The Montreal Canadiens, officially le Club de hockey Canadien and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Other nicknames for the team include Le Canadien, Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge, La Sainte-Flanelle, Le Tricolore, Les Glorieux, Le CH, Le Grand Club and Les Habitants. Since 1996, the Canadiens have played their home games at Bell Centre, originally known as Molson Centre. The team previously played at the Montreal Forum, which housed the team for seven decades and all but their first two Stanley Cup championships.
Aurèle Émile "Mighty Atom, Little Giant" Joliat was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens.
Joseph Georges Gonzague Vézina was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played seven seasons in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and nine in the National Hockey League (NHL), all with the Montreal Canadiens. After being signed by the Canadiens in 1910, Vézina played in 327 consecutive regular season games and a further 39 playoff games, before leaving early during a game in 1925 due to illness. Vézina was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and died on March 27, 1926.
Robert Michael Gainey is a former professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1973 until 1989. After retiring from active play, he became a hockey coach and later an executive with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars organization before returning to Montreal as general manager from 2003 to 2010. Currently, Gainey serves as a team consultant for the St. Louis Blues as well as a volunteer senior advisor for the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992. In 2017 Gainey was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
William Scott Bowman, OC is a Canadian retired National Hockey League (NHL) head coach. He holds the record for most wins in league history, with 1,248 wins in the regular season and 223 in the Stanley Cup playoffs and ranks second all time for most Stanley Cup victories by a player, coach or executive with fourteen. He coached the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Detroit Red Wings. He is currently the Senior Advisor of Hockey Operations for the Chicago Blackhawks. Bowman is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in NHL history.
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.
The Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), founded in 1921, was a major professional ice hockey league originally based in the prairies of Canada. It was renamed the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1925 and disbanded in 1926.
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 11 Stanley Cups as a player, the most in NHL history. In 2017, Richard was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
Joseph Hector "Toe" Blake, was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is best known for his three-decade association with the Montreal Canadiens, with whom he won the Stanley Cup eleven times as a player or coach. In 2017 Blake was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
William Robert Baker is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 143 regular season games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens, Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers between 1980 and 1983.
Carey Price is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is considered to be one of the best goaltenders in the world by many colleagues, fans, The Hockey News, and EA Sports; and one of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the Montreal Canadiens by several media outlets.
Joshua Daniel Gorges is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenseman. He is of German ancestry; his grandparents immigrated from Germany to Canada. Gorges played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the San Jose Sharks, Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres.
The 1919 Stanley Cup Finals was the ice hockey playoff series to determine the 1919 Stanley Cup champions. The series was cancelled due to an outbreak of Spanish flu after five games had been played, and no champion was declared. It was the only time in the history of the Stanley Cup that it was not awarded due to a no-decision after playoffs were held.
Alan William Hangsleben is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman from Warroad, Minnesota. He played for the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association between 1974 and 1979, and then in the National Hockey League with the Hartford Whalers, Washington Capitals, and Los Angeles Kings between 1979 and 1982. Internationally Hangsleben played for the American national team at three World Championships and the 1976 Canada Cup.
William Donald Nyrop was a professional ice hockey player who won three Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens in 1976, 1977, and 1978.
The 1986 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1985–86 season, and the culmination of the 1986 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Calgary Flames and the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens would win the best-of-seven series, four games to one, to win their 23rd Stanley Cup, and their 17th in their last 18 Finals appearances dating back to 1956.
The 1985–86 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's 77th season. The team won the Stanley Cup for the first time in seven seasons, and their 23rd overall.
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.
Dominique Ducharme is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Cole Caufield is an American professional ice hockey right wing for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). Caufield was drafted 15th overall by the Canadiens in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.
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