis by Bob Gainey, the team's general manager. Guy Carbonneau will take over as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens for the 2006-07 season. Later on in the season, Montreal starting goalie Jose Theodore was traded to the Colorado Avalanche after numerous disappointing starts, in return for goalie David Aebischer. The Canadiens narrowly made the playoffs, again with 93 points, again finishing 7th in the Eastern Conference, again losing in 6 games to the heavily favoured Carolina Hurricanes, but in the first round. Up 2-0 in the series and 1-0 in Game 3 in the third period, Canadiens captain Koivu received a career-threatening high-stick from Carolina right-wingerJustin Williams. Koivu's left eye developed a blood clot and, sickening Hurricanes detractor Daniel Ballard, Williams was unpunished. Ballard dearly demands Williams's head. The Hurricanes' Rod Brind'Amour scored with nine minutes left in the game and again in overtime on a fluke goal by Eric Staal. The Habs did not win another game in the series, while the 'Canes got to gloat and, against the Edmonton Oilers, would finally win the Stanley Cup.
The Near Future and Beyond
The Montreal Canadiens unveiled this 100th anniversary logo to be used in 2008-09.
A major announcement about the one hundred year anniversary of Les Habs was made on October 2, 2005. On October 15 of that year, to begin the Canadiens' centennial countdown, it was announced that three more jersey numbers would be retired â€" Dickie Moore's and Yvan Cournoyer's number 12 on November 12 before their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the number 5 worn by Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion on March 11, 2006 prior to their contest against the New York Rangers, the other team he played for after a one-year retirement â€" the first since moving from "Le Forum" during a "Legends Night" ceremony, with one additional number to be hoisted to the rafters in each of the three following seasons. Boom Boom Geoffrion died on the day his number was to be retired.
The Canadiens also announced ambitious plans for their Centennial year of 2008-09, including plans to bid on hosting the World Junior Hockey Championships (which were awarded to Ottawa), the NHL Draft and the 2009 NHL All-Star Game, all to be held at the Bell Centre, although it has been widely expected that the Phoenix Coyotes are scheduled to receive the honour of hosting the NHL All-Star Game, because of the cancelled 2006 event due to the 2006 Winter Olympics.
For the first week of the 2006 free-agent market, the Canadiens were very inactive. But when, from Phoenix and the 2006 Stanley Cup finalist Edmonton Oilers, respectively, decently scoring wingersMike Johnson and Sergei Samsonov (the latter of whom a former NHL Rookie of the Year as a Boston Bruin) were acquired on July 10, 2006, the result became a Montreal Canadiens team that looks well to be in the former old direction of their best teams from 1956-60, 1965-71, 1973-79.
*Billy Coutu: First player banned from the NHL for life *Maurice Richard: In 1955, was suspended for the remainder of season and entire playoffs, resulting in a riot.
*Most Goals in a season: Steve Shutt & Guy Lafleur, 60 (1976-77 & 1977-78) *Most Assists in a season: Pete Mahovlich, 82 (1974-75) *Most Points in a season: Guy Lafleur, 136 (1976-77) *Most Penalty Minutes in a season: Chris Nilan, 358 (1984-85) *Most Points in a season, defenseman: Larry Robinson, 85 (1976-77) *Most Points in a season, rookie: Mats Naslund & Kjell Dahlin, 71 (1982-83 & 1985-86) *Most Wins in a season: Jacques Plante (twice) & Ken Dryden, 42 (1955-56/1961-62 & 1975-76) *Most Shutouts in a season: George Hainsworth, 22 (1928-29)
