# 2023–24 Montreal Canadiens season

The 2023–24 Montreal Canadiens season was the franchise's 115th season since its establishment on December 4, 1909, and their 107th season (106th season of play) as member of the National Hockey League.
On April 4, 2024, the Canadiens were eliminated from playoff contention for a third consecutive year following a 7–4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, marking the first such drought for the franchise since 1999–2001 and only the third span collectively in the team's history. Similarly, the Canadiens would finish last in their division for the third consecutive season, a first occurrence in team history.

## Standings
### Divisional standings

Atlantic Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | y – Florida Panthers | 82 | 52 | 24 | 6 | 42 | 268 | 200 | +68 | 110 |
| 2 | x – Boston Bruins | 82 | 47 | 20 | 15 | 36 | 267 | 224 | +43 | 109 |
| 3 | x – Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 46 | 26 | 10 | 33 | 303 | 263 | +40 | 102 |
| 4 | x – Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 45 | 29 | 8 | 37 | 291 | 268 | +23 | 98 |
| 5 | e – Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 41 | 32 | 9 | 27 | 278 | 274 | +4 | 91 |
| 6 | e – Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 39 | 37 | 6 | 33 | 246 | 244 | +2 | 84 |
| 7 | e – Ottawa Senators | 82 | 37 | 41 | 4 | 25 | 255 | 281 | −26 | 78 |
| 8 | e – Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 30 | 36 | 16 | 20 | 236 | 289 | −53 | 76 |

### Conference standings

Eastern Conference Wild Card :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | AT | x – Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 45 | 29 | 8 | 37 | 291 | 268 | +23 | 98 |
| 2 | ME | x – Washington Capitals | 82 | 40 | 31 | 11 | 32 | 220 | 257 | −37 | 91 |
| 3 | AT | e – Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 41 | 32 | 9 | 27 | 278 | 274 | +4 | 91 |
| 4 | ME | e – Pittsburgh Penguins | 82 | 38 | 32 | 12 | 32 | 255 | 251 | +4 | 88 |
| 5 | ME | e – Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 30 | 235 | 261 | −26 | 87 |
| 6 | AT | e – Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 39 | 37 | 6 | 33 | 246 | 244 | +2 | 84 |
| 7 | ME | e – New Jersey Devils | 82 | 38 | 39 | 5 | 33 | 264 | 283 | −19 | 81 |
| 8 | AT | e – Ottawa Senators | 82 | 37 | 41 | 4 | 25 | 255 | 281 | −26 | 78 |
| 9 | AT | e – Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 30 | 36 | 16 | 20 | 236 | 289 | −53 | 76 |
| 10 | ME | e – Columbus Blue Jackets | 82 | 27 | 43 | 12 | 21 | 237 | 300 | −63 | 66 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

The regular season schedule was released on June 27, 2023.
2023–24 game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

