# 1994–95 Montreal Canadiens season

The 1994–95 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's 86th season of play and the last full season in the Montreal Forum before moving to the new Molson Centre. For the first time since the 1969–70 season (and only the second time since 1947–48), the Canadiens failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

## Off-season

In the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, the Canadiens selected defenceman Brad Brown with their first-round pick, 18th overall. The Canadiens were more fortunate with their second-round pick, selecting Jose Theodore 44th overall.
In August 1994, captain Guy Carbonneau was traded to the St. Louis Blues. Kirk Muller was named his replacement as captain.

## Regular season

The season started later and was abbreviated by a lockout of the players by the NHL owners; the regular season was only 48 games. It was a forgettable season for the Canadiens and their fans, as the team missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 years. The Canadiens only won 3 of 24 games on the road. Already gone at the season's debut were several important members of the 1992–93 Stanley Cup champion team, including Guy Carbonneau, Kevin Haller, Stephan Lebeau, and Denis Savard. On February 9, more players from the 1992–93 team departed, as Eric Desjardins, Gilbert Dionne, and John LeClair were traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Mark Recchi. Another major trade nearly two months later on April 5 would send Craig Darby, Mathieu Schneider and fan favourite Kirk Muller to the New York Islanders in exchange for Vladimir Malakhov and Pierre Turgeon. The team subsequently named forward Mike Keane as its new captain. After a 7–5–4 start, Montreal won only 11 of its final 32 games, going 11–18–3. It was the first and only season of goaltender Patrick Roy's NHL playing career in which he lost more games than he won, and the only season of his NHL playing career that his team did not make the playoffs.
The Canadiens tied the Florida Panthers and the Ottawa Senators for the fewest shorthanded goals scored during the regular season with one.

### Final standings

Northeast Division :
| No. | CR | | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | 1 | Quebec Nordiques | 48 | 30 | 13 | 5 | 185 | 134 | 65 |
| 2 | 3 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 48 | 29 | 16 | 3 | 181 | 158 | 61 |
| 3 | 4 | Boston Bruins | 48 | 27 | 18 | 3 | 150 | 127 | 57 |
| 4 | 7 | Buffalo Sabres | 48 | 22 | 19 | 7 | 130 | 119 | 51 |
| 5 | 10 | Hartford Whalers | 48 | 19 | 24 | 5 | 127 | 141 | 43 |
| 6 | 11 | Montreal Canadiens | 48 | 18 | 23 | 7 | 125 | 148 | 43 |
| 7 | 14 | Ottawa Senators | 48 | 9 | 34 | 5 | 117 | 174 | 23 |
Eastern Conference :
| R | | Div | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | Quebec Nordiques | NE | 48 | 30 | 13 | 5 | 185 | 134 | 65 |
| 2 | Philadelphia Flyers | AT | 48 | 28 | 16 | 4 | 150 | 132 | 60 |
| 3 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NE | 48 | 29 | 16 | 3 | 181 | 158 | 61 |
| 4 | Boston Bruins | NE | 48 | 27 | 18 | 3 | 150 | 127 | 57 |
| 5 | New Jersey Devils | AT | 48 | 22 | 18 | 8 | 136 | 121 | 52 |
| 6 | Washington Capitals | AT | 48 | 22 | 18 | 8 | 136 | 120 | 52 |
| 7 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 48 | 22 | 19 | 7 | 130 | 119 | 51 |
| 8 | New York Rangers | AT | 48 | 22 | 23 | 3 | 139 | 134 | 47 |
| 9 | Florida Panthers | AT | 48 | 20 | 22 | 6 | 115 | 127 | 46 |
| 10 | Hartford Whalers | NE | 48 | 19 | 24 | 5 | 127 | 141 | 43 |
| 11 | Montreal Canadiens | NE | 48 | 18 | 23 | 7 | 125 | 148 | 43 |
| 12 | Tampa Bay Lightning | AT | 48 | 17 | 28 | 3 | 120 | 144 | 37 |
| 13 | New York Islanders | AT | 48 | 15 | 28 | 5 | 126 | 158 | 35 |
| 14 | Ottawa Senators | NE | 48 | 9 | 34 | 5 | 117 | 174 | 23 |
Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast
bold – Qualified for playoffs

