A FORLORN LOOK BACK AT FORGETTABLE HABS TEAMS
The Canadiens' legacy — 24 Stanley Cups and a parade of Hall of Fame talent — has been tarnished in recent years and the memory of an improbable Stanley Cup run this year has been washed away by the worst start in the club's history.
As we approach the new year with hope for health and happiness, we look back at five seasons that were memorable for the wrong reasons. The list begins — and ends — with teams that enjoyed relative degrees of success.
No. 1 (1918-19, 10-8 record): The world was in the grip of the Spanish flu pandemic when the 191819 Canadiens headed west to play the Seattle Metropolitans in the Stanley Cup final. The series was deadlocked 2-2 with one tie when it was abruptly cancelled because more than half the team was infected and no Stanley Cup winner was declared. Future Hall of Famer Joe Hall died two days later, while team owner George Kennedy experienced recurring health problems and died two years later at age 39.
No. 2 (1935-36, 11-26-11): The Great Depression was, well, depressing for the Canadiens. After winning the Stanley Cup in 1931, the team went 12 seasons without a Cup, the longest drought until the current run. Attendance was down and there were rumours that the team would relocate to the United States before Montreal Maroons owner Senator Raymond Donat bought the team in 1935. He might have wondered what he got into when the 1935-36 team finished last with an 11-26-11 record. The Maroons finished first in the division, but folded two years later.
No. 3 (1939-40, 10-33-5): The 193940 Canadiens had the worst record in team history at 10-33-5, but featured two players who would be instrumental in the team's success during the next three decades. The team's leading scorer was Toe Blake, who would win two Stanley Cups as a player on the Punch Line with Elmer Lach and Maurice (Rocket) Richard, and then win eight Stanley Cups in 13 seasons as the head coach. Teammate Paul Haynes was thrown off the team the following the season after he skipped practice in New York to attend an opera, but he made his mark as a keen judge of talent. He discovered Lach and Ken Reardon on a western scouting trip and was responsible for moving the left-shooting Richard to right wing.
No. 4 (1998-99, 32-39-11): It would be another 59 years before the 1998-99 Canadiens finished at the bottom of the Northeast Division with a 32-39-11 record. This was a team with some talented players, but injuries and a lack of scoring — sound familiar? — were the team's downfall. Stéphane Quintal was the only player to appear in all 82 games as the Canadiens lost more than 300 man-games to injury. Patrice Brisebois, Vladimir Malakhov and Benoît Brunet missed the first two months of the season. Saku Koivu needed shoulder surgery and Brian Savage was the team's leading scorer when he suffered a broken vertebra in his neck.
Mark Recchi was the team's leading scorer with 47 points, three more than Koivu. Martin Rucinsky was the leading goal-scorer with 17 and it was the first full season since 1940-41 that the Canadiens didn't have a 20-goal scorer. Captain Vincent Damphousse was traded while on a charter flight en route to Edmonton. Team president Ronald Corey resigned and Molson Brewery announced a loss of $3.8 million, paving the way for a sale of the team to American George Gillett Jr. two years later.
No. 5 (1995-96, 40-32-10): Finally, we come to the 1995-96 season, which was a moderately successful regular season followed by a collapse against the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs. The Canadiens won the first two games at Madison Square Garden and then lost the next four. But the results on the ice were overshadowed by the front-office decisions that haunted the team for the next decade.
After starting the season with four losses, Ronald Corey fired general manager Serge Savard and his right-hand men, André Boudrias and Carol Vadnais. Savard was replaced by former Canadiens forward Réjean Houle, who was handling community relations at Molson Brewery.
Head coach Jacques Demers was fired and replaced by Mario Tremblay, another former Hab, who was called in from the broadcast booth.
Demers was known for giving preferential treatment to goaltender Patrick Roy and it was surprising to read in Savard's autobiography that Roy lobbied for the coach to be replaced. It's safe to say he didn't get what he wished for because he and Tremblay had a rocky relationship.
Roy was 12-2-1 after Tremblay took over, but he struggled against Detroit on Dec. 2 and Tremblay hung him out to dry, finally pulling him after he had given up nine goals. As he left the Forum ice, Roy confronted Corey and said he had played his last game for the Canadiens. Four days later, he and captain Mike Keane were traded to Colorado.
The trade removed two more pieces from the team that won the team's last Stanley Cup in 1993. Thirty months after the victory, the only survivors were Brisebois, Damphousse, Brunet and Lyle Odelein.
Savard said he thought about trading Roy before the season because he felt the goaltender had become too big for the team. Roy became an instant hit with the Avalanche, which had moved from Quebec City in 1995. He led Colorado to the Stanley Cup in 1996 and in eight seasons, he won two Cups and appeared in four conference finals. During the same span, Montreal won two playoff rounds and missed the playoffs four times.