NHL announces Canadiens quarter-century team
The Montreal Canadiens’ quarter-century team was unveiled by the NHL on Sunday, featuring the historic franchise’s best players from 2000 to the present day.
The Montreal Canadiens‘ quarter-century team was unveiled by the NHL on Sunday, featuring the historic franchise’s best players from 2000 to the present day.
The first team includes forwards Saku Koivu, Tomas Plekanec and Alex Kovalev, defencemen Shea Weber and Andrei Markov, and goaltender Carey Price.
The second team features forwards Nick Suzuki, Brendan Gallagher and Max Pacioretty, defencemen Sheldon Souray and P.K. Subban, and goaltender Jose Theodore.
Media members, retired NHLers and club executives weighed in on the selection, with each team comprising of three forwards, two defencemen, and one goaltender, for 12 players total.
The league-wide initiative was launched in December with the goal of highlighting the best players from each franchise over the past 25 years (or quarter century).
Price holds the Canadiens’ franchise record for most wins by a goalie with 361, surpassing greats like Jaques Plante (314), Patrick Roy (289) and Ken Dryden (258).
Koivu, the Canadiens’ former captain for 10 years, cracks the franchise’s top 10 in total points (641), assists (450) and power-play goals (66).
Plekanec, who played 15 years with the Canadiens from 2003 to 2019, ranks seventh on the all-time games played list (984).
The second team includes three active players with Suzuki, Gallagher and Pacioretty, though only Suzuki and Gallagher remain on the Canadiens at present.
