Unpacking the Montreal Canadiens, NHL history,
Stanley Cup dynasties, and the Habs legacy PPL
pod. Dive into the rich history of the Montreal
Canadiens, the oldest continuously operating
professional ice hockey team in the world. From
their founding in 1909, before the NHL even existed,
to their record 24 Stanley Cup championships,
this deep dive explores the cultural impact of
La Saint -Flenel, legendary players like Maurice
Rocket Richard, and the modern -day rebuild.
Perfect for hockey fans and history buffs looking
to understand the enduring legacy of the Habs.
Keywords, Montreal Canadiens, NHL history, Stanley
Cup champions, original six, Habs, ice hockey,
Maurice Richard, PPL pod. Welcome in, and thank
you so much for joining us today. Whether you're
prepping for a sports trivia night, trying to
catch up on the landscape of pro sports, or you're
just curious about legendary institutions, you
are in the exact right place. Absolutely. If
you saw the title of today's Deep Dive, you already
know we are catering to hockey fans and history
buffs alike. Today, we're taking a massive stack
of sources, specifically a comprehensive, encyclopedic
overview of the Montreal Canadiens. Right, the
Habs. Exactly. We're covering their entire franchise
history, their records, and... their cultural
footprint. And we are extracting the core insights
just for you. And our mission today goes far
beyond just rattling off a list of, you know,
sports stats or dry dates. We're going to explore
how a single professional ice hockey team became
inextricably linked to the cultural identity
of an entire city. And a people, really. Yeah,
a whole province. We're talking about a franchise
that has survived well over a century, navigating
unparalleled triumphs, and, well, more recently,
some deeply humbling modern -day struggles. Okay,
let's unpack this. Because to really understand
this team, we need to start at the very beginning.
And looking at our notes, the beginning for this
franchise actually predates the National Hockey
League itself. It does. I mean, I know they've
been around for a long time, but can you walk
us through those early days? Gladly. So the Montreal
Canadiens were founded on December 4th, 1909.
They were established by a man named J. Ambrose
O 'Brien. But they weren't founded as an NHL
team. Because the NHL didn't exist yet. Right.
They were a charter member of the National Hockey
Association, the NHA, which basically served
as the forerunner to the NHL. Okay. Because of
that 1909 start date, they hold a really unique
distinction. They are the oldest continuously
operating professional ice hockey team anywhere
in the world. Anywhere in the world. That's crazy.
Yeah, they're the only existing NHL club to predate
the founding of the league itself. That longevity
is just it's hard to wrap your head around. I
mean, they predate almost every professional
sports team in North America outside of a handful
of baseball clubs and maybe the NFL's Arizona
Cardinals. It is a totally rare tier of sports
history. But what is truly essential to understand
about their genesis in 1909 is their core purpose.
Right. The cultural aspect. Exactly. This team
was purposefully built to represent Montreal's
francophone community. The original mandate dictated
that the team should be composed of francophone
players and be under francophone ownership as
quickly as possible. So it was baked into their
DNA from day one. Completely. Even the very name,
Les Canadiens, was a term specifically identified
at the time with French speakers in the region.
They weren't just a sports team. They were an
assertion of cultural identity on the ice. Which
brings us to a piece of trivia from our sources
today that completely caught me off guard. And
it has to do with their iconic logo and their
famous nickname. Oh, the H. Yes, the H. If you
picture the Montreal Canadiens logo, it's that
classic universally recognized C with an H inside
of it. Now, if you ask a casual hockey fan what
that H stands for, they will confidently tell
you it stands for Habs or Habitons. And they
would be entirely wrong. Exactly. According to
our research, they are entirely wrong. What's
fascinating here is how that misconception actually
became cemented in global sports lore. To clarify
the logo first, the CNH logo was first used together
in the 1917 -1918 season when the club formally
changed its name to Club de Hockey Canadian.
So the H just stands for hockey. The H simply
stands for hockey. It is as straightforward as
that. So how did everyone start calling them
the Habs then? Well, the term Habitants originally
referred to the Francophone settlers who farmed
the land along the shores of the St. Lawrence
River in early Quebec history. Okay, so a historical
term. Right. It was occasionally used in the
French press as early as 1914 to playfully describe
the team. But the real turning point for the
nickname becoming a permanent fixture came a
decade later in 1924. And it came from an American.
