History of the Montreal Canadiens

[1] Created as a founding member of the National Hockey Association (NHA) with the aim of appealing to Montreal's francophone population, the Canadiens played their first game on January 5, 1910, and captured their first Stanley Cup in 1916.

They returned to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1919, but their series against the Seattle Metropolitans was cancelled without a winner due to the Spanish flu pandemic that killed defenceman Joe Hall.

Their fortunes rebounded following World War II as they reached the Stanley Cup Finals each year from 1951 to 1960, winning six championships, including a record five consecutive titles from 1956 to 1960.

[6] As a result, the National Hockey Association (NHA) was founded on December 2, 1909,[8] and Les Canadiens were created two days later, initially financed by O'Brien with the intent of transferring ownership to francophone sportsmen in Montreal as soon as possible.

The title earned the Canadiens their first berth in the Stanley Cup Finals, where they faced the Portland Rosebuds of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA).

[24] The NHA met its demise in the winter of 1917 following several long-running disputes between Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone and the league's other four teams over who owned the rights to various players.

[63] Dandurand and Cattarinich entered negotiations to sell the club and move it to Cleveland, Ohio, but a syndicate of local Montreal businessmen led by Maurice Forget and Ernest Savard stepped forward to buy the team and prevent the transfer.

"[67] On the day of his funeral, 50,000 people filed past Morenz's casket at centre ice of the Montreal Forum to pay their last respects to the man the media called "the Babe Ruth of hockey".

Largely due to the team's poor play, the Canadiens only drew 3,000 fans per game, leading Savard and his partners to consider suspending operations at least for the duration of World War II.

[75] Canadiens General Manager Tommy Gorman reportedly ensured his players obtained jobs in key wartime industries to avoid conscription.

[77] Led by the "Punch Line" of Richard, Toe Blake and Elmer Lach, the Habs won their fifth Stanley Cup in 1944, losing only five games in the regular season.

[84] The Canadiens finally bought the entire Quebec senior league in 1953 and turned it professional in order to bring Beliveau into the fold,[83] and he signed a five-year contract for $100,000.

[84] In March 1955, Richard was suspended for the remainder of the season, including the playoffs, after he received a match penalty for slashing Boston's Hal Laycoe and subsequently punching a linesman who intervened.

[85] The suspension touched off a wave of anger toward league president Clarence Campbell, who was warned not to attend a scheduled game in Montreal after receiving numerous death threats, mainly from French-Canadians accusing him of anti-French bias.

Trailing 5–2 with eight minutes to play, head coach Claude Ruel pulled his goaltender for an extra skater and watched Montreal surrender five empty net goals while scoring none to lose the game 10–2 and the final playoff spot to the Rangers.

[104] Team captain Jean Beliveau, the fourth player in league history to score 500 career goals,[104] announced his retirement following the season.

The Canadiens played a central role in the 1979 merger with the WHA, which added the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets to the NHL.

Most of the NHL's American teams were in favour of the merger in part because they thought it would help them challenge Montreal's dominance, whereas against the deal were the Canadiens, who, along with the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs, opposed splitting Hockey Night in Canada television revenues six ways instead of three.

[2][116] The boycott, along with pressure from the House of Commons of Canada, led Montreal and Vancouver to reverse their positions when a re-vote was held on March 22, 1979, allowing the merger to pass.

[122] Gainey explained the changing fortunes of the franchise following their playoff defeat at the hands of the Nordiques in 1982: "We can't put on our sweaters anymore and expect to win.

[126] The 1986 Canadiens were young and led by rookie head coach Jean Perron and forward Claude Lemieux,[127] in addition to Roy, who became the youngest player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Attempting to gain an advantage for his team, head coach Jacques Demers called for a measurement of Los Angeles Kings forward Marty McSorley's stick.

[149] The season concluded with rumours of the team being sold and relocated if it did not receive government subsidies to help alleviate pressures from Quebec's tax system and the record-low value of the Canadian dollar.

