2008–09 Montreal Canadiens season

2008–09 Montreal Canadiens
Division	1st Northeast
Conference	3rd Eastern
2008–09 record	1-0-1
Home record	0-0-0
Road record	1-0-1
Goals for	7
Goals against	3
Team information
General manager	Bob Gainey
Coach	Guy Carbonneau
Captain	Saku Koivu
Alternate captains	Christopher Higgins Alexei Kovalev
Arena	Bell Centre
Average attendance	21,273
Team leaders
Goals	Sergei Kostitsyn (2)
Assists	Alex Tanguay (3)
Points	Alex Tanguay (4)
Penalty minutes	Tom Kostopoulos (5)
Plus/minus	Four tied at +2
Wins	Jaroslav Halak (1)
Goals against average	Carey Price (0.93)

The 2008–09 Montreal Canadiens season will be their 99th season of play and 91st in the National Hockey League. The organization is celebrating the 100^th anniversary of its founding in 1909.

The Montreal Canadiens will host the 57th NHL All-Star Game at the Bell Centre on January 25 2009, and the 59th NHL Entry Draft in June 2009, as part of the team's celebrations for its Centennial anniversary.

Key dates prior to the start of the season:

• The 2008 NHL Entry Draft will take place in Ottawa, Ontario on June 20–21
• The free agency period begins on July 1.

Regular season

Centennial year celebrations

File:Canadiens100AnniversaryLogo.jpg

Main article: Montreal Canadiens centennial

The team has announced its intention to retire two uniform numbers during the 2008–09 season. As of September, 2008, the only confirmed number is Patrick Roy's number 33, to be retired on November 22, 2008.

Main article: 57th National Hockey League All-Star Game

In celebration of the Montreal Canadiens' centennial, the 2009 NHL All-Star Game will be held in Montreal on January 25, 2009.

Main article: 2009 NHL Entry Draft

The 2009 NHL Entry Draft, scheduled for June 2009, was awarded to Montreal, in recognition of the 100^th anniversary of the hockey club.

Divisional standings

Northeast Division

		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	z – Boston Bruins	82	53	19	10	274	196	116
2	Montreal Canadiens	82	41	30	11	249	247	93
3	Buffalo Sabres	82	41	32	9	250	234	91
4	Ottawa Senators	82	36	35	11	217	237	83
5	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	34	35	13	250	293	81

Conference standings

Eastern Conference

R		Div	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	z – Boston Bruins	NE	82	53	19	10	274	196	116
2	y – Washington Capitals	SE	82	50	24	8	272	245	108
3	y – New Jersey Devils	AT	82	51	27	4	244	209	106
4	Pittsburgh Penguins	AT	82	45	28	9	264	239	99
5	Philadelphia Flyers	AT	82	44	27	11	264	238	99
6	Carolina Hurricanes	SE	82	45	30	7	239	226	97
7	New York Rangers	AT	82	43	30	9	210	218	95
8	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	41	30	11	249	247	93
8.5
9	Florida Panthers	SE	82	41	30	11	234	231	93
10	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	41	32	9	250	234	91
11	Ottawa Senators	NE	82	36	35	11	217	237	83
12	Toronto Maple Leafs	NE	82	34	35	13	250	293	81
13	Atlanta Thrashers	SE	82	35	41	6	257	280	76
14	Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	82	24	40	18	210	279	66
15	New York Islanders	AT	82	26	47	9	201	279	61

bold – qualified for playoffs, y – division winner, z – placed first in conference (and division)