An American arena owner, right? Yeah. Tex Ricker,
the owner of Madison Square Garden in New York,
falsely told a reporter that the H on the Canadian
sweaters stood for habitants. He just guessed.
It was a complete error on his part, but the
reporter printed it. And the nickname stuck permanently.
A misunderstanding by an arena owner in New York
forever solidifies the nickname of the most storied
franchise in Canada. That is the kind of historical
accident you just can't write. Truly. And speaking
of things that have endured, we have to talk
about the sweater itself. The home sweater is
predominantly red with blue and white stripes
across the arms and chest. Our sources note it
has basically looked the exact same since 1925.
Yeah. Nearly 100 years of the same design. But
it's more than just a uniform, right? It has
a specific cultural nickname. Yes, it is affectionately
called La Saint -Flenel, which translates to
the Holy Flannel. The Holy Flannel. And the cultural
weight of that sweater cannot be overstated.
It is a readily identifiable symbol of French
-Canadian culture. Our sources point to a famous
short story written by Roquerier in 1979 called
The Hockey Sweater. Have you ever read it? I
actually haven't, but our notes emphasize how
significant it is. What is the core premise?
It perfectly captures the almost religious reverence
for the Canadians within rural Quebec communities
during the 1940s. Okay. The story is about a
young boy who outgrows his beloved Canadian sweater.
His mother orders a new one from the Eden's department
store catalog, but they accidentally send him
a Toronto maple leaf sweater. Oh, no. Their bitter
rival. Their absolute worst rival. When the boy
is forced to wear it to the local rink, he is
ostracized by his peers and eventually told by
the parish priest to go to the church and pray
for forgiveness. Wow. Pray for forgiveness for
wearing a Leafs jersey. Exactly. It highlights
how wearing that specific red, white, and blue
sweater was tied to community belonging and identity.
The story is so culturally significant that it
was adapted into an animated short by the National
Film Board of Canada. And didn't it end up on
currency? Yes. An excerpt from it was even printed
on the Canadian $5 bill back in 2002. A sports
team's jersey featured on national currency.
You really don't see that anywhere else. No,
you don't. But to understand why the sweater
is considered holy to the fan base, we need to
look at the championship pedigree. I know they
have won a lot, but can you put their success
into historical context for us? We are talking
about a franchise that has won the Stanley Cup
24 times. 24. That is more than any other franchise
in professional hockey history. 23 of those championships
came after the NHL was officially founded, and
one was won in 1916 during their NHA days. So
they were winning before the league even properly
started. Right. They are part of what hockey
fans call the original six era. a period from
1942 to 1967, when the NHL only had six teams,
creating intense, concentrated rivalries. But
their winning spanned far beyond that era. Give
us a sense of scale for those 24 Cups. To give
you a sense of scale, the Montreal Canadiens
held the record for the most championships by
a team in any major North American sports league
until the New York Yankees finally won their
25th World Series title in 1999. And looking
at the timeline, they didn't just win a championship
every few years. They had these concentrated
waves of dominance. Precisely. In the 1950s,
they won six Stanley Cups, including a record
-breaking five straight championships from 1956
to 1960. Five straight? Then from 1955 to 1979,
they added 10 more championships in just 15 seasons.
That included another dynastic run of four straight
cups from 1976 to 1979. Here's where it gets
really interesting, especially for you if you
love statistical anomalies. I'm looking at the
numbers for the 1976 -77 season, and they almost
look like typos. You do. In an 80 -game regular
season, the Montreal Canadiens lost exactly eight
games. Just eight regulation losses. They finished
with 132 points. They had a 34 -game home unbeaten
streak. But the stat that jumps out the most
is their goal differential. Our sources highlight
a plus -216 goal differential. It's absurd. For
someone who might not follow sports statistics
closely, what does that actually mean on the
ice? Goal differential is simply the difference
between the number of goals a team scores and
the number of goals they allow their opponents
to score over a season. A plus 216 means the
Canadians scored 216 more goals than the teams
they played against. Wow. That is an astronomical
figure. It means they weren't just winning close,
hard -fought games. They were routinely dismantling
professional opponents. That's a huge gap in
talent. It is. That 132 -point record stood for
almost half a century until the Boston Bruins
finally surpassed it during the 2022 -23 season.
So they completely controlled the 1970s. Did
that success carry over into the subsequent decades?
Because if we jump straight to the modern era,
it seems like a completely different landscape.
