1994–95 Montreal Canadiens season explained

Team:	Montreal Canadiens
League:	NHL
Season:	1994–95
Year:	1994
Conferencerank:	11th
Divisionrank:	6th
Record:	18–23–7
Homerecord:	15–5–4
Roadrecord:	3–18–3
Goalsfor:	125
Goalsagainst:	148
Captain:	Kirk Muller (Oct.–Apr.) Mike Keane (Apr.)
Altcaptain:	J. J. Daigneault Vincent Damphousse Mike Keane (Oct.–Apr.)
Attendance:	16,964
Goalsleader:	Mark Recchi (14)
Assistsleader:	Vincent Damphousse (30)
Pointsleader:	Mark Recchi (43)
Plusminusleader:	Vincent Damphousse (+15)
Pimleader:	Lyle Odelein (152)
Winsleader:	Patrick Roy (17)
Gaaleader:	Patrick Roy (2.97)

The 1994–95 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's 86th season of play and the last full season in the Montreal Forum before moving to the new Molson Centre. For the first time since the 1969–70 season (and only the second time since 1947–48), the Canadiens failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Off-season

In the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, the Canadiens selected defenceman Brad Brown with their first-round pick, 18th overall. The Canadiens were more fortunate with their second-round pick, selecting Jose Theodore 44th overall.

In August 1994, captain Guy Carbonneau was traded to the St. Louis Blues. Kirk Muller was named his replacement as captain.

Regular season

The season started later and was abbreviated by a lockout of the players by the NHL owners; the regular season was only 48 games. It was a forgettable season for the Canadiens and their fans, as the team missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 years. The Canadiens only won 3 of 24 games on the road.^[1] Already gone at the season's debut were several important members of the 1992–93 Stanley Cup champion team, including Guy Carbonneau, Kevin Haller, Stephan Lebeau, and Denis Savard. On February 9, more players from the 1992–93 team departed, as Eric Desjardins, Gilbert Dionne, and John LeClair were traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Mark Recchi. Another major trade nearly two months later on April 5 would send Craig Darby, Mathieu Schneider and fan favourite Kirk Muller to the New York Islanders in exchange for Vladimir Malakhov and Pierre Turgeon. The team subsequently named forward Mike Keane as its new captain. After a 7–5–4 start, Montreal won only 11 of its final 32 games, going 11–18–3. It was the first and only season of goaltender Patrick Roy's NHL playing career in which he lost more games than he won, and the only season of his NHL playing career that his team did not make the playoffs.

The Canadiens tied the Florida Panthers and the Ottawa Senators for the fewest shorthanded goals scored during the regular season with one.^[2]

