The Montreal Canadiens, officially le Club de hockey Canadien and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Since 1996, the team has played its home games at Bell Centre, originally known as Molson Centre. The Canadiens previously played at the Montreal Forum, which housed the team for seven decades and all but their first two Stanley Cup championships.
Guy Damien Lafleur, nicknamed "the Flower" and "Le Démon Blond", was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was the first player in National Hockey League (NHL) history to score 50 goals in six consecutive seasons as well as 50 goals and 100 points in six consecutive seasons. Between 1971 and 1991, Lafleur played right wing for the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Quebec Nordiques in an NHL career spanning 17 seasons, and five Stanley Cup championships in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. Lafleur was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history in 2017, and was named to the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2022.
Patrick Jacques Roy is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former goaltender and executive. He is the head coach of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Roy previously served as the head coach for the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, as well as the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history and was hailed in sports media as "king of goaltenders".
Joseph Jean Arthur Béliveau was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played parts of 20 seasons with the National Hockey League's (NHL) Montreal Canadiens from 1950 to 1971. Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972, "Le Gros Bill" Béliveau is widely regarded as one of the ten greatest NHL players of all time. Born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Béliveau first played professionally in the Quebec Major Hockey League (QMHL). He made his NHL debut with the Canadiens in 1950, but chose to remain in the QMHL full-time until 1953.
Yvan Serge Cournoyer is a Canadian former professional hockey right winger who played in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens for 16 seasons, from 1963–64 to 1978–79, winning 10 Stanley Cups. In 1972, Cournoyer scored the tying goal in the deciding game eight of the Canada-USSR series with seven minutes remaining. Canada went on to win the game and the series on Paul Henderson's dramatic goal with 34 seconds left in the game.
Howard William Morenz was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Beginning in 1923, he played centre for three National Hockey League (NHL) teams: the Montreal Canadiens, the Chicago Black Hawks, and the New York Rangers. Before joining the NHL, Morenz excelled in the junior Ontario Hockey Association, where his team played for the Memorial Cup, the championship for junior ice hockey in Canada. In the NHL, he was one of the most dominant players in the league and set several league scoring records. A strong skater, Morenz was referred to as the "Stratford Streak" and "Mitchell Meteor" in reference to his speed on the ice.
Joseph Patrice Brisebois is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman for the Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche, playing nearly 900 games with the former and 1,009 games overall. Brisebois was recently the Canadiens' Director of Player Development.
Richard Winston "Dickie" Moore was a Canadian professional hockey player, successful businessman and community philanthropist. He twice won the Art Ross Trophy as the National Hockey League's leading scorer and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Moore spent much of his career with the Montreal Canadiens, but also played briefly with the Toronto Maple Leafs and St. Louis Blues. In 2017 Moore was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
Joseph Henri Richard was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played centre with the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1955 to 1975. He was nicknamed "Pocket Rocket" after his older brother, Canadiens' legend and fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Maurice "Rocket" Richard. Henri won the Stanley Cup 11 times as a player, the most in NHL history. Richard and Bill Russell of the National Basketball Association are tied for the record of the most championships won by an athlete in a North American sports league. In 2017, Richard was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
Serge Aubrey Savard is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman, most famously with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously served as Senior Vice President, Hockey Operations, and as general manager of the Montreal Canadiens. He is also a local businessman in Montreal, and is nicknamed "the Senator." In 2017 Savard was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.
Mats Torsten Näslund, nicknamed "Le Petit Viking", is a Swedish former ice hockey player. He played as a left winger. Despite his small size at only five feet and seven inches, Näslund is best known for being one of the top forwards with the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens from 1982 to 1990. In addition to the Canadiens, Näslund played for Timrå IK, Brynäs IF, and Malmö IF of the Swedish Elite League, and HC Lugano of the National League A between 1975 and 1994. He made a short NHL comeback attempt in 1995 with the Boston Bruins following the 1994–95 NHL lockout, and retired after the season's conclusion.
Brian Paul Engblom is a Canadian ice hockey broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and a former professional hockey defenseman. He was a three-time Stanley Cup winner with the Montreal Canadiens.
Andrei Viktorovich Markov is a Russian-Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. Nicknamed "the General", Markov formerly played from 2000 to 2017 with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He holds both Russian and Canadian citizenship.
Carey Price is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently under contract for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). Considered one of the best goaltenders in the world during his career, Price is the winningest goaltender in Canadiens history as of the 2022–23 season, with 361 wins.
The 1999–2000 Montreal Canadiens season was the club's 91st season of play. The club failed to qualify for the 2000 Stanley Cup playoffs. Pierre Boivin replaced Ronald Corey as team president of the Canadiens. On September 2, 1999, Molson executive James Arnett announced that Molson would put the franchise up for sale.
The 1974–75 Montreal Canadiens season was the 66th season in team history. The Montreal Canadiens were eliminated in the semi-finals against the Buffalo Sabres four games to two. Henri Richard would play his final season with the club.
Pernell-Karl Sylvester Subban is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. Between 2009 and 2022, he played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, and New Jersey Devils. The Canadiens selected Subban in the second round, 43rd overall, of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. In 2013, he won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenceman, and tied with Kris Letang as the season's leading scorer among defencemen. In the summer of 2014, he signed an eight-year, $72 million contract with the Canadiens, running through the 2021–22 season. After the 2015–16 season, Subban was traded to the Nashville Predators, where he spent three seasons before being traded to New Jersey in 2019. He is now a broadcast analyst for the NHL on ESPN.
Jake Allen is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the second round, 34th overall, by the St. Louis Blues in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019. Allen has also previously played for the Montreal Canadiens.
The Bruins–Canadiens rivalry is a National Hockey League (NHL) rivalry between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens. It is considered "one of the greatest rivalries in sports." Retired Bruins forward Bob Sweeney, who played for the Bruins between 1986–87 and 1991–92, once called it among the "top three rivalries in all of sports,... right up there with the... New York Yankees–Boston Red Sox." The two teams have played each other more times, in both regular season play and the Stanley Cup playoffs combined, than any other two teams in NHL history.
The Canadiens–Maple Leafs rivalry is an ice hockey rivalry between the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs, two professional ice hockey clubs in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Canadiens and Maple Leafs are the league's oldest teams, with the former established in 1909 and the latter in 1917. Both clubs compete in the Atlantic Division of the NHL's Eastern Conference.