## Player statistics

Final stats

### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Nick Suzuki | 82 | 33 | 44 | 77 | −14 | 36 |
| Cole Caufield | 82 | 28 | 37 | 65 | −4 | 16 |
| Mike Matheson | 82 | 11 | 51 | 62 | −24 | 58 |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | 82 | 20 | 30 | 50 | −19 | 55 |
| Sean Monahan$^‡$ | 49 | 13 | 22 | 35 | −10 | 10 |
| Alex Newhook | 55 | 15 | 19 | 34 | −11 | 18 |
| Brendan Gallagher | 77 | 16 | 15 | 31 | −24 | 74 |
| Jake Evans | 82 | 7 | 21 | 28 | −1 | 24 |
| Joel Armia | 66 | 17 | 8 | 25 | +4 | 34 |
| David Savard | 60 | 6 | 18 | 24 | −1 | 24 |
| Kaiden Guhle | 70 | 6 | 16 | 22 | −8 | 56 |
| Josh Anderson | 78 | 9 | 11 | 20 | −18 | 74 |
| Jordan Harris | 56 | 3 | 11 | 14 | −5 | 22 |
| Justin Barron | 48 | 7 | 6 | 13 | −3 | 16 |
| Johnathan Kovacevic | 62 | 6 | 7 | 13 | +11 | 42 |
| Tanner Pearson | 54 | 5 | 8 | 13 | −12 | 21 |
| Michael Pezzetta | 61 | 3 | 9 | 12 | +4 | 59 |
| Arber Xhekaj | 44 | 3 | 7 | 10 | +6 | 81 |
| Jayden Struble | 56 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 57 |
| Rafael Harvey-Pinard | 45 | 2 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 6 |
| Christian Dvorak | 30 | 5 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 4 |
| Joshua Roy | 23 | 4 | 5 | 9 | −2 | 0 |
| Jesse Ylonen | 59 | 4 | 4 | 8 | +2 | 12 |
| Gustav Lindstrom$^‡$ | 14 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| Mitchell Stephens | 23 | 2 | 1 | 3 | +2 | 4 |
| Kirby Dach | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +2 | 0 |
| Lane Hutson | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | –2 | 0 |
| Brandon Gignac | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −3 | 0 |
| Logan Mailloux | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 0 |
| Lucas Condotta | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 |
| Emil Heineman | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 0 |
| Colin White$^†$ | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 2 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Sam Montembeault | 41 | 40 | 2428:16 | 16 | 15 | 9 | 127 | 3.14 | 1307 | .903 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Cayden Primeau | 23 | 21 | 1324:50 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 66 | 2.99 | 731 | .910 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Jake Allen$^‡$ | 21 | 21 | 1216:20 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 74 | 3.65 | 686 | .892 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Canadiens. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only. $^‡$Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only. Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

## Suspensions/fines

| Player | Explanation | Length | Salary | Date issued | Ref |
| Brendan Gallagher | Illegal check to the head of Islanders defenceman Adam Pelech | 5 games | $169,270.85 | January 26, 2024 | |
| Kaiden Guhle | Slashing Flyers forward Travis Konecny | 1 game | $4,496.53 | March 29, 2024 | |

## Awards and honours
### Awards

Regular season :
| Player | Award | Awarded | Ref |
| Nick Suzuki | NHL All-Star Game selection | January 4, 2024 | |
| Nick Suzuki | NHL Third Star of the Week | February 12, 2024 | |

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Nick Suzuki | 300th career NHL game | October 30, 2023 |
| Jake Allen | 400th career NHL game | November 2, 2023 |
| Brendan Gallagher | 400th career NHL point | November 2, 2023 |
| Tanner Pearson | 600th career NHL game | November 2, 2023 |
| Jake Evans | 200th career NHL game | November 11, 2023 |
| Johnathan Kovacevic | 100th career NHL game | November 22, 2023 |
| Sean Monahan | 700th career NHL game | November 22, 2023 |
| Jayden Struble | 1st career NHL game | November 22, 2023 |
| Cole Caufield | 100th career NHL point | November 24, 2023 |
| Cayden Primeau | 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | November 24, 2023 |
| Jayden Struble | 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | November 24, 2023 |
| Brendan Gallagher | 700th career NHL game | December 4, 2023 |
| Jayden Struble | 1st career NHL goal | December 9, 2023 |
| Brendan Gallagher | 200th career NHL assist | December 18, 2023 |
| Emil Heineman | 1st career NHL game | December 21, 2023 |
| Sean Monahan | 500th career NHL point | December 28, 2023 |
| Mike Matheson | 500th career NHL game | December 30, 2023 |
| Mike Matheson | 200th career NHL point | January 11, 2024 |
| Jordan Harris | 100th career NHL game | January 13, 2024 |
| Joshua Roy | 1st career NHL game | January 13, 2024 |
| Joshua Roy | 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | January 17, 2024 |
| Joshua Roy | 1st career NHL assist | January 20, 2024 |
| Josh Anderson | 500th career NHL game | January 23, 2024 |
| Brandon Gignac | 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | February 13, 2024 |
| Cayden Primeau | 1st career NHL shutout | February 13, 2024 |
| Kaiden Guhle | 100th career NHL game | February 29, 2024 |
| Jesse Ylonen | 100th career NHL game | February 29, 2024 |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | 100th career NHL game | March 2, 2024 |
| Nick Suzuki | 100th career NHL goal | March 5, 2024 |
| Alex Newhook | 200th career NHL game | March 19, 2024 |
| Joel Armia | 500th career NHL game | April 7, 2024 |
| Cole Caufield | 200th career NHL game | April 7, 2024 |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | 1st career NHL hat-trick | April 9, 2024 |
| Lane Hutson | 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | April 15, 2024 |
| Logan Mailloux | 1st career NHL game 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | April 16, 2024 |
| Alex Newhook | 100th career NHL point | April 16, 2024 |