## Schedule and results

1994–95 regular season :
January: 2–2–1 (home: 2–0–1; road: 0–2–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
1LJanuary 21, 19952–5@ New York Rangers0–1–0Recap
2WJanuary 25, 19952–0Washington Capitals1–1–0Recap
3WJanuary 28, 19955–1New Jersey Devils2–1–0Recap
4TJanuary 29, 19952–2 OTPhiladelphia Flyers2–1–1Recap
5LJanuary 31, 19951–4@ Tampa Bay Lightning2–2–1Recap :
February: 5–6–3 (home: 3–1–1; road: 2–5–2)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
6TFebruary 2, 19951–1 OT@ Florida Panthers2–2–2Recap
7WFebruary 4, 19954–2New York Islanders3–2–2Recap
8LFebruary 7, 19954–7@ Boston Bruins3–3–2Recap
9WFebruary 8, 19954–2@ Ottawa Senators4–3–2Recap
10LFebruary 11, 19951–3@ Pittsburgh Penguins4–4–2Recap
11TFebruary 13, 19952–2 OTHartford Whalers4–4–3Recap
12LFebruary 15, 19951–4@ Hartford Whalers4–5–3Recap
13TFebruary 16, 19952–2 OT@ New York Rangers4–5–4Recap
14WFebruary 18, 19955–2New York Rangers5–5–4Recap
15WFebruary 20, 19953–2 OTNew York Islanders6–5–4Recap
16WFebruary 23, 19955–2@ Florida Panthers7–5–4Recap
17LFebruary 25, 19950–7Philadelphia Flyers7–6–4Recap
18LFebruary 27, 19951–6@ New Jersey Devils7–7–4Recap
19LFebruary 28, 19951–2@ New York Islanders7–8–4Recap :
March: 4–7–1 (home: 4–1–1; road: 0–6–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
20LMarch 4, 19951–5@ Washington Capitals7–9–4Recap
21LMarch 5, 19951–4@ Buffalo Sabres7–10–4Recap
22TMarch 8, 19952–2 OTBuffalo Sabres7–10–5Recap
23WMarch 11, 19953–1New York Rangers8–10–5Recap
24LMarch 13, 19952–4@ Pittsburgh Penguins8–11–5Recap
25WMarch 15, 19958–5Pittsburgh Penguins9–11–5Recap
26LMarch 16, 19950–6@ Boston Bruins9–12–5Recap
27WMarch 18, 19955–4Quebec Nordiques10–12–5Recap
28LMarch 20, 19954–8@ Philadelphia Flyers10–13–5Recap
29LMarch 22, 19952–3Florida Panthers10–14–5Recap
30WMarch 25, 19953–1Ottawa Senators11–14–5Recap
31LMarch 27, 19952–3 OT@ Tampa Bay Lightning11–15–5Recap :
April: 7–6–2 (home: 6–2–1; road: 1–4–1)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
32LApril 1, 19951–4@ New Jersey Devils11–16–5Recap
33WApril 3, 19955–4@ Ottawa Senators12–16–5Recap
34WApril 5, 19956–5Quebec Nordiques13–16–5Recap
35LApril 6, 19952–3@ Quebec Nordiques13–17–5Recap
36WApril 8, 19952–1Pittsburgh Penguins14–17–5Recap
37WApril 10, 19952–1New Jersey Devils15–17–5Recap
38LApril 12, 19952–3@ Philadelphia Flyers15–18–5Recap
39LApril 14, 19953–4 OT@ Hartford Whalers15–19–5Recap
40LApril 15, 19952–3Boston Bruins15–20–5Recap
41WApril 17, 19955–2Washington Capitals16–20–5Recap
42WApril 19, 19954–1Ottawa Senators17–20–5Recap
43WApril 22, 19953–1Tampa Bay Lightning18–20–5Recap
44LApril 24, 19953–4Hartford Whalers18–21–5Recap
45TApril 26, 19951–1 OT@ Quebec Nordiques18–21–6Recap
46TApril 29, 19953–3 OTBuffalo Sabres18–21–7Recap :
May: 0–2–0 (home: 0–1–0; road: 0–1–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
47LMay 1, 19950–2@ Buffalo Sabres18–22–7Recap
48LMay 3, 19952–4Boston Bruins18–23–7Recap :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Tie (1 point) :