[148] Montreal missed the playoffs again the next two seasons, and annual losses of $10–$12 million and a desire to focus on its core brewing business led Molson to put the franchise up for sale in the summer of 2001.

[151] As part of the deal, Molson retained 19.9% of the team and were granted the right of first refusal for any future sale by Gillett; in addition, the NHL Board of Governors would be required to unanimously approve any attempt to move to a new city.

On the ice, the team reached the 2010 playoffs as the eighth seed for the second year in a row, yet upset the top-seeded Washington Capitals and the then-defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the first two rounds.

The team rebounded in the lockout-shortened 2012–13 season, moving up from 15th place to second, but lost 4–1 in the first round against the Ottawa Senators, their fourth-straight playoff series loss.

The Canadiens failed to reach the playoffs in each of the next two seasons, entering a period of rebuilding that saw them trade away veteran faces like Tomas Plekanec, Alex Galchenyuk, Andrew Shaw and Max Pacioretty.

[174] In the following round, Montreal defeated the Vegas Golden Knights with a game six overtime goal by Artturi Lehkonen, advancing to its first Stanley Cup Finals appearance since 1993.

Gainey was considered one of the game's elite defensive forwards, winning four Selke Trophies and five Stanley Cups before serving as coach and general manager of the team.

A collage of 12 photographs representing each member of the first Montreal Canadiens team surround the phrase "Club de Hockey le Canadien 1909–10"
The 1909–10 Canadiens
A group photograph of ten hockey players wearing horizontally striped jerseys with a maple leaf logo surrounding the letters "CAC", along with their coach
The Montreal Canadiens pose for a team photo, 1912–13
Half-length view of an ice hockey player in his late twenties. He has short black hair and a serious look. He is wearing a sweater with the letter C surrounded by a maple leaf on the chest.
Newsy Lalonde helped lead the Canadiens to their first Stanley Cup in 1916. [ 12 ]
Profile of a goaltender in full uniform looking down at his stick. He is wearing thick pads around his legs, and padded gloves that reach near his elbows.
Georges Vezina played 16 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens between 1910 and 1925. The Vezina Trophy is named after him.
Two rows of seven hockey players pose while on the ice. A small group of fans observe in the background.
The 1942 Canadiens
Upper body of a young man in a suit and tie with slicked back hair and a serious look on his face
Maurice "Rocket" Richard starred for the Canadiens from 1942 to 1960 and was the first player to score 50 goals in 50 games .
A white, fibreglass mask with numerous scratches on the surface. It has cutouts for the eyes and mouth.
Jacques Plante 's original mask. He was the first goaltender in NHL history to regularly wear one.
An ice hockey player skating across the ice with a look of concentration on his face. He is in his late fifties, and is wearing a red jersey with blue and white horizontal stripes across the chest, with an H inside of a C logo.
Larry Robinson , pictured in 2008, played 17 seasons in Montreal, winning six championships. [ 99 ]
An ice hockey player in his forties stands on the ice wearing a red jersey with horizontal blue and white stripes and his stick held across his waist. He is concentrating on something off in the distance.
Vincent Damphousse led the Canadiens in playoff scoring in 1993, recording 23 points in 20 games.
Montreal Canadiens locker room in the Bell Centre
Several ice hockey players in red uniforms line up around the near half of a large circle on the ice, opposed on the other side by several in white uniforms. A player from each team stands at the centre of the circle, joined by a referee wearing a vertically striped black and white uniform.
The Canadiens face the Bruins during their centennial season.
Some of the Canadiens' retired numbers and Stanley Cup championship banners atop the Bell Centre .
Full profile of a balding ice hockey player in full uniform leaning forward on his stick with a serious look on his face.
Howie Morenz was a member of the first class of Hall of Fame inductees in 1945.
Half-length view of a portly, balding man wearing glasses as he walks down a street
Scotty Bowman coached the Habs to five Stanley Cups in the 1970s.