The 1939–40 Montreal Canadiens season was the 31st season in franchise history. The team placed seventh in the regular season and did not qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 1935–36 season. The Canadiens would not finish a season in last place in their division again until the 1998–99 Montreal Canadiens season, and would not finish last in the league for 2021–22 Montreal Canadiens season.
Regular season The Canadiens' first game saw them score what would be a season-high 8 goals as they defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 8–2 at the Montreal Forum on November 5, 1939. The Habs were undefeated over their first six games (4–0–2) and were 6-2-2 in their first ten. After that, however, long winless streaks were the rule. They went 3-8-0 in December, 1-10-1 in January, 1-8-1 in February and 1-5-1 in March. Their most lopsided loss happened on February 22, 1940 – 1–10 against the Chicago Black Hawks at Chicago.
Final standings
Record vs. opponents
Schedule and results
|1||W||November 5, 1939||8–2 || align="left"| Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) ||1–0–0
|2||W||November 9, 1939||2–0 || align="left"| New York Americans (1939–40) ||2–0–0
|3||T||November 16, 1939||3–3 OT|| align="left"| Boston Bruins (1939–40) ||2–0–1
|4||W||November 19, 1939||2–1 OT|| align="left"| @ New York Rangers (1939–40) ||3–0–1
|5||W||November 21, 1939||2–1 || align="left"| @ Boston Bruins (1939–40) ||4–0–1
|6||T||November 23, 1939||1–1 OT|| align="left"| New York Rangers (1939–40) ||4–0–2
|7||L||November 25, 1939||4–6 || align="left"| Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) ||4–1–2
|8||L||November 30, 1939||2–5 || align="left"| @ New York Americans (1939–40) ||4–2–2
|9||W||December 3, 1939||3–1 || align="left"| @ Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) ||5–2–2
|10||W||December 7, 1939||4–1 || align="left"| Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) ||6–2–2
|11||L||December 9, 1939||0–3 || align="left"| @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) ||6–3–2
|12||L||December 10, 1939||2–3 || align="left"| @ Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) ||6–4–2
|13||W||December 14, 1939||5–3 OT|| align="left"| New York Americans (1939–40) ||7–4–2
|14||L||December 16, 1939||2–4 || align="left"| New York Rangers (1939–40) ||7–5–2
|15||L||December 19, 1939||2–5 || align="left"| @ New York Rangers (1939–40) ||7–6–2
|16||L||December 21, 1939||2–3 || align="left"| Boston Bruins (1939–40) ||7–7–2
|17||L||December 25, 1939||1–3 || align="left"| @ Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) ||7–8–2
|18||L||December 28, 1939||4–6 || align="left"| Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) ||7–9–2
|19||L||December 31, 1939||1–6 || align="left"| @ Boston Bruins (1939–40) ||7–10–2
|20||L||January 1, 1940||0–1 || align="left"| @ New York Americans (1939–40) ||7–11–2
|21||L||January 4, 1940||2–3 || align="left"| Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) ||7–12–2
|22||L||January 6, 1940||1–3 || align="left"| @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) ||7–13–2
|23||W||January 7, 1940||2–1 || align="left"| @ Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) ||8–13–2
|24||L||January 9, 1940||0–2 || align="left"| Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) ||8–14–2
|25||L||January 14, 1940||2–4 || align="left"| @ Boston Bruins (1939–40) ||8–15–2
|26||L||January 16, 1940||1–6 || align="left"| Boston Bruins (1939–40) ||8–16–2
|27||L||January 18, 1940||0–1 || align="left"| New York Rangers (1939–40) ||8–17–2
|28||T||January 25, 1940||2–2 OT|| align="left"| New York Americans (1939–40) ||8–17–3
|29||L||January 27, 1940||1–3 || align="left"| @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) ||8–18–3
|30||L||January 28, 1940||1–8 || align="left"| @ Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) ||8–19–3
|31||L||January 30, 1940||1–4 || align="left"| @ New York Americans (1939–40) ||8–20–3
|32||L||February 4, 1940||0–9 || align="left"| @ New York Rangers (1939–40) ||8–21–3
|33||L||February 8, 1940||1–2 || align="left"| Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) ||8–22–3
|34||W||February 11, 1940||3–2 OT|| align="left"| @ Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) ||9–22–3
|35||T||February 15, 1940||1–1 OT|| align="left"| Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) ||9–22–4
|36||L||February 17, 1940||1–3 || align="left"| @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) ||9–23–4
|37||L||February 18, 1940||1–2 || align="left"| Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) ||9–24–4
|38||L||February 22, 1940||1–10 || align="left"| @ Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) ||9–25–4
|39||L||February 24, 1940||0–2 || align="left"| New York Rangers (1939–40) ||9–26–4
|40||L||February 25, 1940||2–6 || align="left"| @ New York Rangers (1939–40) ||9–27–4
|41||L||February 29, 1940||2–4 || align="left"| Boston Bruins (1939–40) ||9–28–4
|42||T||March 2, 1940||3–3 OT|| align="left"| New York Americans (1939–40) ||9–28–5
|43||L||March 3, 1940||0–3 || align="left"| @ New York Americans (1939–40) ||9–29–5
|44||L||March 7, 1940||1–6 || align="left"| Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) ||9–30–5
|45||W||March 9, 1940||3–0 || align="left"| Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) ||10–30–5
|46||L||March 10, 1940||2–5 || align="left"| @ Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) ||10–31–5
|47||L||March 14, 1940||4–8 || align="left"| Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) ||10–32–5
|48||L||March 17, 1940||2–7 || align="left"| @ Boston Bruins (1939–40) ||10–33–5
Legend:
Player statistics
Regular season Scoring Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM LW 48 17 19 36 48 C/RW 47 9 20 29 10 C/LW 46 11 12 23 29 D/LW 42 9 11 20 6 LW 47 12 7 19 24 LW 42 4 11 15 51 C 30 4 10 14 2 D 47 3 9 12 22 D 48 2 10 12 48 C 23 2 8 10 8 RW 10 4 5 9 0 RW 41 1 5 6 6 RW 13 3 2 5 24 RW 14 2 3 5 2 RW/C 11 1 4 5 4 C 7 2 2 4 0 LW 21 2 2 4 0 D 46 1 3 4 10 D 32 1 3 4 6 D 6 0 3 3 6 D 11 0 1 1 0 G 36 0 0 0 0 G 7 0 0 0 0 G 5 0 0 0 0 RW 2 0 0 0 0 C 10 0 0 0 0 D 7 0 0 0 16
Goaltending PlayerMINGPW LTGAGAA SO 2210 36 9 24 3 121 3.29 2 415 7 1 5 1 24 3.47 0 310 5 0 4 1 18 3.48 0 25 1 0 0 0 5 12.00 0 Team: 2960 48 10 33 5 168 3.41 2
Awards and records
All-Star teams First Team Position Toe Blake LW
Transactions May 15, 1939 To Montreal Canadienscash To Chicago Black HawksDes Smith October 10, 1939 To Boston BruinsHerb Cain To Montreal CanadiensRay GetliffeCharlie Sands October 11, 1939 To Montreal CanadiensEarl Robinson To Chicago Black Hawkscash November 29, 1939 To Boston BruinsGeorge Brown To Montreal Canadienscash January 4, 1940 To New York AmericansJohnny Gagnon To Montreal Canadienscash April 26, 1940 To Montreal CanadiensHerb Gardinercash To New York RangersClaude Bourque
See also 1939–40 NHL season
Citations
References Canadiens on Hockey Database Canadiens on NHL Reference