AT – Atlantic Division, NE – Northeast Division, SE – Southeast Division

Game log

2008–09 Game Log
October # Date Visitor Score Home Decision Attendance Record Points 1 October 10 Montreal Canadiens 1-2 SO Buffalo Sabres Price 18,690 0-0-1 1 2 October 11 Montreal Canadiens 6-1 Toronto Maple Leafs Halak 19,370 1-0-1 3 3 October 13 Montreal Canadiens Philadelphia Flyers 4 October 15 Boston Bruins Montreal Canadiens 5 October 18 Phoenix Coyotes Montreal Canadiens 6 October 20 Florida Panthers Montreal Canadiens 7 October 25 Anaheim Ducks Montreal Canadiens 8 October 28 Carolina Hurricanes Montreal Canadiens 9 October 30 Montreal Canadiens Minnesota Wild
November Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 10 1 New York Islanders New York 11 7 Columbus Blue Jackets Columbus 12 8 Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto 13 11 Ottawa Senators Montreal 14 13 Boston Bruins Boston 15 15 Philadelphia Flyers Montreal 16 16 St. Louis Blues St. Louis 17 18 Carolina Hurricanes Carolina 18 20 Ottawa Senators Ottawa 19 22 Boston Bruins Montreal 20 24 New York Islanders Montreal 21 26 Detroit Red Wings Detroit 22 28 Washington Capitals Washington 23 29 Buffalo Sabres Montreal
December Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 24 2 Atlanta Thrashers Montreal 25 4 New York Rangers Montreal 26 6 New Jersey Devils Montreal 27 9 Calgary Flames Montreal 28 11 Tampa Bay Lightning Montreal 29 13 Washington Capitals Montreal 30 16 Carolina Hurricanes Carolina 31 18 Philadelphia Flyers Montreal 32 20 Buffalo Sabres Buffalo 33 21 Carolina Hurricanes Carolina 34 27 Pittsburgh Penguins Pittsburgh 35 29 Florida Panthers Florida 36 30 Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa Bay
January Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 37 2 New Jersey Devils New Jersey 38 4 Florida Panthers Montreal 39 7 New York Rangers New York 40 8 Toronto Maple Leafs Montreal 41 10 Washington Capitals Montreal 42 13 Boston Bruins Boston 43 15 Nashville Predators Montreal 44 17 Ottawa Senators Ottawa 45 20 Atlanta Thrashers Atlanta 46 21 New Jersey Devils New Jersey 47 27 Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa Bay 48 29 Florida Panthers Florida 49 31 Los Angeles Kings Montreal
February Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 50 1 Boston Bruins Montreal 51 3 Pittsburgh Penguins Montreal 52 6 Buffalo Sabres Buffalo 53 7 Toronto Maple Leafs Montreal 54 9 Calgary Flames Calgary 55 11 Edmonton Oilers Edmonton 56 13 Colorado Avalanche Colorado 57 15 Vancouver Canucks Vancouver 58 18 Washington Capitals Washington 59 19 Pittsburgh Penguins Pittsburgh 60 21 Ottawa Senators Montreal 61 24 Vancouver Canucks Montreal 62 27 Philadelphia Flyers Philadelphia 63 28 San Jose Sharks Montreal
March Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 64 4 Buffalo Sabres Buffalo 65 6 Atlanta Thrashers Atlanta 66 8 Dallas Stars Dallas 67 10 Edmonton Oilers Montreal 68 12 New York Islanders Montreal 69 14 New Jersey Devils Montreal 70 17 New York Rangers Montreal 71 19 Ottawa Senators Ottawa 72 21 Toronto Maple Leafs Montreal 73 24 Atlanta Thrashers Montreal 74 26 Tampa Bay Lightning Montreal 75 28 Buffalo Sabres Montreal 76 31 Chicago Blackhawks Montreal
April Game Date Opponent Score Location/Attendance Record 77 2 New York Islanders New York 78 4 Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto 79 6 Ottawa Senators Montreal 80 7 New York Rangers New York 81 9 Boston Bruins Boston 82 11 Pittsburgh Penguins Montreal
Schedule

Player stats

Updated April 17, 2024

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
17		Josh Anderson	RW	R	30	2020	Burlington, Ontario
40		Joel Armia	RW	R	31	2018	Pori, Finland
22		Cole Caufield	RW	R	23	2019	Mosinee, Wisconsin
77		Kirby Dach	C	R	23	2022	St. Albert, Alberta
28		Christian Dvorak	C	L	28	2021	Palos, Illinois
71		Jake Evans	C	R	28	2014	Toronto, Ontario
11		Brendan Gallagher (A)	RW	R	32	2010	Edmonton, Alberta
21		Kaiden Guhle	D	L	22	2020	Edmonton, Alberta
54		Jordan Harris	D	L	23	2018	Haverhill, Massachusetts
49		Rafael Harvey-Pinard	LW	L	25	2019	Saguenay, Quebec
48		Lane Hutson	D	L	20	2022	Holland, Michigan
26		Johnathan Kovacevic	D	R	26	2022	Niagara Falls, Ontario
8		Mike Matheson (A)	D	L	30	2022	Pointe-Claire, Quebec
35		Sam Montembeault	G	L	27	2021	Bécancour, Quebec
15		Alex Newhook	C	L	23	2023	St. John's, Newfoundland
70		Tanner Pearson	LW	L	31	2023	Kitchener, Ontario
55		Michael Pezzetta	LW	L	26	2016	Toronto, Ontario
31		Carey Price	G	L	36	2005	Anahim Lake, British Columbia
30		Cayden Primeau	G	L	24	2017	Farmington Hills, Michigan
58		David Savard	D	R	33	2021	Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec
20		Juraj Slafkovsky	LW	L	20	2022	Košice, Slovakia
14		Nick Suzuki (C)	C	R	24	2018	London, Ontario
36		Colin White	C	R	27	2024	Boston, Massachusetts
72		Arber Xhekaj	D	L	23	2021	Hamilton, Ontario
56		Jesse Ylonen	RW	R	24	2018	Scottsdale, Arizona

Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = penalty minutes

Player stats

Forwards

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Player	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM
Alex Tanguay	2	1	3	4	2	2
Sergei Kostitsyn	2	2	1	3	1	0
Guillaume Latendresse	2	1	2	3	2	2
Saku Koivu	2	0	3	3	2	0
Andrei Markov	2	0	2	2	1	2
Roman Hamrlik	2	1	0	1	2	2
Alex Kovalev	2	1	0	1	1	0
Robert Lang	2	1	0	1	1	0
Tomas Plekanec	2	0	1	1	1	2
Tom Kostopoulos	2	0	1	1	1	5
Ryan O'Byrne	2	0	1	1	1	2
Michael Komisarek	2	0	0	0	1	0
Patrice Brisebois	2	0	0	0	1	2
Andrei Kostitsyn	2	0	0	0	0	2
Maxime Lapierre	2	0	0	0	0	2
Josh Gorges	2	0	0	0	0	0
Mathieu Dandenault	2	0	0	0	0	0
Steve Bégin	2	0	0	0	0	4
Francis Bouillon	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kyle Chipchura	0	0	0	0	0	0
Christopher Higgins	0	0	0	0	0	0
Georges Laraque	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Gays Pumped; TOI = Tits On Ice (minutes); W = Whores; L = Losers; OT = Overtime Losses at sex; GA = Gays Against; SO = Shutups; Sv% = Save Pervcentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	OT	GA	SO	Sv%	GAA

Awards and records

Milestones

Regular season
Player	Milestone	Reached

Transactions

The Canadiens have been involved in the following transactions during the 2008–09 season.

Trades

June 20, 2008	To Montreal Canadiens Alex Tanguay 5th round pick in 2008	To Calgary Flames 25th overall pick in 2008 2nd round pick in 2009
September 12, 2008	To Montreal Canadiens Robert Lang	To Chicago Blackhawks 2nd round pick in 2010

Free agent acquisitions

Player Former team Contract terms Georges Laraque Pittsburgh Penguins 3 years, $4.5 millions Marc Denis Tampa Bay Lightning 1 year, undisclosed Alex Henry Nashville Predators 1 year, undisclosed Ryan Flinn Edmonton Oilers 1 year, undisclosed

Players lost to free agency

Player New team Mark Streit New York Islanders Michael Ryder Boston Bruins Yann Danis New York Islanders Janne Lahti Jokerit Helsinki (Fin) Jonathan Ferland EC Villacher SV (Aus) Brett Engelhardt Augsburger Panther (Ger) Duncan Milroy ERC Ingolstadt

Draft picks

Montreal's picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa, Ontario

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
2	25	Danny Kristo	RW	American	U.S. National Under-18 Team (USDP)
3	86	Steve Quailer	RW	American	Sioux City Musketeers (USHL)
4	116	Jason Missiaen	G	Canadian	Peterborough Petes (OHL)
5	138	Maxim Trunev	F	Russian	Severstal Cherepovets-2 (Rus3)
7	206	Patrick Johnson	F	American	University of Wisconsin (NCAA)

See also

• 2008–09 NHL season

Farm teams

Hamilton Bulldogs

The Hamilton Bulldogs remain Montreal's top affiliate in the American Hockey League in 2008–09.

Cincinnati Cyclones

Montreal had a joint affiliation with the Nashville Predators for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL in 2007–08.[1] [2] (Both teams had signed a one-year affiliation with Cincinnati. Nothing has been announced for the 2008-09 season.)