Montreal Canadiens Timeline

Ambrose O'Brien founded the Montreal Canadiens on December 4, 1909, as a charter member of the National Hockey Association (NHA), the forerunner to the National Hockey League. The Canadiens are the oldest continuously operating professional ice hockey team worldwide.

The Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup championship in the 1915–16 season. That same year, John McCrae wrote the poem 'In Flanders Fields', from which the team's motto would later be drawn.

In 1917, with four other NHA teams, the Canadiens formed the National Hockey League. They are the only existing NHL club to predate the founding of the league.

Image source: National Hockey League

The Canadiens won their first NHL Stanley Cup during the 1923–24 season, led by superstar Howie Morenz, who became one of the franchise's early icons.

For the 1926–27 season, the Canadiens moved from the Mount Royal Arena to the Montreal Forum, which would remain their home for decades and host 22 Stanley Cup-winning seasons.

Image source: Montreal Forum

The club began the 1930s decade successfully, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1930 and 1931, establishing themselves among the league's elite early franchises.

After the Montreal Maroons suspended operations following the 1937–38 season, several of their players joined the Canadiens, strengthening the roster and consolidating top-level hockey in Montreal.

Image source: Montreal Maroons

The Canadiens' oldest rivalry is with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who first faced the Canadiens in 1917 as the Toronto Arenas. From 1938 to 1970, they were the only two Canadian teams in the league.

Image source: Canadiens–Maple Leafs rivalry

The Boston Bruins, since their NHL debut in 1924, have played the Canadiens more than any other team in both regular season play and the playoffs combined, making them one of the Canadiens' other Original Six rivals.

Image source: Bruins–Canadiens rivalry

The Canadiens had an intraprovincial rivalry with the Quebec Nordiques during the Nordiques' existence from 1979 to 1995, nicknamed the 'Battle of Quebec', one of the most heated rivalries in Canadian hockey.

Image source: Battle of Quebec (ice hockey)

Howie Morenz was the first honouree on November 2, 1937, becoming the inaugural member honoured by the Canadiens for his contributions to the franchise.

Image source: Howie Morenz

The first two recipients of the Canadiens' broadcast media award were Danny Gallivan and Rene Lecavalier in 1984. Later recipients include Doug Smith (1985), Dick Irvin Jr. (1988), Richard Garneau (1999), Gilles Tremblay (2002), and Pierre Houde (2024).

Image source: Danny Gallivan

The Canadiens had held the most championships by a team in any major North American sports league until the New York Yankees won their 25th World Series title in 1999, surpassing the Canadiens' 24 Stanley Cups.

The Canadiens' French radio station began simulcasting games with sister station CKAC in 2007 due to CKAC's weaker nighttime signal, becoming sole flagship in 2011. In the 2011–12 season, CKGM (TSN Radio 690) acquired English-language rights under a seven-year deal.

Image source: CKGM

Pat Burns, the former Canadiens head coach, was inducted in 2014, becoming the most recent honouree among the builders recognized by the organization. The first inductee was vice president William Northey in 1945.

Image source: Pat Burns

With TVA Sports becoming national French rightsholder via a sub-licensing agreement with Sportsnet, RDS announced a 12-year deal beginning in 2014–15 to maintain regional rights to Canadiens games not shown on TVA Sports.

Image source: Réseau des sports

As of the 2017–18 season, the team's regional television rights in both languages and English-language radio rights are held by Bell Media. TSN2 assumed English regional TV rights, with John Bartlett on play-by-play before Bryan Mudryk succeeded him over the 2018 off-season.

Image source: Bell Media

Howie Morenz and Georges Vezina were the first Canadiens given the honour in 1945, while Shea Weber was the most recently inducted player, in 2024. Thirty-seven honourees come from three dynasties: 12 from 1955–1960, 11 from 1964–1969, and 13 from 1975–1979.

Image source: Shea Weber

From 1953 to 1960, the franchise won six Stanley Cups, including a record five straight from 1956 to 1960. New stars came to prominence: Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, Doug Harvey, Bernie 'Boom Boom' Geoffrion, Jacques Plante, and Maurice Richard's younger brother Henri.

Image source: Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens added ten more championships in 15 seasons from 1965 to 1979, including another dynastic run of four-straight Cups from 1976 to 1979, extending their dominance across two eras of NHL history.

In the 1976–77 season, the Canadiens set three still-standing team records – fewest losses (8) in an 80-game season, longest home unbeaten streak (34), and best goal differential (+216) – plus a record 132 points that stood almost half a century until the 2022–23 Boston Bruins surpassed it.

During the 1977–78 season, the team had a 28-game unbeaten streak, the second-longest in NHL history at the time, further showcasing their dominance during the late-1970s dynasty years.

The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1986, led by rookie star goaltender Patrick Roy, continuing their remarkable streak of winning at least one championship in every decade.

The team's 1992–93 championship season marked the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup. It also continued the Canadiens' streak of at least one championship per decade from the 1910s through the 1990s, a streak that ended in the 2000s.

Following Roy's departure in 1995, the Canadiens fell into an extended stretch of mediocrity, missing the playoffs in four of their next ten seasons and failing to advance past the second round until 2010.

In March 1996, the team moved from the Montreal Forum, its home during 70 seasons and 22 Stanley Cups, to the Molson Centre (now called Bell Centre), where it has played ever since.

In 2001, George Gillett's purchase of the Canadiens came with the right of first refusal for any future sale, and a condition that the NHL Board of Governors must unanimously approve any attempt to move the team to a new city.

On December 29, 2008, the Canadiens became the first team in NHL history to reach 3,000 victories with a 5–2 win over the Florida Panthers, underscoring their long history as the league's most storied franchise.

In 2009, Gillett sold the franchise to a consortium led by the Molson family, which included The Woodbridge Company, BCE/Bell, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Michael Andlauer, Luc Bertrand and National Bank Financial Group for $575 million – more than double the $275 million he paid eight years earlier.

Image source: Molson family

Montreal hosted both the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in January and the 2009 NHL entry draft in June, highlighting the city and franchise during its centennial year.

Image source: NHL All-Star Game

For the 2020–21 season, the league moved the Canadiens along with the other six Canadian teams into an all-Canadian North Division due to cross-border travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021–22, the Canadiens finished last in the league for the first time since 1939–40 and the first time in the expansion era, setting team records for regulation losses (49), goals against (319), fewest wins (22) and fewest points (55), with a .335 point percentage.

The Canadiens advanced through the 2021 playoffs by beating Toronto 4–3 in the first round, overcoming a 3–1 series deficit in a dramatic comeback victory.

Image source: 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs

After defeating the Vegas Golden Knights with an overtime clincher in game 6, the Canadiens reached their first Stanley Cup Final in 28 years, and were the first Canadian team to do so since the Vancouver Canucks in 2011.

Image source: 2021 Stanley Cup Final