Montreal Canadiens have a lot to prove this season especially that their division win last season was not very impressive. From bringing “Stephane Waite” in as the goaltending coach to recruiting new players, they have been fairly busy during the offseason. The arrival of Daniel Briere, Douglas Murray and George Parros are expected to fit in perfectly into how the team wants to play. The Atlantic Division has been revamped and it will be harder to conquer this time around but if there is one team that can do it, it’s the Canadiens.
Montreal Canadiens are among the most successful NHL teams of all time. They have been there and have done it all over the years to cement their place at the top. With more Stanley Cups than any other team in history, they have set a benchmark that no other franchise has been able to reach.
The last few seasons have not gone as expected but then there isn’t a team in any sport that doesn’t hit a lean patch. The good thing is that Canadiens look to be getting their act together now to make another attempt to reach the pinnacle. They were one of the best supported teams in the league last season so expect Montreal Canadiens tickets to be extremely high in demand this time around as well.
The Beginning and Consistent Success
Montreal Canadiens were incepted in the year 1909 as members of the National Hockey Association. The team took a few years to get a strong foothold in the league but once that happened, the floodgates opened. The team really got going for the first time during the 1915-1916 season as they got their hands on the Stanley Cup for the first time.
Move to NHL and More Success
Montreal Canadiens made the jump from NHA to become one of the founding members of NHL in the year 1917. The franchise took a little while to get their act together but the consistency they showed for the next quite a few decades was nothing short of astonishing. They won their second Stanley Cup, their first one as a NHL team in 1924. They won the division twice in 1927 and 1928 to cap off a memorable decade.
The arrival of the next decade was celebrated by winning back to back Stanley Cups in 1930 and 1931. Canadiens also managed to clinch three division championships during 1930’s. 1940’s saw them lift two Stanley Cups with another five coming their way during 1950’s. The amount of success they had achieved by that point was incredible but like all great teams, Montreal Canadiens didn’t take their foot off the pedal and continued to dominate NHL.
Canadiens put another five Stanley Cups and two division titles in their trophy cabinet during the 1960’s. Just when everyone thought it couldn’t get any better, it did. 1970’s turned out to be their most successful decade ever. Canadiens managed to lift a whopping six Stanley Cups, six division titles and the first four of their total eight conference crowns during those ten years. Montreal Canadiens got their hands on half a dozen division championships, three conference titles and one Stanley Cup during 1980’s before winning one division, one conference and one Stanley Cup through the 1990’s.
Downturn in Fortunes
Canadiens however haven’t been able to maintain those standards since then. They only have a couple of division titles to show for their efforts since. The upside of it is that those two titles have come in the recent past, 2008 and 2013. Things seem to be falling in place once again for them so gear up for another exciting season of Canadiens action live.