# 1939–40 Montreal Canadiens season

The 1939–40 Montreal Canadiens season was the 31st season in franchise history. The team placed seventh in the regular season and did not qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 1935–36 season. The Canadiens would not finish a season in last place in their division for another 59 years, and would not finish last in the league for another 82 years.

## Regular season

The Canadiens' first game saw them score what would be a season-high 8 goals as they defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 8–2 at the Montreal Forum on November 5, 1939. The Habs were undefeated over their first six games (4–0–2) and were 6-2-2 in their first ten. After that, however, long winless streaks were the rule. They went 3-8-0 in December, 1-10-1 in January, 1-8-1 in February and 1-5-1 in March. Their most lopsided loss happened on February 22, 1940 – 1–10 against the Chicago Black Hawks at Chicago.

### Final standings

National Hockey League :
| | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | PIM | Pts |
| Boston Bruins | 48 | 31 | 12 | 5 | 170 | 98 | 330 | 67 |
| New York Rangers | 48 | 27 | 11 | 10 | 136 | 77 | 520 | 64 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 48 | 25 | 17 | 6 | 134 | 110 | 485 | 56 |
| Chicago Black Hawks | 48 | 23 | 19 | 6 | 112 | 120 | 351 | 52 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 48 | 16 | 26 | 6 | 91 | 126 | 250 | 38 |
| New York Americans | 48 | 15 | 29 | 4 | 106 | 140 | 236 | 34 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 48 | 10 | 33 | 5 | 90 | 167 | 338 | 25 |
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PIM = Penalty Minutes, Pts = Points Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

### Record vs. opponents

1939–40 NHL Records :
| Team | BOS | CHI | DET | MTL | NYA | NYR | TOR |
| Boston | — | 6–1–1 | 5–3 | 6–1–1 | 7–1 | 2–4–2 | 5–2–1 |
| Chicago | 1–6–1 | — | 6–0–2 | 5–2–1 | 3–4–1 | 4–4 | 4–3–1 |
| Detroit | 3–5 | 0–6–2 | — | 5–3 | 5–3 | 2–3–2 | 1–6–1 |
| Montreal | 1–6–1 | 2–5–1 | 3–5 | — | 2–4–2 | 1–6–1 | 1–7 |
| N.Y. Americans | 1–7 | 4–3–1 | 3–5 | 4–2–2 | — | 1–6–1 | 2–6 |
| N.Y. Rangers | 4–2–2 | 4–4 | 3–2–2 | 6–1–1 | 6–1–1 | — | 4–1–3 |
| Toronto | 2–5–1 | 3–4–1 | 6–1–1 | 7–1 | 6–2 | 1–4–3 | — |