Final standings

Schedule and results

|- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|1||L||January 21, 1995||2–5 || style="text-align:left;"| @ New York Rangers||0–1–0 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|2||W||January 25, 1995||2–0 || style="text-align:left;"| Washington Capitals||1–1–0 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|3||W||January 28, 1995||5–1 || style="text-align:left;"| New Jersey Devils||2–1–0 || |- style="text-align:center;"|4||T||January 29, 1995||2–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia Flyers||2–1–1 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|5||L||January 31, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Tampa Bay Lightning||2–2–1 || |-|- style="text-align:center;"|6||T||February 2, 1995||1–1 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Florida Panthers||2–2–2 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|7||W||February 4, 1995||4–2 || style="text-align:left;"| New York Islanders||3–2–2 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|8||L||February 7, 1995||4–7 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Boston Bruins||3–3–2 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|9||W||February 8, 1995||4–2 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Ottawa Senators||4–3–2 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|10||L||February 11, 1995||1–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Pittsburgh Penguins||4–4–2 || |- style="text-align:center;"|11||T||February 13, 1995||2–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Hartford Whalers||4–4–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|12||L||February 15, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Hartford Whalers||4–5–3 || |- style="text-align:center;"|13||T||February 16, 1995||2–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ New York Rangers||4–5–4 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|14||W||February 18, 1995||5–2 || style="text-align:left;"| New York Rangers||5–5–4 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|15||W||February 20, 1995||3–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| New York Islanders||6–5–4 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|16||W||February 23, 1995||5–2 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Florida Panthers||7–5–4 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|17||L||February 25, 1995||0–7 || style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia Flyers||7–6–4 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|18||L||February 27, 1995||1–6 || style="text-align:left;"| @ New Jersey Devils||7–7–4 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|19||L||February 28, 1995||1–2 || style="text-align:left;"| @ New York Islanders||7–8–4 || |-|- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|20||L||March 4, 1995||1–5 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Washington Capitals||7–9–4 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|21||L||March 5, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Buffalo Sabres||7–10–4 || |- style="text-align:center;"|22||T||March 8, 1995||2–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Buffalo Sabres||7–10–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|23||W||March 11, 1995||3–1 || style="text-align:left;"| New York Rangers||8–10–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|24||L||March 13, 1995||2–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Pittsburgh Penguins||8–11–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|25||W||March 15, 1995||8–5 || style="text-align:left;"| Pittsburgh Penguins||9–11–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|26||L||March 16, 1995||0–6 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Boston Bruins||9–12–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|27||W||March 18, 1995||5–4 || style="text-align:left;"| Quebec Nordiques||10–12–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|28||L||March 20, 1995||4–8 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Philadelphia Flyers||10–13–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|29||L||March 22, 1995||2–3 || style="text-align:left;"| Florida Panthers||10–14–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|30||W||March 25, 1995||3–1 || style="text-align:left;"| Ottawa Senators||11–14–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|31||L||March 27, 1995||2–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Tampa Bay Lightning||11–15–5 || |-|- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|32||L||April 1, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ New Jersey Devils||11–16–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|33||W||April 3, 1995||5–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Ottawa Senators||12–16–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|34||W||April 5, 1995||6–5 || style="text-align:left;"| Quebec Nordiques||13–16–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|35||L||April 6, 1995||2–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Quebec Nordiques||13–17–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|36||W||April 8, 1995||2–1 || style="text-align:left;"| Pittsburgh Penguins||14–17–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|37||W||April 10, 1995||2–1 || style="text-align:left;"| New Jersey Devils||15–17–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|38||L||April 12, 1995||2–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Philadelphia Flyers||15–18–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|39||L||April 14, 1995||3–4 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Hartford Whalers||15–19–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|40||L||April 15, 1995||2–3 || style="text-align:left;"| Boston Bruins||15–20–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|41||W||April 17, 1995||5–2 || style="text-align:left;"| Washington Capitals||16–20–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|42||W||April 19, 1995||4–1 || style="text-align:left;"| Ottawa Senators||17–20–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|43||W||April 22, 1995||3–1 || style="text-align:left;"| Tampa Bay Lightning||18–20–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|44||L||April 24, 1995||3–4 || style="text-align:left;"| Hartford Whalers||18–21–5 || |- style="text-align:center;"|45||T||April 26, 1995||1–1 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Quebec Nordiques||18–21–6 || |- style="text-align:center;"|46||T||April 29, 1995||3–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Buffalo Sabres||18–21–7 || |-|- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|47||L||May 1, 1995||0–2 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Buffalo Sabres||18–22–7 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|48||L||May 3, 1995||2–4 || style="text-align:left;"| Boston Bruins||18–23–7 || |-|-| Legend:

Player statistics

Scoring

Position abbreviations: C = Centre; D = Defence; G = Goaltender; LW = Left Wing; RW = Right Wing
= Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only.
= Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only.

