With a long Olympic break in the NHL schedule, it seemed like a good time to put together a list of the top 25 Canadiens players since 2000.
There have been more lows than highs since then, with the Canadiens missing the playoffs 10 times. They advanced to the conference final twice (in 2009-10 and 2013-14) and the Stanley Cup final once (2021).
More than 300 players (331 to be exact) and 28 goalies have worn a Canadiens sweater since the start of the 2000-01 season. Twenty-five of them have stood out. In picking the top 25, we’ve factored in personal statistics and awards, impact on the team and fans, and longevity.
In the final instalment of this five-part feature series, we look at players ranked Nos. 1-5.
No. 1 — Carey Price
The Canadiens didn’t really need a goalie when they selected Price with the fifth overall pick at the 2005 NHL Draft.
Three years earlier, José Theodore had won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player and the Vézina Trophy as the top goalie at age 25 after posting a 30-24-10 record with a 2.11 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage. But GM Bob Gainey drafted Price because he believed he was the best player available — regardless of position.
“We picked him because he was the next player on our list and we’re looking to the future,” Gainey said after drafting Price. “I would expect that he would be back in junior in the coming season.”
The goalie spent two more seasons with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans and then led the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs to the 2007 Calder Cup championship and was named playoff MVP after posting a 15-6 record, along with a 2.06 GAA and a .936 save percentage. Price made his NHL debut the next season. He had some growing pains, on and off the ice, early in his NHL career, but developed into the “thoroughbred” Gainey believed he would become. In 2014-15, Price duplicated Theodore’s performance, winning both the Hart Trophy and Vézina Trophy after posting a 44-16-6 record, along with a 1.96 GAA and a .933 save percentage.
Price led the Canadiens to the Eastern Conference final in 2014 before suffering a knee injury in Game 1 against the New York Rangers when Chris Kreider crashed into him in the crease. Price was knocked out of the series, which the Rangers won in six games. Before getting injured, Price had an 8-4 record in that playoff run, along with a 2.36 GAA and a .919 save percentage.
Price continued to have knee problems after the Kreider incident, but he carried the Canadiens on his back to the 2021 Stanley Cup final, posting a 2.28 GAA and a .924 save percentage before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He would play five games the next season before the knee problems ended his career.
Price finished his career with a 361-261-79 record, a 2.51 GAA and a .917 save percentage. He holds the Canadiens record for most regular-season games played by a goalie (712) and most wins.
“I get asked a lot, ‘What are you proud of throughout your career?’ ” Price said last year. “I always tell everybody, ‘Well it’s to have been the goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens for 15 years.’ ”
No. 2 — Saku Koivu
On Dec. 3, 2019, the Canadiens brought 11 former captains out to centre ice during a pre-game ceremony to celebrate the franchise’s 110th anniversary. The 11 captains had won a combined 35 Stanley Cup rings.
The biggest cheer was for Koivu, who never won a Stanley Cup during his 13 seasons with the Canadiens, starting in 1995-96, including the last 10 as captain. The Finn is the only European to ever wear the “C” for the Canadiens and a younger generation of fans fell in love with him.
That was highlighted when Koivu returned to the lineup on April 9, 2002, after battling non-Hodgkin lymphoma and was greeted with an emotional, eight-minute standing ovation by the hometown fans ahead of a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators that put the Canadiens in the playoffs for the first time in four years.
Koivu would go on to post 4-6-10 totals in 12 playoff games as the Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins in the first round before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Koivu won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy that year as the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.
In 792 regular-season games with the Canadiens, Koivu posted 191-450-641 totals to rank 10th all-time in franchise scoring. The nine players ahead of him are all in the Hall of Fame — Guy Lafleur (1,246), Jean Béliveau (1,219), Henri Richard (1,046), Maurice Richard (966), Robinson (883), Yvan Cournoyer (863), Jacques Lemaire (835), Steve Shutt (776) and Bernie Geoffrion (759).
