48 Fun Facts About Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens won their 24th Stanley Cup in 1993 by beating which team?

The Los Angeles Kings led the series and Game 2 until Montreal had Marty McSorley's stick measured; the illegal curve set up the tying goal, and Montreal won four straight.

The Canadiens were founded in 1909 as a charter member of which league?

The National Hockey Association's owners, fed up with Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone, suspended it in 1917 and formed the NHL without him.

The Canadiens were founded to be the team of which group in Montreal?

French speakers were the target: the founders built a francophone club to rival the English Montreal Wanderers and draw francophone crowds.

The Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup in 1916 by beating which city's Rosebuds?

Portland's Rosebuds were the first US-based team to play for the Cup, and a year later Seattle beat Montreal to become the first American team to win it.

The Canadiens' nickname 'Habs' is short for which French word?

Habitants, the settlers who farmed New France, gave the team its nickname, but the H in the CH crest stands for hockey, from the full name Club de hockey Canadien.

The Canadiens' sweater is known by what reverent French nickname?

La Sainte-Flanelle, 'the holy flannel', is so tied to the Canadiens that French-language media now use it as a name for the team itself.

The Canadiens' dressing-room motto, 'To you from failing hands we throw the torch', is from which poem?

In Flanders Fields gave the Canadiens their motto; John McCrae wrote the poem in 1915 after burying his friend Alexis Helmer, killed at Ypres.

Which Canadien died weeks after breaking his leg in a 1937 game and became the first to have his number retired?

Howie Morenz, the 'Stratford Streak', lay at centre ice of the Forum for his funeral, as some 50,000 mourners filed past his casket.

Which Canadiens goaltender won the Vezina Trophy six times in seven seasons from 1944 to 1950?

Bill Durnan, who could catch and block with either hand, quit abruptly during the 1950 playoffs, worn down by the stress of the job.

Maurice Richard's 50 goals in 50 games from 1944-45 went unmatched until which player did it in 1980-81?

Mike Bossy matched the feat 36 years later, scoring twice in the final five minutes of his 50th game to reach 50 goals.

The 1955 Richard Riot erupted after the NHL did what to the Rocket?

Suspended him for the season and playoffs, for hitting a linesman: Richard then lost the scoring title by one point to teammate Bernie Geoffrion.

Which defenceman won four Norris Trophies during Montreal's five straight Cups, 1956-60?

Doug Harvey clashed with management and was traded to the Rangers in 1961, then won the Norris again in New York as player-coach.

Jacques Plante first wore a mask in a regular-season game in 1959 after his nose was broken by whose shot?

Andy Bathgate's shot broke Plante's nose, and with no backup goalie his coach had to let him return wearing the practice mask he had banned in games.

Which disease killed Canadiens goalie Georges Vézina months after he left a 1925 game ill?

Tuberculosis ended the life of the 'Chicoutimi Cucumber' in 1926, and the Canadiens' owners then donated the Vezina Trophy to the NHL in his memory.

Which Canadiens captain won the very first Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1965?

Jean Béliveau scored 14 seconds into Game 7 against Chicago, and Montreal went on to win 4-0 and take the Cup.

Which Canadiens defenceman was +120 in 1976-77, when the team set a record with 132 points?

Larry Robinson later took over the New Jersey Devils with eight games left in the 1999-2000 season and coached them to the Stanley Cup.

Which Canadiens forward won the first four Frank J. Selke Trophies, from 1978 to 1981?

Bob Gainey's first NHL team as coach, the 1990-91 Minnesota North Stars, had a losing record yet reached the Stanley Cup Final.

Which coach led the Canadiens to five Stanley Cups in the 1970s?

Scotty Bowman quit Montreal in 1979 after the club passed him over for general manager, and he left to run the Buffalo Sabres as coach and GM.

Guy Lafleur was the first NHL player to do what in six consecutive seasons?

Guy Lafleur was the first to score 50 goals and 100 points six years running, retired in 1984, then returned after his 1988 Hall of Fame induction.

After winning the 1971 Conn Smythe, which award did Ken Dryden win the following season?

Rookie of the year was still open to Dryden in 1972 because he had played only six regular-season games before his 1971 playoff run.

Ken Dryden played at which Ivy League school, winning the 1967 NCAA title in goal?

Cornell's former star later sat out the 1973-74 season in a pay dispute to article at a law firm, and Montreal, without him, fell in the first round.

Ex-Canadien Patrick Roy won his third Conn Smythe in 2001 with which team?

The Colorado Avalanche traded for Roy in December 1995, days after his Montreal blowup, and he led them to the Stanley Cup that same season.

Patrick Roy's bitter 1995 exit from Montreal followed a feud with which newly hired coach and former teammate?

Mario Tremblay left Roy in net for nine goals in an 11-1 loss to Detroit on December 2, 1995, and Roy told team president Ronald Corey it was his last game in Montreal.

Through the 2025-26 season, the Canadiens' 1993 Stanley Cup was the last won by what?

No Canadian team has won since, though Edmonton trailed Florida 3-0 in the 2024 Final and forced a Game 7 before losing it.

Which former Tampa Bay Lightning star took over as the Canadiens' head coach in February 2022?

