{"id":461088,"date":"2025-01-20T14:20:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T19:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=461088"},"modified":"2025-01-20T14:23:28","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T19:23:28","slug":"reviewing-the-montreal-canadiens-quarter-century-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/20\/reviewing-the-montreal-canadiens-quarter-century-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviewing the Montreal Canadiens Quarter Century Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NHL has been unveiling each NHL team’s Quarter Century Teams over the last few weeks. The teams include the best six forwards, four defensemen, and two goalies from the previous 25 years. The <\/span>Montreal Canadiens<\/span><\/a> list consists of some notable names and faces that Canadiens fans are familiar with. Let’s take a look at the Montreal Canadiens Quarter Century Team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Montreal Canadiens Quarter Century Team<\/span><\/h2>\n

First Team selections<\/span><\/h3>\n

Alex Kovalev<\/span><\/a>–<\/span>Saku Koivu<\/span><\/a>–<\/span>Tomas Plekanec<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrei Markov-<\/span>Shea Weber<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Carey Price<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Canadiens first team is stacked with Habs legends. <\/span>Alex Kovalev<\/span><\/a> is potentially the most dynamic player of the last 25 years to wear a Habs sweater. He recorded 84 points in 82 games in 2007-08 and is the previous Habs player to reach that mark. <\/span>Saku Koivu<\/span><\/a> is an absolute icon in the city of Montreal after spending 13 years with the team. The ovation he received in his first game back after a battle with cancer is one of the most memorable and heartwarming moments in Canadiens history. As for <\/span>Tomas Plekanec<\/span><\/a>, he spent 15 years with the team. He was traded to Toronto in 2017-18 before resigning in Montreal to retire as a Canadien. He was known for always wearing his trademark turtleneck while playing.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the defensive end, Andrei “The General” Markov commanded the Habs powerplay and blueline for 16 seasons. He spent his entire career with Montreal, finishing just shy of 1000 games with 990. <\/span>Shea Weber<\/span><\/a> was the Canadiens most recent captain before <\/span>Nick Suzuki<\/span><\/a>. He was acquired in one of the biggest deals in NHL history when the Canadiens sent <\/span>P.K. Subban<\/span><\/a> to Nashville in exchange for Weber. Weber helped lead the Habs to the cup finals in 2021 before injuries sustained on that run eventually ended his career.<\/span><\/p>\n

The final man on the list needs no introduction. <\/span>Carey Price<\/span><\/a> dominated the Habs crease for over a decade. He led the team to the <\/span>2021 Stanley Cup Final<\/span><\/a> and a conference championship before falling injured. He had one of the most dominant seasons by a goaltender in NHL history in 2015. That season, he won the Hart, <\/span>Ted Lindsay<\/span><\/a>, Vezina, and the William M. Jennings trophies that year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second Team selections<\/span><\/h3>\n

Brendan Gallagher<\/span><\/a>–<\/span>Nick Suzuki<\/span><\/a>–<\/span>Max Pacioretty<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sheldon Souray-<\/span>P.K. Subban<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jose Theodore<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Brendan Gallagher<\/span><\/a> has been a warrior on the Canadiens since his 2012-13 season debut. While he doesn’t have the same impact as he used to offensively, he is still the spark plug of the Canadiens. <\/span>Max Pacioretty<\/span><\/a> was arguably the best goal scorer the team has had in the last 25 years. He had four 30+ goal seasons with Montreal before being traded to Vegas for Nick Suzuki. Suzuki quickly became a leader with the Canadiens and <\/span>became their captain in 2022.<\/span><\/a> He is currently the team’s number-one center. He has been the piece to build around for the new-era Canadiens.<\/span><\/p>\n

P.K. Subban is one of the most electrifying players to wear a Habs jersey. A fan favorite in Montreal, his personality shone on and off the ice. As for Souray, he spent six seasons in Montreal, including a season of 26 goals and 64 points. His booming slapshot was a practical part of the Habs powerplay in the early 2000s. Finally, <\/span>Jose Theodore<\/span><\/a> was the Canadiens goalie who led them into the quarter century. He spent eight years in Montreal, including a Hart trophy campaign in 2001-02.<\/span><\/p>\n

Montreal Canadiens Quarter Century notable omissions<\/span><\/h3>\n

There are a few notable omissions regarding the Canadiens Quarter Century team. This is not to say they should have made it over the current selections, but they all have a case. <\/span>Jeff Petry<\/span><\/a> spent eight years with the Canadiens and was part of the team’s cup run in 2021. Petry recorded over 40 points in four consecutive seasons with Montreal. This includes 42 in only 55 games in 2021-22; however, when Shea Weber and P.K Subban are on the team, it’s hard for Petry to beat out those two.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brian Gionta<\/span><\/a> is the only Habs captain of the last quarter century not to make this list. Koivu, Pacioretty, and Suzuki all were chosen over him. Gionta had a couple of solid seasons with the Canadiens, including a couple of cup runs. He doesn’t have the offensive numbers that other guys who made the list did. The final noteworthy omission is <\/span>Cole Caufield<\/span><\/a>. Caufield has had 20 or more goals in his first four seasons in Montreal. His linemate Suzuki is on the list but has been in Montreal a little longer than Caufield. Caufield’s omission is due to his short time in Montreal, but he indeed finds himself on this list if there is another list in 25 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main photo by: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NHL has been unveiling each NHL team’s Quarter Century Teams over the last few weeks. The teams include the best six forwards, four defensemen, and two goalies from the previous 25 years. The Montreal Canadiens list consists of some notable names and faces that Canadiens fans are familiar with. Let’s take a look at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":461166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4547,4548],"tags":[4282,266,226,199,3805,269,4849,353,949,253,5633,254,5289,829],"class_list":["post-461088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canadiens","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-alex-kovalev","tag-brendan-gallagher","tag-brian-gionta","tag-carey-price","tag-cole-caufield","tag-jeff-petry","tag-jose-theodore","tag-max-pacioretty","tag-nick-suzuki","tag-p-k-subban","tag-saku-koivu","tag-shea-weber","tag-sheldon-souray","tag-tomas-plekanec"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461088"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":461167,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461088\/revisions\/461167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}