The Montreal Canadiens have been around since before the dawn of the NHL. They’re the only remaining club today that existed before the league was founded and have won the Stanley Cup more times than any other team. Those are quite the credentials – and if you factor in the fact that their history predates every Canadian franchise and almost every American franchise, the Montreal Canadiens are practically oozing with history. With such a saga, conversations around the team could go on for days, weeks, even months, whether it’s about their glory days or their distinguishable decline in recent years.
The Early Days
The Montreal Canadiens were initially named “Les Canadiens” in a bid to appeal to Montreal’s francophone community. As francophone hockey teams were stigmatized back in the day and deemed not good enough to compete with anglophone teams, they sadly proved these stereotypes right in the beginning. They ended their inaugural season with a 2-10 losing record and finished last in the league, winning zero of their games on the road. In contrast, their rivals, the Montreal Wanderers (the city’s anglophone team), clinched first place. They later disbanded in 1918 due to financial hardships and the destruction of their arena, and the Canadiens took over as Montreal’s official team. That same year, the Habs won the NHL championship against the Sens.
Things were tough for Montreal at the start. They were plagued by a pandemic, had trouble finding an official arena, owner George Kennedy passed away from the Spanish flu, and saw the departure of their best player, Joe Malone. He notably scored five goals in their official NHL debut in a 7-4 victory over Ottawa.
Wins After Wins
Then, the mid-1950s hit, and the Habs went on a winning streak that no other team in history has ever replicated. With five consecutive Stanley Cup wins between 1956 and 1960 (two against the Maple Leafs, two against the Boston Bruins, and one against the Detroit Red Wings), they made a name for themselves as an unstoppable team. Perhaps it was the Richard Riot (l’affaire Richard) that sparked this dominance or the fact that they were just a hair away from winning in the 1955 Stanley Cup Finals. The truth is there were many contributing factors to this unbelievable run. They hired a new coach, Hector “Toe” Blake, claimed the league’s best goalie, Jacques Plante, and had lines with next-level chemistry. Maurice “Rocket” Richard was one of those icons, the first player in history to score 50 goals in a season – and who the NHL top goal scorer trophy is named after. One of the others? Jean Béliveau, an unforgettable player of the Canadiens and the entire NHL who won 17 Stanley Cups in his career.
Even though their five-peat ended in 1961, they continued to do well, becoming champions in 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971, and 1973. The Habs weren’t winning back-to-back, but they remained a force in the NHL. The team continued to sign countless young stars and enjoyed plenty of successes with Scotty Bowman as their coach, and they won four straight Cups from 1976 to 1979. They were so superior during this era that Ken Dryden expressed that he was “a little bored” without the competition that hockey is so widely known for.
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The Era of Mediocrity
With the NHL continuing to expand and old superstars beginning to retire, the Habs weren’t at the top of the league anymore. In fact, the Edmonton Oilers annihilated them in the first round of the playoffs in the 1980-1981 season – and couldn’t make it past the first round for three years in a row. They experienced constant changes in management and coaching, but the mediocrity continued.
Something drastic needed to happen, so coach Jean Perron put the entire team up in a hotel for the 1985-1986 playoffs to get players focused and ready for what was to come. Thanks to that radical decision and the stellar goaltending of rookie Patrick Roy, they went on to win their 23rd Stanley Cup that season.
The Montreal Canadiens Today
At the turn of the century, the team faced plenty of ups and downs, with an abysmal last-place finish in the 2000-2001 season, a bounce back in 2007-2008 when they won the division title, and then a humiliating 4-0 defeat by the Calgary Flames in the Heritage Classic – in front of a record crowd of over 57,000 people.
With their last Stanley Cup win in 1993, the Habs are yet to replicate the fiery successes and the supremacy they used to have between the 1950s and 1970s. Based on the team’s performances in the last few seasons, it’s clear that the Canadiens are lacking in consistency. Coming in last in the league in 2022, which they previously did in the 1939-1940 season, isn’t a good sign for what’s to come, and getting eliminated from playoff contention so early in the 2023 season is a further indication that something needs to change.
Montreal has a young team, with many players in their early 20s. Could this be an experience issue, a natural part of the rebuilding phase, or a lack of on-ice leadership? It seems like time and the necessary alterations will tell.