	Regular season
	Player
8		RW	39	14	29	43	−3	16
25		C	48	10	30	40	15	42
22		LW	45	7	18	25	7	16
77		C	15	11	9	20	12	4
12		RW	48	10	10	20	5	15
27		D	30	5	15	20	−3	49
49		LW	37	12	7	19	5	27
11		LW	33	8	11	19	−21	33
23		LW	41	8	8	16	−7	8
43		D	35	4	8	12	−2	26
29		D	47	4	7	11	−1	42
24		D	48	3	7	10	−13	152
15		C	22	4	5	9	−3	4
48		D	45	3	5	8	2	40
30		RW	41	6	1	7	0	86
44		D	21	5	2	7	−3	34
28		D	9	0	6	6	2	2
6		RW	12	2	3	5	−7	4
17		LW	9	1	4	5	−1	10
38		D	14	1	4	5	−2	14
31		RW	30	1	4	5	−7	12
34		D	33	0	5	5	−10	8
18		RW	24	3	1	4	−1	6
45		LW	6	0	3	3	−3	2
35		LW	20	1	1	2	−5	63
14		C	10	0	2	2	−5	0
28		C	6	1	0	1	−1	0
17		C	39	1	0	1	−13	18
52		D	5	0	1	1	2	5
33		G	43	0	1	1		20
26		LW	8	0	1	1	−1	0
46		C	1	0	0	0	0	0
36		LW	6	0	0	0	−1	17
26		C	5	0	0	0	−2	2
57		RW	3	0	0	0	0	4
32		LW	9	0	0	0	−2	34
20		LW	19	0	0	0	−5	15
1		G	7	0	0	0		0
56		D	1	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

	Regular season
	Player
33		43	17	20	6	1357	127	2.97	.906	1	2566
1		7	1	3	1	172	18	3.12	.895	0	346

Awards and records

Awards

Type	Award/honour	Recipient	Ref
Team	Jacques Beauchamp Molson Trophy	Benoit Brunet	^[3]
Team	Molson Cup	Patrick Roy	^[4]

Milestones

Transactions

February 9, 1995: Montreal traded John LeClair, Eric Desjardins and Gilbert Dionne to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Mark Recchi and Philadelphia's third-round pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft (used to select (Martin Hohenberger). LeClair gelled immediately with new Flyers line-mate Eric Lindros and quickly became one of the NHL's most feared goal-scorers.
April 5, 1995: Montreal acquired Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov from the New York Islanders in exchange for Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider and Craig Darby.^[6]

Draft picks

Montreal's draft picks at the 1994 NHL Entry Draft in Hartford, Connecticut.^[7]

Round		Player	Position	College/Junior/Club team
1	18	Brad Brown	Defence	North Bay Centennials (OHL)
2	44	Jose Theodore	Goaltender	Saint-Jean Lynx (QMJHL)
3	54	Chris Murray	Right wing	Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
3	70	Marko Kiprusoff	Defence	TPS (Finland)
3	74	Martin Belanger	Defence	Granby Bisons (QMJHL)
4	96	Arto Kuki	Centre	Espoo Blues (Finland)
5	122	Jimmy Drolet	Defence	Saint-Hyacinthe Laser (QMJHL)
6	148	Joel Irving	Centre	Regina Pat Canadiens (Midget AAA)
7	174	Jessie Rezansoff	Right wing	Regina Pats (WHL)
8	200	Peter Strom	Left wing	Frölunda HC (Sweden)
9	226	Tomas Vokoun	Goaltender	HC Kladno (Czech Republic)
10	252	Chris Aldous	Defence	Northwood School (USHS-NY)
11	278	Ross Parsons	Defence	Regina Pats (WHL)

References

Web site: Montreal Canadiens 1994-95 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com . www.hockeydb.com . September 4, 2023.
Web site: 1994-95 Montreal Canadiens Roster, Stats, Injuries, Scores, Results, Shootouts . Hockey-Reference.com . September 4, 2023.

Notes and References

Patrick Roy, winning, nothing else, p.338, by Michel Roy, translated by Charles Phillips, 2008, John Wiley & Sons, Mississauga, ON,
Web site: 1994-95 NHL Summary.
Montreal Canadiens 2014–2015 Media Guide, p.553
Montreal Canadiens 2014–2015 Media Guide, p.552
Web site: Patrick Roy . hockeygoalies.org . September 11, 2023 . Played in 500th National Hockey League game (vs. NY Islanders), February 20, 1995..
http://www.habsinsideout.com/main/3969 NHL trade deadline: Deals since 1980 | Habs Inside/Out
Web site: 1994 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com . www.hockeydb.com . September 4, 2023.