## Transactions

The Canadiens have been involved in the following transactions during the 2023–24 season.

### Key

† Contract is entry-level.  ‡  Contract initially takes effect in the 2024–25 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| July 1, 2023 | To Washington CapitalsJoel Edmundson$^1$ | To Montreal CanadiensMIN 3rd-round pick in 2024 7th-round pick in 2024 |
| August 6, 2023 | To Pittsburgh Penguins Mike Hoffman Rem Pitlick | To Montreal CanadiensJeff Petry Casey DeSmith Nathan Legare 2nd-round pick in 2025 |
| August 15, 2023 | To Detroit Red WingsJeff Petry$^2$ | To Montreal CanadiensGustav Lindstrom Conditional 4th-round pick in 2025$^3$ |
| September 13, 2023 | To Ottawa SenatorsFuture considerations | To Montreal CanadiensJakov Novak |
| September 19, 2023 | To Vancouver CanucksCasey DeSmith | To Montreal CanadiensTanner Pearson 3rd-round pick in 2025 |
| January 11, 2024 | To Buffalo SabresFuture considerations | To Montreal CanadiensFilip Cederqvist |
| February 2, 2024 | To Winnipeg JetsSean Monahan | To Montreal Canadiens1st-round pick in 2024 Conditional 3rd-round pick in 2027$^4$ |
| March 7, 2024 | To Anaheim DucksJan Mysak | To Montreal CanadiensJacob Perreault |
| March 8, 2024 | To New Jersey DevilsJake Allen$^5$ | To Montreal CanadiensConditional 3rd-round pick in 2025$^6$ |
| March 11, 2024 | To New Jersey DevilsNathan Legare | To Montreal CanadiensArnaud Durandeau |

#### Notes

* The Canadiens will retain 50% of Edmundson's remaining salary until the end of the current season.
* The Canadiens will retain 50% of Petry's yearly salary until the end of the 2024–25 season.
* Montreal will receive the later of Detroit or Boston's fourth-round pick in 2025.
    Detroit previously acquired Boston's 2025 fourth-round pick as the result of a trade on March 2, 2023, that sent Tyler Bertuzzi to Boston in exchange for a conditional first-round pick in 2024 (top 10 protected) and this pick.
* Montreal will receive the Jets' third-round pick in 2027 should Winnipeg win the Stanley Cup this season – was not converted following the Jets' First Round series loss to the Colorado Avalanche on April 30, 2024.
* The Canadiens will retain 50% of Allen's yearly salary until the end of the 2024–25 season.
* Montreal will receive the Devils' second-round pick in 2025 should Allen play in 40 or more games during the 2024–25 season and if Allen's club at that time (New Jersey or otherwise) qualifies for the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.