Martin St. Louis went undrafted and was bought out by Calgary, then won the 2004 Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay on his way to the Hall of Fame.

The Forum, the Canadiens' home from 1926, was built in 1924 for which club?

The Montreal Maroons played their last season in 1937-38, and the Canadiens have been Montreal's only NHL team ever since.

The Canadiens' arena that opened in 1996 was originally known by what name?

Molson Centre became the Bell Centre in 2002 after Molson, having sold control of the team, gave up the naming rights and Bell Canada paid US$100 million for them.

Which American businessman bought 80.1 percent of the Canadiens and all of their arena in 2001?

George Gillett Jr. got the club because no Canadian buyer came forward, at a time when a low Canadian dollar had the country's NHL teams struggling financially.

Which former Expos mascot became the Canadiens' first costumed mascot in 2005?

Youppi was the first mascot ejected from an MLB game, tossed in 1989 for banging on the Dodgers' dugout roof in the 11th inning.

Who captained the Canadiens in 2008-09, when they became the first team with 3,000 regular-season wins?

Saku Koivu missed most of 2001-02 with cancer; when he returned that April, Montreal fans stood and cheered for eight minutes before the opening faceoff.

In 2015 Carey Price won the Hart, Vezina, Jennings and which fourth trophy in one season?

The Ted Lindsay Award, voted by the players, completed the sweep. As a boy in remote Anahim Lake, Price was flown to practices in a small plane his father bought to spare a five-hour drive.

The Canadiens reached the 2021 Stanley Cup Final after overcoming a 3-1 first-round deficit against which team?

The Toronto Maple Leafs had finished 18 points ahead of Montreal, yet the Canadiens won Games 5 and 6 in overtime and then took Game 7 in Toronto.

The Canadiens upset which team in the 2021 semifinals?

The Vegas Golden Knights had finished 23 points ahead of Montreal, but Artturi Lehkonen's overtime goal in Game 6 sent the Canadiens to the Final.

Last in 2021-22 for the first time since 1939-40, the Canadiens drafted whom first overall?

Juraj Slafkovský went ahead of long-time favourite Shane Wright, months after leading the Beijing Olympics with seven goals as Slovakia won its first Olympic hockey medal.

Which retired Canadiens sweater number belonged to Maurice 'Rocket' Richard?

9 replaced the 15 he wore as a rookie: Richard switched after his daughter Huguette was born weighing nine pounds.

The Canadiens' home sweater is the only NHL uniform to carry which detail on its collar?

The French-language LNH shield, for Ligue nationale de hockey, only arrived in 2015; until then even the Canadiens wore the English NHL shield at the neck.

A passage from which Roch Carrier work appeared on Canada's 2002 five-dollar bill?

The Hockey Sweater opens with the lines printed on the bill; in it, a mail-order mix-up leaves a young Canadiens fan wearing the hated rival's colours to the rink.

The Canadiens' provincial rivalry with the Nordiques from 1979 to 1995 was nicknamed what?

The Battle of Quebec boiled over on Good Friday 1984, when brawls in a Montreal playoff win brought 11 ejections and 252 penalty minutes.

Which team have the Canadiens played more than any other, in regular season and playoffs combined?

The Boston Bruins pull clear through the playoffs: 177 postseason games against Montreal, more than double the total of any other opponent.

Which Canadiens winger, nicknamed 'The Roadrunner', won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1973?

Yvan Cournoyer also tied the deciding game of the 1972 Summit Series at 5-5 in the third period, minutes before Paul Henderson's famous winner.

Which team's 35-game unbeaten run in 1979-80 topped the Canadiens' 28?

The Philadelphia Flyers went 25-0-10 from October 1979 to January 1980, yet lost that spring's Stanley Cup Final to the Islanders.

Who wins the Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy, donated by the Canadiens in 1999?

The regular-season leading goal scorer gets the trophy the Rocket never could: Richard led the NHL in goals five times before it existed.

Which general manager ran the Canadiens from 1964 to 1978, winning nine Stanley Cups?

Sam Pollock traded for the California Golden Seals' 1971 first-round pick a year early; the Seals finished last, and the pick became Guy Lafleur.

What was the name of the temporary all-Canadian division the Canadiens played in during 2020-21?

North was the name: border travel limits put all seven Canadian clubs in one division, and fourth-place Montreal went on to reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Who founded the Canadiens on December 4, 1909?

J. Ambrose O'Brien kept his creation for just one season: the Canadiens finished last, and in 1910 the name passed to a Montreal club that claimed it as its own.

Before the H arrived in 1917-18, the letter inside the Canadiens' C stood for what?

An A, for Athlétique, sat inside the C because the crest carried the initials of the team's official name, the Club Athlétique Canadien.

Which captain carried the torch from the Forum's 1996 farewell into the Canadiens' new arena?

Pierre Turgeon, captain only since December 1995, took the torch from a line of former captains on March 11, 1996, and was traded away that October.

Which defenceman, who played for the Canadiens from 2016 to 2021, entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2024?

Shea Weber arrived in a one-for-one trade for P. K. Subban, captained the 2021 run to the Final, and never played again because of injuries.