2009–10 Montreal Canadiens season

Off-season

The Canadiens announced Jacques Martin as their new head coach to replace Guy Carbonneau. Martin, the former coach and general manager of the Florida Panthers, and former coach of the Ottawa Senators and St. Louis Blues, is known for his defence-first style.

On June 20, the Canadiens announced that owner George Gillett had reached an agreement to sell his 80% share of the team, the Bell Centre and the Gillett concert promotion company to Geoffrey, Justin and Andrew Molson. This represents the third time that the hockey club will be owned by the Molson family, which owned it from 1957 to 1971 and from 1978 to 2001. The purchase price was not disclosed but was estimated at between $506 and 537 million. The deal was approved by the NHL board of governors on December 1.

At the Entry Draft, this year held in Montreal at the Bell Centre, the Canadiens made Louis Leblanc their first-round pick. The pick was notable as it was the Canadiens' first first-round pick of a francophone since the team picked Eric Chouinard in the 1998 Entry Draft. Leblanc was born in the Montreal suburb of Kirkland.

General Manager Bob Gainey pursued a policy of change for the lineup. Prior to free agency, he traded for top centre Scott Gomez in a seven-player deal from the New York Rangers. In free agency, the Canadiens signed Gomez's former New Jersey linemate Brian Gionta, high-scoring Calgary Flames forward Michael Cammalleri, checking line winger Travis Moen, and three defencemen: Hal Gill from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Jaroslav Spacek from the Buffalo Sabres, and Paul Mara from the New York Rangers. Captain Saku Koivu was not offered a contract and instead signed with the Anaheim Ducks. Alexei Kovalev turned down a contract and signed with the Ottawa Senators. Mike Komisarek signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tom Kostopoulos signed with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Regular season

For the first time in franchise history, the Canadiens enter the regular season without a captain. On October 6, 2009, the Canadiens signed defenceman Marc-Andre Bergeron due to early injuries to Andrei Markov.

On December 28, 2009, forward Michael Cammalleri scored the 20,000th goal in franchise history in a game against the Ottawa Senators.

On February 8, General Manager (GM) Bob Gainey announced his retirement as GM from the club, staying on as advisor to the club. Assistant GM Pierre Gauthier becomes the interim GM. Gauthier and coach Jacques Martin held the same positions with the Ottawa Senators in the late 1990s.

The Canadiens finished the regular season with the fewest power-play opportunities of all 30 teams, with 261.

Playoffs

In the Eastern Conference Quarter-finals, the Canadiens faced the winners of the 2009–10 Presidents' Trophy, the Washington Capitals, who had led the league with the most goals scored during the regular season (318) and the most points (121). Despite trailing 3–1 after the first four games, the Canadiens won the final three, holding the Capitals to three goals. Montreal went 3–1 on the road in the series.

In the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, the Canadiens faced the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Once again, the Canadiens found themselves trailing, this time 3–2. After edging the Penguins 4–3 at home in Game 6, the Canadiens jumped out to a 4–0 lead in Game 7 on the road and would go on to win by a final score of 5–2, thereby clinching the series 4–3.

In the Eastern Conference Final against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Canadiens were shut out by scores of 6–0 and 3–0 in the first two games. They came back and won Game 3 at home by a score of 5–1. Game 4 was scoreless until 5:41 of the second period, when Flyers forward Claude Giroux scored his seventh of the playoffs on an assist from Kimmo Timonen. Ville Leino would score at 14:53 of the same period and Giroux would seal the win with an empty-net goal with 1:13 remaining in the game. The 3–0 Flyers' win game them a 3–1 lead in the series. The Canadiens would open the scoring in Game 5 just 59 seconds into the game on Brian Gionta's ninth of the playoffs, but the Flyers took a 3–1 lead on a short-handed goal by Flyers' captain Mike Richards at 4:25 of the first period and even-strength goals 84 seconds apart by Arron Asham and Jeff Carter in the second period. The Canadiens cut the Flyer's lead to one on Scott Gomez's second of the playoffs (assisted by P. K. Subban and Brian Gionta) at 6:53 of the third period, but Jeff Carter would seal the 4–2 Flyers' win with an empty-net goal at 19:37 and give Philadelphia a 4–1 series win. The Canadiens' playoff performance was the franchise's best in 17 years. However, with this loss, the Canadiens failed to become champions during the 2000s. Having won at least one Stanley Cup in each decade since the 1910s, the 2000s was their first decade without a Cup, thus ending a nine-decade streak of at least one championship per decade.

Conference standings

bold – Qualified for playoffs; y – Won division; p – Won Presidents' Trophy (and division)

AT - Atlantic Division, NE - Northeast Division, SE - Southeast Division

Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime Losses; GA = Goals Against; GAA= Goals Against Average; SA= Shots Against; SV= Saves; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO= Shutouts

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Canadiens. Stats reflect time with Canadiens only.
^‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Canadiens only.

Transactions

The Canadiens have been involved in the following transactions during the 2009–10 season.

Final player roster

Updated May 10, 2010.

Draft picks

Montreal's picks at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal, Quebec.

Hamilton Bulldogs

The Hamilton Bulldogs remain Montreal's top affiliate in the American Hockey League in 2009–10.

Cincinnati Cyclones

Montreal continues their affiliation alongside the Nashville Predators for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL in 2009–10.