They did maintain a high standard, winning two
more Stanley Cups in 1986 and 1993. In fact,
that 1993 championship remains the last time
any Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup. The
last Canadian team to win it all. Right. But
you are right to point out the shift. When you
synthesize that level of historical dominance,
those 1950s and 1970s dynasties, you start to
understand the psychological environment surrounding
the organization. The pressure. It created an
expectation of excellence that defines the franchise
to this day. When a team wins 24 times, anything
short of a championship feels like a failure
to uphold a sacred tradition. Which is the perfect
transition into the legends of the ice and how
that heavy tradition is literally passed down
to new players. There is a famous motto painted
on the wall of the Canadians' dressing room.
Yes. It comes from the World War I poem in Flanders
Fields by John McRae. It reads, To you from failing
hands we throw the torch. Be yours to hold it
high. Such a powerful phrase. Think about the
psychology of that for a second. You are a 19
-year -old rookie. You walk into the professional
locker room to lace up your skates. And you are
staring at a solemn war poem demanding perfection.
It is an immense psychological burden. But it
serves a distinct purpose. It's a constant visual
reminder to every player who puts on the holy
flannel that they are part of a continuum. Right.
They are inheriting the greatness of the past,
and it is their duty to maintain it. And the
physical evidence of that legacy hangs in the
rafters of the Bell Center, their home arena.
The franchise has retired 15 numbers in honor
of 18 different players, as a few legendary players
actually wore the same numbers over the decades.
Which is the most retired numbers of any team
in the NHL. And a fascinating detail from our
sources, all 18 of those honorees were born in
Canada. Let's look at a few of the key figures
who successfully carried that torch, because
their individual play styles really define their
respective eras. You have to start with Maurice
Rocket Richard in the 1940s and 50s. The Rocket.
Yes. He remains the franchise's all -time leader
in goals with 544. And he was such a prolific
goal scorer that the NHL actually named their
annual goal scoring trophy after him, correct?
Yes, the Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy. He played
with a fiery, relentless intensity that deeply
resonated with the working class Francophone
fan base. He wasn't just a player. He was a cultural
icon. And after him. Well, if you pass the torch
down the line to that 1970s juggernaut we discussed,
you find Guy Lafleur. How did Lafleur's game
differ from Richard's? If Richard was the relentless
goal scorer, Lafleur was the ultimate free -flowing
offensive engine. He holds the franchise record
as the all -time points leader with 2 ,246 points.
Wow. Over a thousand points. He was known for
his smooth skating, flying down the wing with
his hair blowing behind him, perfectly capturing
the flair of 1970s hockey. And skipping ahead
to the modern era, our sources highlight goaltender
Carey Price. If we connect this to the bigger
picture, Carey Price serves as a modern anchor
for the franchise. He didn't secure a Stanley
Cup, which shows how difficult winning has become
in the contemporary NHL, but his individual impact
is historic. What are his records? He holds the
franchise records for the most games played by
a goaltender, with 712, and the most wins by
a goaltender, with 361. Those numbers carry a
lot of weight when you realize he had to surpass
absolute legends like Jacques Plante and Patrick
Roy to get those records. Precisely. These individual
players act as cultural touchstones. They link
completely different eras of fans together. They're
the thread connecting the generations. Exactly.
A grandfather might revere Maurice Richard, a
father might idolize Guy Lafleur, and a child
might grow up wearing a Carey Price jersey. but
they are all united by that single crest and
the shared understanding of what that torch represents.
But holding that torch high has proven to be
a struggle in recent years, which brings us to
the modern roller coaster. The Whiplash, this
franchise and its fans have experienced over
the last few seasons, is really unprecedented.
It really is. Let's start with the extreme high.
Look at the 2020 -21 NHL season, which was heavily
altered by the COVID -19 pandemic. To avoid cross
-border travel issues, the NHL put all seven
Canadian teams into a single North division.
Right. And despite a turbulent regular season,
where Montreal barely scraped into the playoffs,
finishing fourth in that temporary division,
their post -season run was captivating. They
played Toronto first, didn't they? They faced
their oldest rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs,
in the first round and fell behind three games
to one. It looked like a swift exit. But they
came back. They rallied to win three straight,
taking the series. Then they swept the Winnipeg
Jets. In the semifinals, they beat the Vegas
Golden Knights, clinching it with an overtime
victory to reach the Stanley Cup final. It felt
like destiny. They reached their first final
in 28 years. They were the first Canadian team
to make it that far since 2011. Now, they eventually
lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, but for the
fans, that run felt like the torch was burning
bright again. It was a magical run. But then,
looking at the very next season, the bottom completely
fell out. It was an extreme crash. The narrative
might have felt like destiny in 2021, but looking
at the data, that playoff run was heavily reliant
on a few key players performing at an unsustainable
physical level. So they just ran out of gas.