## Player statistics
### Scoring

* Position abbreviations: C = Centre; D = Defence; G = Goaltender; LW = Left Wing; RW = Right Wing
* † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only.
* ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only.
| No. | Player | Pos | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season |
| No. | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
| 8 | Mark Recchi† | RW | 39 | 14 | 29 | 43 | −3 | 16 |
| 25 | Vincent Damphousse | C | 48 | 10 | 30 | 40 | 15 | 42 |
| 22 | Benoit Brunet | LW | 45 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 7 | 16 |
| 77 | Pierre Turgeon† | C | 15 | 11 | 9 | 20 | 12 | 4 |
| 12 | Mike Keane | RW | 48 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 5 | 15 |
| 27 | Mathieu Schneider‡ | D | 30 | 5 | 15 | 20 | −3 | 49 |
| 49 | Brian Savage | LW | 37 | 12 | 7 | 19 | 5 | 27 |
| 11 | Kirk Muller‡ | LW | 33 | 8 | 11 | 19 | −21 | 33 |
| 23 | Brian Bellows | LW | 41 | 8 | 8 | 16 | −7 | 8 |
| 43 | Patrice Brisebois | D | 35 | 4 | 8 | 12 | −2 | 26 |
| 29 | Yves Racine | D | 47 | 4 | 7 | 11 | −1 | 42 |
| 24 | Lyle Odelein | D | 48 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −13 | 152 |
| 15 | Paul DiPietro‡ | C | 22 | 4 | 5 | 9 | −3 | 4 |
| 48 | J. J. Daigneault | D | 45 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 40 |
| 30 | Turner Stevenson | RW | 41 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 86 |
| 44 | Bryan Fogarty | D | 21 | 5 | 2 | 7 | −3 | 34 |
| 28 | Eric Desjardins‡ | D | 9 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | Oleg Petrov | RW | 12 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −7 | 4 |
| 17 | John LeClair‡ | LW | 9 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 10 |
| 38 | Vladimir Malakhov† | D | 14 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −2 | 14 |
| 31 | Ed Ronan | RW | 30 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −7 | 12 |
| 34 | Peter Popovic | D | 33 | 0 | 5 | 5 | −10 | 8 |
| 18 | Valeri Bure | RW | 24 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −1 | 6 |
| 45 | Gilbert Dionne‡ | LW | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −3 | 2 |
| 35 | Donald Brashear | LW | 20 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −5 | 63 |
| 14 | Craig Darby‡ | C | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −5 | 0 |
| 28 | Craig Conroy | C | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0 |
| 17 | Mark Lamb† | C | 39 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −13 | 18 |
| 52 | Craig Rivet | D | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 33 | Patrick Roy | G | 43 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | 20 |
| 26 | Yves Sarault | LW | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 0 |
| 46 | Craig Ferguson | C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Gerry Fleming | LW | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 17 |
| 26 | Jim Montgomery‡ | C | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 2 |
| 57 | Chris Murray | RW | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 32 | Mario Roberge | LW | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 34 |
| 20 | Pierre Sevigny | LW | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −5 | 15 |
| 1 | Ron Tugnutt | G | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
| 56 | David Wilkie | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Goaltending

| No. | Player | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season |
| No. | Player | GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
| 33 | Patrick Roy | 43 | 17 | 20 | 6 | 1357 | 127 | 2.97 | .906 | 1 | 2566 |
| 1 | Ron Tugnutt | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 172 | 18 | 3.12 | .895 | 0 | 346 |

## Awards and records
### Awards

| Type | Award/honour | Recipient | Ref |
| Team | Jacques Beauchamp Molson Trophy | Benoit Brunet | |
| Team | Molson Cup | Patrick Roy | |

### Milestones

| Milestone | Player | Date |
| First game | Craig Darby | February 8, 1995 |
| First game | Craig Conroy | February 15, 1995 |
| First game | Valeri Bure | February 28, 1995 |
| First game | Yves Sarault | March 25, 1995 |
| First game | Chris Murray | April 12, 1995 |
| First game | David Wilkie | April 14, 1995 |
| First game | Craig Rivet | April 15, 1995 |
| 500th game played | Patrick Roy | February 20, 1995 |

## Transactions

* February 9, 1995: Montreal traded John LeClair, Eric Desjardins and Gilbert Dionne to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Mark Recchi and Philadelphia's third-round pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft (used to select (Martin Hohenberger). LeClair gelled immediately with new Flyers line-mate Eric Lindros and quickly became one of the NHL's most feared goal-scorers.
* April 5, 1995: Montreal acquired Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov from the New York Islanders in exchange for Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider and Craig Darby.

## Draft picks

Montreal's draft picks at the 1994 NHL Entry Draft in Hartford, Connecticut.
| Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team |
| 1 | 18 | Brad Brown | Defence | Canada | North Bay Centennials (OHL) |
| 2 | 44 | Jose Theodore | Goaltender | Canada | Saint-Jean Lynx (QMJHL) |
| 3 | 54 | Chris Murray | Right wing | Canada | Kamloops Blazers (WHL) |
| 3 | 70 | Marko Kiprusoff | Defence | Finland | TPS (Finland) |
| 3 | 74 | Martin Belanger | Defence | Canada | Granby Bisons (QMJHL) |
| 4 | 96 | Arto Kuki | Centre | Finland | Espoo Blues (Finland) |
| 5 | 122 | Jimmy Drolet | Defence | Canada | Saint-Hyacinthe Laser (QMJHL) |
| 6 | 148 | Joel Irving | Centre | Canada | Regina Pat Canadiens (Midget AAA) |
| 7 | 174 | Jessie Rezansoff | Right wing | Canada | Regina Pats (WHL) |
| 8 | 200 | Peter Strom | Left wing | Sweden | Frölunda HC (Sweden) |
| 9 | 226 | Tomas Vokoun | Goaltender | Czech Republic | HC Kladno (Czech Republic) |
| 10 | 252 | Chris Aldous | Defence | United States | Northwood School (USHS-NY) |
| 11 | 278 | Ross Parsons | Defence | Canada | Regina Pats (WHL) |