Montreal Canadiens Franchise History


	Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens (or as the franchise is officially known as Le club de hockey Canadien) organization was founded in 1909-1910, making them the oldest team in professional hockey.
Team is also know as "The Habs" and 'The Flying Frenchmen".
The team logo is a C with an H in the centre, representing Club de Hockey Canadien.
After playing an incredible 15 seasons in a row in the NHL without missing a single game, November 28, 1925 Georges Vezina fell to to the ice with blood rolling from his mouth and short of breath breath, marking the end of a remarkable NHL career. Just a few months later the tuberculosis Vezina (aka the Chicoutimi Cucumber) suffered from took his life at the age of 37. Years later the Montreal Canadiens introduced the Vezina trophy, awarded to the leagues best NHL goaltender.
During the 1928-28 season, George Hainsworth led the league in goaltending posting an amazing 22 shutouts, a record that still stands today. That season Hainsworth became the very first recipient of the Vezina trophy, which was in honour of his predecessor. The following season the NHL saw a rule change allowing forward passes in the offensive zone.
40 players that have worn the Montreal Canadien jersey are now in the hockey hall of fame.
The Canadiens lost goaltender Georges Vezina to tuberculosis in 1925 and went on to finish last in the league. The following season, the Canadiens signed George Hainsworth, who would win the newly created Vezina Trophy for best goaltender. Hainsworth would be the league's best goalie for the next few years.
The early 30s were rough for the Habs and by 1935/1936 they had the worst record in the league. Stunned by such a horrible performance, the NHL gave Montreal the rights to all French Canadian players for two years. The following season, they had the 2nd best record in the league.
1943/1944 saw the Canadiens return to their winning ways, taking home the Stanley Cup after an impressive year in which they had only lost five games the entire 50 game season.
In 1945, Maurice 'Rocket' Richard became the first player to score 50 goals in a single season, reaching the mark on the final night of the season.
In 1956 the Canadiens established a farm team in Peterborough (now known as the Peterborough Petes), which compete in the OHL
In 1957, the owners of the Molson brewery bought the team.
In 1959, Jacques Plante changed the goalie position forever when after taking a slapshot to the face he returned to the ice wearing a goalie mask. Although coach Toe Blake was furious about Plante wearing the mask Plante refused to stop wearing it, and after going on an 18 game winning streak wearing the mask Blake had no choice but to concede. Soon after, other goalies followed suit and the goal mask became commonplace in the NHL.
In 1976, under head coach Scotty Bowman, the Habs set an NHL record by losing only eight games in an eighty game schedule. They went on to win the Cup once again.
In 1995, the Canadiens missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 years. That same season, Patrick Roy told the then team president Ronald Corey "I just played my last game in this town." after head coach Mario Tremblay waited until Detroit Red Wings had potted 9 goals against the netminder before pulling him from the game.

Montreal Canadien All-Time Scoring Leaders
Rank	Player	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Guy Lafleur	961	518	728	1246
2	Jean Beliveau	1125	507	712	1219
3	Henri Richard	1256	358	688	1046
4	Maurice Richard	978	544	421	965
5	Larry Robinson	1202	197	686	883
6	Yvan Cournoyer	968	428	435	863
7	Jacques Lemaire	853	366	469	835
8	Steve Shutt	871	408	368	776
9	Bernie Geoffrion	766	371	388	759
10	Elmer Lach	664	215	408	623

Best Season:
1976/1977 (60-8-12 132 Pts)
Worst Season:
1939/40 (10-3-33-5, 25 pts)

Retired Numbers
#1- Jacques Plante
#2- Doug Harvey
#4- Jean Beliveau
#7- Howie Morenz
#9- Maurice Richard
#10- Guy Lafeur
#16- Henri Richard

Vezina Trophy Winners:28
1927 George Hainsworth
1928 George Hainsworth
1929 George Hainsworth
1944 Bill Durnan
1945 Bill Durnan
1946 Bill Durnan
1947 Bill Durnan
1949 Bill Durnan
1950 Bill Durnan
1956 Jacques Plante
1957 Jacques Plante
1958 Jacques Plante
1959 Jacques Plante
1960 Jacques Plante
1962 Jacques Plante
1964 Charlie Hodge
1966 Gump Worsley/ Charlie Hodge
1968 Gump Worsley/ Rogie Vachon
1973 Ken Dryden
1976 Ken Dryden
1977 Ken Dryden/ Bunny Larocque
1978 Ken Dryden/ Bunny Larocque
1979 Ken Dryden/ Bunny Larocque
1981 Richard Sevigny/ Denis Heron/Bunny Larocque
1989 Patrick Roy
1990 Patrick Roy
1992 Patrick Roy
2002 Jose Theodore

The team logos on this site are property of their respective organizations and are used strictly for demonstration purposes.

canadiens

Montreal Forum

Arena History
Montreal Arena	1909-1918
Jubilee Arena	1918-1920
Mount Royal Arena	1920-1924
Montreal Forum	1924-1996
Bell (was Molson) Center	1996-present

Canadiens with Stanley Cup

League Championships: 24
1916
1924
1930
1931
1944
1946
1953
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1965
1966
1968
1969
1971
1973
1976
1977
1978
1979
1986
1993