Montreal Canadiens

Team Summary

The Montreal Canadiens are an NHL team playing in the Atlantic Division based in Montreal, Quebec. The Canadiens are an Original Six franchise and one of the oldest teams in the entire National Hockey League, founded in 1909.

Montreal is one of the most iconic teams in sports due to their popularity and unmatched success- no team has won more cups than the Habs, and their 24 Stanley Cup wins.

The Canadiens are recently coming off of a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup during the 2021 playoffs, where they were ultimately defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.

Since then, Montreal has struggled immensely, finding themselves at the bottom of the league standings, a new general manager, and a whole lot of questions about the future of the franchise. Still, Montreal is the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup, taking home the championship title during the 1993 season.

Montreal Canadiens Standings

The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The team is a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference of the NHL. The Canadiens have a passionate fan base and have a history of success, having won multiple championships in the past.

Team History

As one of the oldest teams in the history of the NHL, it’s nearly impossible to cover the full history of the team. Here’s a quick summary.

The Montreal Canadiens were founded in 1909, predating the NHL itself- at the time of its founding, Montreal was a member of the National Hockey Association.

The league would eventually form in 1917, with the Canadiens finding some immediate success. The Habs would win their first cup in 1924, winning 12 more cups before the NHL expansion of 1967. The Habs would have some Hall of Fame-worthy players in this era, most notably Maurice Richard.

The Habs would find more success after the ’67 expansion, though the championship wins would start to slow down with “only” 12 more wins.

The success would come to a complete stop in 1993 after winning their most recent championship; since then, the Habs have come close to returning with the cup with players like P.K. Subban and Carey Price, but unable to find the same success from their previous history.

Key Stats

Montreal is having a rough go of it this season, saying the least. Following a miracle run to the finals after squeaking into the playoffs, the Habs are now one of the worst teams in the league with an 8-25-5 record and a measly 21 points.

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact cause of Montreal’s collapse, though injuries have been significant with two key players. Captain Shea Weber announced he will no longer play in the NHL due to lingering injuries, while Carey Price has been dealing with several off-ice issues and has been out for the entirety of the 2021-2022 season.

Considering the leadership of those two players alone, the Habs locker room has likely taken a huge hit. The departure of other key players in the run like Philip Denault and Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the offseason has taken a toll on the forward depth, resulting in a significantly deflated offensive output this season.

Nick Suzuki leads the Canadiens this season with seven goals and 14 assists in 38 games; Jonathan Drouin is right behind him, scoring 20 points in 34 games. Jeff Petry is a far cry from his season last year, with only one goal and three assists all season.

Originally signed as the backup to Carey Price, Jake Allen is now the go-to starter in Montreal with a 5-16-2 record on the season and a SV% of .901.

Championships Won by the Team

The Montreal Canadiens are the most successful NHL franchise in history, with a total of 24 championships won by the team since their creation in 1909. Twenty four seems to be the magic number for the Habs, as they have also won a total of 24 conference championships.

It should be noted that despite making it to the Stanley Cup Finals during the 2020-2021 playoffs, the league did not award Tampa or Montreal with a conference title, citing the changes to the divisional structure and odd playoff format as the primary reason.

The most recent Canadiens Stanley Cup win was during the 1993 season with goaltender Patrick Roy and forward Brian Bellows. Forward Vincent Damphousse scored 11 goals, and 12 assists in 20 games played, while Patrick Roy won the Conn Smyth trophy for his excellent .929 SV%.

Surprisingly, the Canadiens have never won a President’s Trophy in franchise history, as the award did not exist until after 1985.

Important Team Events

The 2020-2021 playoffs were extremely unique- due to the Covid-19 pandemic, teams could no longer cross the border to play in Canada. The league decided to create new divisions for just one year, electing to put all the Canadian teams into one division for the season.

As a result, the North Division consisted solely of Canadian teams, with the Toronto Maple Leafs on top and the Montreal Canadiens just barely squeaking in.

At first, it looked as though the series would end just as many had predicted, with Toronto taking a quick 3-1 lead (It should be noted here that the Leafs had not won a playoff series since 2004).

However, Montreal rallied and came back with a stunning 4-3 win over their archrivals, thanks in no small part to Carey Price. Montreal would then sweep the Winnipeg Jets and down the Vegas Golden Knights in a six-game series, earning an unlikely spot in the finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Though they were ultimately defeated in five games, their comeback win over Toronto and run through the playoffs made for one of the most memorable playoffs in recent history.

Top Players

With such a long history, the Canadiens have had tons of Hall of Fame players. The current franchise leader for most points is Guy LeFleur, scoring a total of 1246 points and in his stay with Montreal from 1972-1985. LeFleur also holds the franchise records for assists at 728, but the franchise record for most goals goes to Maurice Richard at 544.

Richard played with Montreal from 1940-1960, becoming the all-time leader in goals at the time. Because of his ability to score, the league named the Maurice “Rocket” Richard award after him, awarding it to the player that scores the most goals in the entire league at the end of a season.

His brother, Henri Richard, played with Montreal from 1955-to 1975 and currently holds the franchise record for games played at 1258.

Carey Price has been the face of the modern Canadiens, drafted fifth overall in the 2005 NHL draft. Though he has yet to win a cup with the team, Price already holds the franchise records for wins at 360.

Top Coaches

Montreal has had 25 coaches in franchise history and are currently led by Dominique Ducharme as of the 2021 season. Ducharme took over for the Habs after head coach Claude Julien was let go in February 2021.

There are two extremely influential coaches in the whole history of the Montreal Canadiens, the first being Toe Blake. Blake coached from 1955-to 1968 with a staggering 914 games and a win rate of .634 in the regular season.

If that wasn’t impressive enough, Blake won a total of eight Stanley Cups during his stay with the team, retiring after his final Cup win in 1968.

The other major coach in the history of the Habs is Scotty Bowman, who led the team from 1971-to 1979. While not with the team nearly as long as Toe Blake, Bowman brought the Cup to Quebec five times in eight years, finishing with a .714 win rate in the playoffs and a regular season record of 419-110-105. If you love sports and want more sports betting information follow us as @InsidersBetDig on Twitter and sign up to our mailing list for free betting picks.