The toll of that run showed immediately. The
very next season... 2021 -22, the Montreal Canadiens
finished dead last in the entire National Hockey
League. Dead last after making the final. Yes.
It was the first time they finished last since
the 1939 -40 season and the first time they had
ever finished at the bottom in the league's modern
expansion era. The expansion era being the period
following 1967 when the NHL rapidly expanded
beyond the original six. That's exactly. The
statistics from that 2021 -22 season paint a
grim picture. They set franchise records for
the most goals against with 319, the fewest wins
with just 22, and the most regulation losses
with 49. Let's clarify that term really quickly
for our listeners. What is a regulation loss
compared to a regular loss? In today's NHL, if
a game goes to overtime and you lose, your team
still earns one point in the standings. A regulation
loss means you were defeated within the standard
60 minutes of play, earning zero points. Oh,
I see. So suffering 49 regulation losses means
they were routinely being beaten outright in
standard time. The emotional toll of that on
a fan base that is used to 24 championships must
have been brutal. playing in the final one summer
to being the worst team in hockey a few months
later is hard to grasp. And that profound failure
forced a monumental shift in organizational philosophy.
As a result of that disastrous season, team owner
Jeff Molson authorized a complete rebuild of
the roster. What does a rebuild actually mean
in the context of modern professional sports?
Historically, when the Canadiens struggled, They
would retool on the fly. They'd trade for established
players to stay competitive because the market
demanded winning. An intentional rebuild is different.
How so? It means management actively accepts
that the team will lose games for several years.
You strip down the roster, trade away veteran
talent for future assets and intentionally finish
low in the standings so you can secure high picks
in the annual player draft. So you're losing
on purpose in a way to get better later. It is
a long term strategy of building through youth.
For a franchise with the motto, be yours to hold
it high, intentionally rebuilding was traditionally
considered taboo. But they embraced the reality
of their situation. And that leads us to their
current 2025 -26 landscape. They have spent the
last few years stockpiling youth. Which was desperately
needed. The rebuild is being guided by head coach
Martin St. Louis, a former legendary player himself.
On the ice, the torch has been handed to a young
captain, Nick Suzuki, who was named the 31st
captain in franchise history. And through this
rebuilding phase, they have secured highly touted
draft picks to build their future around, bringing
in young talent like Ivan Demidov and Michael
Haig. They are charting a completely new path,
building from the ground up. So what does this
all mean for you, the listener? Whether you are
brushing up for a sports trivia night or you
are a student analyzing organizational culture,
the Montreal Canadiens are the ultimate case
study. Absolutely. They show us exactly how historical
dominance shapes modern identity. The weight
of 24 championships creates a brand that is instantly
recognizable worldwide, but it also creates an
atmosphere where the pressure of the past is
constantly breathing down the neck of the present.
True knowledge comes from seeing multiple perspectives.
In the case of the Montreal Canadiens, you have
to balance the awe of their historical achievements,
those five straight cups, the untouchable stats
of the 1970s with the deep humility of their
recent era. It's quite the contrast. It shows
that even the most immortal institutions eventually
have to accept reality, tearing their foundation
down to the studs in order to build something
sustainable for the future. It leaves you wondering.
In today's modern sports era of strict salary
caps and league parity, where the financial rules
are literally designed by the NHL to prevent
teams from hoarding talent and dominating year
after year, will we ever see a dynasty like the
1970s Canadians again in any sport? It's a great
question. Or is that level of concentrated greatness
purely a relic of the past? And further, if a
franchise's entire identity and holy aura are
built on a century of unparalleled winning and
a sacred past torch, how does it mean... That's
the real challenge they face today. It is. Thank
you so much for joining us on this deep dive.
We hope you walk away with a richer understanding
of not just the Montreal Canadiens, but how history,
culture, and sports intertwine. Keep exploring
the fascinating stories behind the world's most
iconic institutions, and we will catch you on
the next one.