No. 3 — Andrei Markov
The Canadiens tried to right a wrong in December when they held a homecoming night at the Bell Centre for Markov. As he walked onto the ice for a pre-game ceremony with his wife, Sonya Markova, and two of his five children, Markov was greeted with a thunderous ovation that lasted more than two minutes.
A contract dispute with former GM Marc Bergevin after the 2016-17 season prevented Markov from becoming only the second defenceman in Canadiens history — along with Robinson — to play 1,000 games with the franchise.
The Canadiens selected Markov in the sixth round (162nd overall) of the 1998 NHL Draft when he was a forward playing in Russia. He became an outstanding defenceman in the NHL, playing 990 career games with the Canadiens while posting 119-453-572 totals. He is tied for second with Guy Lapointe for most career points by a Canadiens defenceman, trailing Robinson with 883.
Markov never wanted to leave Montreal, but egos got in the way during negotiations with Bergevin and it’s a shame he never got to reach the 1,000-game mark.
“I believe this is the best city to play hockey,” Markov, always a man of few words, said in a short speech on his homecoming night.
He added: “To the fans, merci!”
No. 4 — Nick Suzuki
Suzuki has improved in each of his seven seasons with the Canadiens while never missing a game. His 512 consecutive games played rank second among current NHL players, trailing Colorado Avalanche defenceman Brent Burns with 980.
Suzuki became the youngest captain in franchise history on Sept. 12, 2022, at age 23. Last season, with 30-59-89 totals, he became the first Canadien to reach the 80-point mark since Alex Kovalev (No. 12 on this list) had 35-49-84 totals in 2007-08. This season, Suzuki has 18-47-65 totals in 57 games to rank 12th in NHL scoring heading into the Olympic break. Suzuki has a chance to become the first Canadien to finish a season in the top 10 in NHL scoring since Mats Naslund finished eighth in 1985-86 with 43-67-110 totals.
“Since I started coaching Nick and see him day in, day out, I’ve always been drawn to his intelligence,” Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said. “I feel his IQ is extremely high. Is that enough to be a productive player in this league? No, it’s not enough. There’s other stuff that you have to do. But I feel with Nick it starts there, but he brings everything else along.”
No. 5 — Tomas Plekanec
Since the 2000-01 season, no Canadiens player has more points than Plekanec, who posted 233-373-606 totals in 984 games to go along with a plus-57 differential. Markov ranks second with 572 points.
Plekanec was a reliable two-way centreman for 15 seasons with the Canadiens and ranks seventh all-time in games played for the franchise. The soft-spoken Czech did it all quietly while wearing his trademark turtleneck.
Brendan Gallagher (No. 6 on this list) learned a lot by playing with Plekanec.
“It was great for me to play on the same line with him,” Gallagher said when they were teammates. “Little helpful tips. I remember when you’d be in a playoff series and he’d give you tips like, ‘This guy breaking out is always going to turn to the forehand,’ which is something I never noticed. He just picks up on little things like that. He’s just crafty. He’s been around for a long time; he understands the game really well.“
Bergevin traded Plekanec to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 25, 2018, but brought him back to Montreal as a free agent on July 1 of the same year. That allowed Plekanec — unlike Markov — to play his 1,000th NHL game with the Canadiens, and he scored in a 7-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings at the Bell Centre on Oct. 15, 2018.
“It was awesome, of course,” Plekanec said after scoring in his 1,000th game. “It feels great. I would never dream of something like that when I started here. It was a hell of a ride.”
No. 6: Brendan Gallagher
No. 7: Max Pacioretty
No. 8: Cole Caufield
No. 9: P.K. Subban
No. 10: Lane Hutson
No. 11: Shea Weber
No. 12: Alex Kovalev
No. 13: José Theodore
No. 14: Patrice Brisebois
No. 15: Jaroslav Halak
No. 16: Mike Cammalleri
No. 17: Brian Gionta
No. 18: Phillip Danault
No. 19: Michael Ryder
No. 20: Richard Zednik
No. 21: Jeff Petry
No. 22: Mike Matheson
No. 23: Juraj Slafkovsky
No. 24: Ivan Demidov
No. 25: David Desharnais
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