The Montreal Canadiens are a professional
ice hockey team, the oldest established National Hockey League (NHL)
franchise, and one of the most successful clubs in all of North American
sports history. Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the Canadiens are one
of the NHL's 'Original Six' franchises, along with the Boston Bruins,
Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers and Toronto
Maple Leafs. In their near-century of existence, the team has won
twenty-four Stanley Cups, the most championships by any team in the NHL.
The Montreal Canadiens play their home games at the Bell Centre.
During the 2005 training camp and pre-season, the main story was
arguably the performance of the team's 2nd round pick in the 2005 NHL
Entry Draft, right winger Guillaume Latendresse. The 18-year old
Latendresse won over fans, media, teammates and team management alike,
playing with skill and passion, on-level with veteran players and
surpassing other rookies. However, Latendresse was told he would not
play with the Habs in 2005-06. He was sent back to the QMJHL on October
2, 2005. Other stories included elite Swiss defenseman Mark Streit's
quest at making the NHL after spending 10 years in the Switzerland
National League A with the ZSC Lions and the race for the backup
goaltender position left vacant by the injured Cristobal Huet between
Carey Price, NCAA Brown University alumni Yann Danis, and underdog
journeyman Olivier Michaud. However, on January 13, 2006, with the
teams' performance not up to standards, Claude Julien was fired as
coach, and replaced on an interim basis by Bob Gainey, the teams'
general manager. Guy Carbonneau is scheduled to take over as head coach
of the Montreal Canadiens as soon as he becomes comfortable with the
position. Later on, Montreal lead goalie Jose Theodore was also traded
to the Colorado Avalanche in return for goalie David Aebischer. The
Canadiens made the playoffs with 93 points finishing 7th in the Eastern
Conference but losing in 6 games to the heavily favoured Carolina
Hurricanes in the first round. The Hurricanes went on to win the Stanley
Cup on June 19, 2006.