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 third time since 1939–40 season, 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.Patrick Roy, winning, nothing else, p.338, by Michel Roy, translated by Charles Phillips, 2008, John Wiley & Sons, Mississauga, ON, 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.

Final standings

Schedule and results

|1||January 21, 1995||2–5 || style="text-align:left;"| @ New York Rangers||0–1–0 ||

|2||January 25, 1995||2–0 || style="text-align:left;"| Washington Capitals||1–1–0 ||

|3||January 28, 1995||5–1 || style="text-align:left;"| New Jersey Devils||2–1–0 ||

|4||January 29, 1995||2–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia Flyers||2–1–1 ||

|5||January 31, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Tampa Bay Lightning||2–2–1 ||

|6||February 2, 1995||1–1 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Florida Panthers||2–2–2 ||

|7||February 4, 1995||4–2 || style="text-align:left;"| New York Islanders||3–2–2 ||

|8||February 7, 1995||4–7 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Boston Bruins||3–3–2 ||

|9||February 8, 1995||4–2 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Ottawa Senators||4–3–2 ||

|10||February 11, 1995||1–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Pittsburgh Penguins||4–4–2 ||

|11||February 13, 1995||2–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Hartford Whalers||4–4–3 ||

|12||February 15, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Hartford Whalers||4–5–3 ||

|13||February 16, 1995||2–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ New York Rangers||4–5–4 ||

|14||February 18, 1995||5–2 || style="text-align:left;"| New York Rangers||5–5–4 ||

|15||February 20, 1995||3–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| New York Islanders||6–5–4 ||

|16||February 23, 1995||5–2 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Florida Panthers||7–5–4 ||

|17||February 25, 1995||0–7 || style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia Flyers||7–6–4 ||

|18||February 27, 1995||1–6 || style="text-align:left;"| @ New Jersey Devils||7–7–4 ||

|19||February 28, 1995||1–2 || style="text-align:left;"| @ New York Islanders||7–8–4 ||

|20||March 4, 1995||1–5 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Washington Capitals||7–9–4 ||

|21||March 5, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Buffalo Sabres||7–10–4 ||

|22||March 8, 1995||2–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Buffalo Sabres||7–10–5 ||

|23||March 11, 1995||3–1 || style="text-align:left;"| New York Rangers||8–10–5 ||

|24||March 13, 1995||2–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Pittsburgh Penguins||8–11–5 ||

|25||March 15, 1995||8–5 || style="text-align:left;"| Pittsburgh Penguins||9–11–5 ||

|26||March 16, 1995||0–6 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Boston Bruins||9–12–5 ||

|27||March 18, 1995||5–4 || style="text-align:left;"| Quebec Nordiques||10–12–5 ||

|28||March 20, 1995||4–8 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Philadelphia Flyers||10–13–5 ||

|29||March 22, 1995||2–3 || style="text-align:left;"| Florida Panthers||10–14–5 ||

|30||March 25, 1995||3–1 || style="text-align:left;"| Ottawa Senators||11–14–5 ||

|31||March 27, 1995||2–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Tampa Bay Lightning||11–15–5 ||

|32||April 1, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ New Jersey Devils||11–16–5 ||

|33||April 3, 1995||5–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Ottawa Senators||12–16–5 ||

|34||April 5, 1995||6–5 || style="text-align:left;"| Quebec Nordiques||13–16–5 ||

|35||April 6, 1995||2–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Quebec Nordiques||13–17–5 ||

|36||April 8, 1995||2–1 || style="text-align:left;"| Pittsburgh Penguins||14–17–5 ||

|37||April 10, 1995||2–1 || style="text-align:left;"| New Jersey Devils||15–17–5 ||

|38||April 12, 1995||2–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Philadelphia Flyers||15–18–5 ||

|39||April 14, 1995||3–4 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Hartford Whalers||15–19–5 ||

|40||April 15, 1995||2–3 || style="text-align:left;"| Boston Bruins||15–20–5 ||

|41||April 17, 1995||5–2 || style="text-align:left;"| Washington Capitals||16–20–5 ||

|42||April 19, 1995||4–1 || style="text-align:left;"| Ottawa Senators||17–20–5 ||

|43||April 22, 1995||3–1 || style="text-align:left;"| Tampa Bay Lightning||18–20–5 ||

|44||April 24, 1995||3–4 || style="text-align:left;"| Hartford Whalers||18–21–5 ||

|45||April 26, 1995||1–1 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Quebec Nordiques||18–21–6 ||

|46||April 29, 1995||3–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Buffalo Sabres||18–21–7 ||

|47||May 1, 1995||0–2 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Buffalo Sabres||18–22–7 ||

|48||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. Player Regular season 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 Player Regular season 33 Patrick Roy 43 17 20 6 1357 127 2.97 .906 1 2566 1 Ron Tugnutt 7 1 3 1 172 18 3.12 .895 0 346

Awards and records

Awards TypeAward/honourRecipientRef Team Jacques Beauchamp Molson Trophy Benoit BrunetMontreal Canadiens 2014–2015 Media Guide, p.553 Molson Cup Patrick RoyMontreal Canadiens 2014–2015 Media Guide, p.552

Milestones MilestonePlayerDateRef First game Craig Darby February 8, 1995 Craig Conroy February 15, 1995 Valeri Bure February 28, 1995 Yves Sarault March 25, 1995 Chris Murray April 12, 1995 David Wilkie April 14, 1995 Craig Rivet April 15, 1995 500th game played Patrick Roy February 20, 1995

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.NHL trade deadline: Deals since 1980 | Habs Inside/Out

Draft picks Montreal's draft picks at the 1994 NHL entry draft in Hartford, Connecticut.

Round # Player Position Nationality 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)

See also 1994–95 NHL season

References