The 2006–07

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

season was the club's 98th

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

, 90th in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

. The club finished fourth in the Northeast division and missed qualification for the playoffs by two points after losing the final game of the regular season 6–5 against the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

Pre-season

The Canadiens were only minimally active in offseason transactions, with forwards

Sergei Samsonov Sergei Viktorovich Samsonov (russian: Серге́й Ви́кторович Самсо́нов, ''Sergej Viktorovič Samsonov''; born October 27, 1978) is a Russian former professional ice hockey forward who is now a scout for the Carolina Hurric ...

and Mike Johnson and

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

Janne Niinimaa Janne Henrik Niinimaa (born May 22, 1975) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. He played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders, Dallas Stars, and Montreal ...

representing the only additions. Forwards

Jan Bulis Jan Bulis () (born March 18, 1978) is a former Czech professional hockey winger who last played as the Captain of Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He spent nine seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), playing with ...

Richard Zednik Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

and

Mike Ribeiro Michael Tavares Ribeiro (born February 10, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. Originally selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round, 45th overall, of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, Ribeiro has played in the NHL for ...

moved to other teams: Bulis via free agency to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Zednik via a trade to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and Ribeiro via a trade to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

(for Niinimaa).

Regular season

The club intended to build on a 2005–06 season in which it took the eventual Stanley Cup champion

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...

to six games in the first round of the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

. Behind the leadership of

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

Cristobal Huet Cristobal Huet (; born September 3, 1975) is a French- Swiss former professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently a goalie coach for Lausanne HC of the National League (NL). He previously played for HC Lugano and HC Fribourg-Gottéron and ...

and captain

Saku Koivu Saku Antero Koivu (; born November 23, 1974) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). He began his NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens in 1995–96 after three seasons with TPS of the ...

, the Canadiens poised themselves to join the elite of the Eastern Conference. However, the team failed to keep its momentum for the whole season. Cristobal Huet's injury on February 15, 2007, forced the Canadiens to use backup goaltenders

Jaroslav Halak Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that originally the two elements of the nam ...

and

David Aebischer David Aebischer (born February 7, 1978) is a Swiss former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League with the Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens and the Phoenix Coyotes. He was a member of the 2001 Stanley C ...

. Despite Halak's decent performance, the Canadiens could not clinch a playoff spot. They were eliminated on April 8 after a 6–5 loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the season's last game. On January 9, 2007, the NHL announced that

Sheldon Souray Sheldon Souray (born July 13, 1976) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens, Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars, and Anaheim Ducks. ...

had been voted by the fans to start at defence in the 2007 All-Star Game in

. The Canadiens finished the regular season with the NHL's best power-play percentage, at 22.75% (86 for 378), and tied the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

for most shorthanded goals scored, with 17.

Season standings

Schedule and results

October

Record for month: 6–2–3 (home: 3–1–2; away: 3–1–1).

November

Record for month: 8–5–0 (home: 4–2–0; away: 4–3–0).

December

Record for month: 8–4–2 (home: 5–1–1; away: 3–3–1).

January

Record for month: 6–7–0 (home: 4–3–0; away 2–4–0).

February

Record for month: 5–9–1 (home: 3–5–0; away 2–4–1).

March

Record for month: 8–5–0 (home: 6–0–0; away: 2–5–0).

April

Record for month: 1–2–0 (home: 1–0–0; away 0–2–0). * Green background indicates win. * Red background indicates regulation loss. * White background indicates overtime/shootout loss.

Player stats

Transactions

Trades

Free agents acquired

Free agents lost

Claimed off waivers

Draft picks

Montreal's picks at the

2006 NHL Entry Draft The 2006 NHL Entry Draft was the 44th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 24, 2006. The draft order for the first 14 picks was decided during a lottery held on April 20, 2006. The draft was ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

.2006 NHL Entry Draft Result

– accessed January 4, 2007. The Canadiens had the 16th overall draft pick, which they traded to the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

for the 20th and 53rd overall picks.

Awards and records

King Clancy Memorial Trophy The King Clancy Memorial Trophy is a sports award given annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community. The ...

External links

Official site of the Montreal Canadiens

References

* Team standings:''
NHL standings
on espn.com * Game log:''
Montreal Canadiens game log
on espn.com * Season Stats:''

on espn.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2006-07 Montreal Canadiens Season Montreal Canadiens seasons Montreal Canadiens season, 2006-07

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...