History of Montreal Canadiens franchise

The Montreal Canadiens were founded on December 4th, 1909 by J. Ambrose O’Brien as a member of the National Hockey Association (NHA).  The NHA was the forerunner to the National Hockey League (NHL).  The team was to be the team of the francophone community in Montreal and was to be comprised of francophone players and to be owned by francophone ownership.

The Montreal Canadiens had a horrible first season and they placed dead last in the association.  After the very first year, the ownership was transferred to George Kennedy of Montreal and the team started performing much better over the next few seasons.  The team won its first Stanley Cup championship in the 1915-1916 season. One year later, the Canadiens joined with four other teams to form the NHL.  The Montreal Canadiens won their first NHL Stanley Cup during the 1923-1924 season, and the team was led by Howie Morenz.  The team then moved to the Montreal Forum for the 1926-1927 season. 

The team started off the 1930’s with success by winning the Stanley Cups in 1930 and 1931.  After these years of winning, the club started to decline on the ice as well as with the economy at the time.  The financial losses grew to the point where the team owners were thinking about selling the team to Cleveland, Ohio investors.  As these talks were going on, local investors were found which ended up keeping the team in Montreal.  At this same time, the Montreal Maroons ended up shutting down and many of these players joined the Canadiens team.

The Canadiens had some golden years in the 1940’s led by Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Toe Blake, and Elmer Lach.  From 1952 to 1950, the team won six Stanley Cups, including 5 that they won in a row from 1956 to 1960.  These years had a large amount of stars which included: Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, Doug Harvey, Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, Jacques Plante, and Henri.

From 1965 to 1979 the Canadiens added ten more championships.  They also had another four straight Cups from 1976 to 1979.  This team also set a record in 1976 for the fewest losses by only losing 8 games in the 80 game season.  The 70’s brought some amazing stars which included: Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, Ken Dryden, Pete Mahovlich, Steve Shutt, Bob Gainey, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, and Larry Robinson.  Scotty Bowman was the coach and later set a record for the most NHL victories by a coach.

Another Stanley Cup was won in 1986, led by the rookie star goaltender Patrick Roy.  They also won another Cup in 1993 which continued their streak of at least winning one championship in every decade since 1910.  In 1996 the team stopped playing in the Montreal Forum and now plays in the Bell Centre.