### Players acquired

| Date | Player | Former team (League) | Term | Via |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Brady Keeper | Vancouver Canucks | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Philippe Maillet | Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL) | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 2, 2023 (2023-07-02) | Lias Andersson | Los Angeles Kings | 1-year | Free agency |
| February 4, 2024 (2024-02-04) | Brandon Gignac | Laval Rocket (AHL) | 2-year | Free agency |
| February 22, 2024 (2024-02-22) | Colin White | Pittsburgh Penguins | | Waivers |
| June 4, 2024 (2024-06-04) | Connor Hughes | Lausanne HC (NL) | 1-year$^‡$ | Free agency |

### Players lost

| Date | Player | New team (League) | Term | Via |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Alex Belzile | New York Rangers | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Jonathan Drouin | Colorado Avalanche | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Anthony Richard | Boston Bruins | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Corey Schueneman | Colorado Avalanche | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 11, 2023 (2023-07-11) | Denis Gurianov | Nashville Predators | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 14, 2023 (2023-07-14) | Chris Tierney | New Jersey Devils | 1-year | Free agency |
| August 7, 2023 (2023-08-07) | Joel Teasdale | Iowa Wild (AHL) | 1-year | Free agency |
| August 31, 2023 (2023-08-31) | Madison Bowey | Dinamo Minsk (KHL) | 1-year | Free agency |
| September 20, 2023 (2023-09-20) | Paul Byron | | | Retirement |
| January 10, 2024 (2024-01-10) | Gustav Lindstrom | Anaheim Ducks | | Waivers |
| January 29, 2024 (2024-01-29) | Nicolas Beaudin | | | Mutual termination |
| April 16, 2024 (2024-04-16) | Chris Wideman | | | Retirement |
| May 3, 2024 (2024-05-03) | Filip Cederqvist | Frölunda HC (SHL) | 3-year | Free agency |
| June 19, 2024 (2024-06-19) | Lias Andersson | EHC Biel-Bienne (NL) | 2-year | Free agency |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Term |
| July 3, 2023 (2023-07-03) | Rafael Harvey-Pinard | 2-year |
| July 5, 2023 (2023-07-05) | David Reinbacher | 3-year$^†$ |
| July 10, 2023 (2023-07-10) | Mitchell Stephens | 1-year |
| July 11, 2023 (2023-07-11) | Alex Newhook | 4-year |
| July 13, 2023 (2023-07-13) | Nicolas Beaudin | 1-year |
| July 13, 2023 (2023-07-13) | Lucas Condotta | 2-year |
| July 31, 2023 (2023-07-31) | Jesse Ylonen | 1-year |
| December 1, 2023 (2023-12-01) | Sam Montembeault | 3-year$^‡$ |
| April 9, 2024 (2024-04-09) | Florian Xhekaj | 3-year$^{†‡}$ |
| April 12, 2024 (2024-04-12) | Lane Hutson | 3-year$^†$ |
| April 16, 2024 (2024-04-16) | Luke Tuch | 2-year$^{†‡}$ |
| May 3, 2024 (2024-05-03) | Adam Engstrom | 3-year$^{†‡}$ |
| May 31, 2024 (2024-05-31) | Jared Davidson | 2-year$^{†‡}$ |
| June 15, 2024 (2024-06-15) | Oliver Kapanen | 3-year$^{†‡}$ |

## Draft picks

Below are the Montreal Canadiens' selections at the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 28–29, 2023, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
| Round | # | Player | Pos. | Nationality | Team (League) |
| 1 | 5 | David Reinbacher | D | Austria | EHC Kloten (NL) |
| 3 | 69 | Jacob Fowler | G | United States | Youngstown Phantoms (USHL) |
| 4 | 101 | Florian Xhekaj | LW | Canada | Hamilton Bulldogs (OHL) |
| 4 | 110$^1$ | Bogdan Konyushkov | D | Russia | Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (KHL) |
| 4 | 128$^2$ | Quentin Miller | G | Canada | Quebec Remparts (QMJHL) |
| 5 | 133 | Sam Harris | LW | United States | Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL) |
| 5 | 144$^3$ | Yevgeni Volokhin | G | Russia | Mamonty Yugry (MHL) |
| 6 | 165 | Filip Eriksson | C | Sweden | Växjö Lakers (J20 Nationell) |
| 7 | 197 | Luke Mittelstadt | D | United States | University of Minnesota (B1G) |