## Schedule and results

Regular season results :
| No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
| 1 | W | November 5, 1939 | 8–2 | Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | W | November 9, 1939 | 2–0 | New York Americans (1939–40) | 2–0–0 |
| 3 | T | November 16, 1939 | 3–3 OT | Boston Bruins (1939–40) | 2–0–1 |
| 4 | W | November 19, 1939 | 2–1 OT | @ New York Rangers (1939–40) | 3–0–1 |
| 5 | W | November 21, 1939 | 2–1 | @ Boston Bruins (1939–40) | 4–0–1 |
| 6 | T | November 23, 1939 | 1–1 OT | New York Rangers (1939–40) | 4–0–2 |
| 7 | L | November 25, 1939 | 4–6 | Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) | 4–1–2 |
| 8 | L | November 30, 1939 | 2–5 | @ New York Americans (1939–40) | 4–2–2 |
| 9 | W | December 3, 1939 | 3–1 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) | 5–2–2 |
| 10 | W | December 7, 1939 | 4–1 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) | 6–2–2 |
| 11 | L | December 9, 1939 | 0–3 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) | 6–3–2 |
| 12 | L | December 10, 1939 | 2–3 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) | 6–4–2 |
| 13 | W | December 14, 1939 | 5–3 OT | New York Americans (1939–40) | 7–4–2 |
| 14 | L | December 16, 1939 | 2–4 | New York Rangers (1939–40) | 7–5–2 |
| 15 | L | December 19, 1939 | 2–5 | @ New York Rangers (1939–40) | 7–6–2 |
| 16 | L | December 21, 1939 | 2–3 | Boston Bruins (1939–40) | 7–7–2 |
| 17 | L | December 25, 1939 | 1–3 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) | 7–8–2 |
| 18 | L | December 28, 1939 | 4–6 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) | 7–9–2 |
| 19 | L | December 31, 1939 | 1–6 | @ Boston Bruins (1939–40) | 7–10–2 |
| 20 | L | January 1, 1940 | 0–1 | @ New York Americans (1939–40) | 7–11–2 |
| 21 | L | January 4, 1940 | 2–3 | Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) | 7–12–2 |
| 22 | L | January 6, 1940 | 1–3 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) | 7–13–2 |
| 23 | W | January 7, 1940 | 2–1 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) | 8–13–2 |
| 24 | L | January 9, 1940 | 0–2 | Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) | 8–14–2 |
| 25 | L | January 14, 1940 | 2–4 | @ Boston Bruins (1939–40) | 8–15–2 |
| 26 | L | January 16, 1940 | 1–6 | Boston Bruins (1939–40) | 8–16–2 |
| 27 | L | January 18, 1940 | 0–1 | New York Rangers (1939–40) | 8–17–2 |
| 28 | T | January 25, 1940 | 2–2 OT | New York Americans (1939–40) | 8–17–3 |
| 29 | L | January 27, 1940 | 1–3 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) | 8–18–3 |
| 30 | L | January 28, 1940 | 1–8 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) | 8–19–3 |
| 31 | L | January 30, 1940 | 1–4 | @ New York Americans (1939–40) | 8–20–3 |
| 32 | L | February 4, 1940 | 0–9 | @ New York Rangers (1939–40) | 8–21–3 |
| 33 | L | February 8, 1940 | 1–2 | Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) | 8–22–3 |
| 34 | W | February 11, 1940 | 3–2 OT | @ Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) | 9–22–3 |
| 35 | T | February 15, 1940 | 1–1 OT | Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) | 9–22–4 |
| 36 | L | February 17, 1940 | 1–3 | @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) | 9–23–4 |
| 37 | L | February 18, 1940 | 1–2 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) | 9–24–4 |
| 38 | L | February 22, 1940 | 1–10 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) | 9–25–4 |
| 39 | L | February 24, 1940 | 0–2 | New York Rangers (1939–40) | 9–26–4 |
| 40 | L | February 25, 1940 | 2–6 | @ New York Rangers (1939–40) | 9–27–4 |
| 41 | L | February 29, 1940 | 2–4 | Boston Bruins (1939–40) | 9–28–4 |
| 42 | T | March 2, 1940 | 3–3 OT | New York Americans (1939–40) | 9–28–5 |
| 43 | L | March 3, 1940 | 0–3 | @ New York Americans (1939–40) | 9–29–5 |
| 44 | L | March 7, 1940 | 1–6 | Chicago Black Hawks (1939–40) | 9–30–5 |
| 45 | W | March 9, 1940 | 3–0 | Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) | 10–30–5 |
| 46 | L | March 10, 1940 | 2–5 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1939–40) | 10–31–5 |
| 47 | L | March 14, 1940 | 4–8 | Toronto Maple Leafs (1939–40) | 10–32–5 |
| 48 | L | March 17, 1940 | 2–7 | @ Boston Bruins (1939–40) | 10–33–5 |

## Player statistics
### Regular season
#### Scoring

| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Toe Blake | LW | 48 | 17 | 19 | 36 | 48 |
| Charlie Sands | C/RW | 47 | 9 | 20 | 29 | 10 |
| Ray Getliffe | C/LW | 46 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 29 |
| Georges Mantha | D/LW | 42 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 6 |
| Lou Trudel | LW | 47 | 12 | 7 | 19 | 24 |
| Polly Drouin | LW | 42 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 51 |
| Marty Barry | C | 30 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 2 |
| Doug Young | D | 47 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 22 |
| Red Goupille | D | 48 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 48 |
| Paul Haynes | C | 23 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 8 |
| Johnny Gagnon | RW | 10 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| Rod Lorrain | RW | 41 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Bill Summerhill | RW | 13 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 24 |
| Tony Demers | RW | 14 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Earl Robinson | RW/C | 11 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| William Meronek | C | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Armand Mondou | LW | 21 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Walt Buswell | D | 46 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
| Cy Wentworth | D | 32 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| John Doran | D | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Armand Raymond | D | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Claude Bourque | G | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wilf Cude | G | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Karakas | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gus Mancuso | RW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gordon Poirier | C | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rhys Thomson | D | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO |
| Claude Bourque | 2210 | 36 | 9 | 24 | 3 | 121 | 3.29 | 2 |
| Wilf Cude | 415 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 24 | 3.47 | 0 |
| Mike Karakas | 310 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 3.48 | 0 |
| Charlie Sands | 25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12.00 | 0 |
| Team: | 2960 | 48 | 10 | 33 | 5 | 168 | 3.41 | 2 |
    Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
    Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

## Awards and records
### All-Star teams

| First Team | Position |
| Toe Blake | LW |

## Transactions

| May 15, 1939 | To Montreal Canadienscash | To Chicago Black HawksDes Smith |
| October 10, 1939 | To Boston BruinsHerb Cain | To Montreal CanadiensRay Getliffe Charlie Sands |
| October 11, 1939 | To Montreal CanadiensEarl Robinson | To Chicago Black Hawkscash |
| November 29, 1939 | To Boston BruinsGeorge Brown | To Montreal Canadienscash |
| January 4, 1940 | To New York AmericansJohnny Gagnon | To Montreal Canadienscash |
| April 26, 1940 | To Montreal CanadiensHerb Gardiner cash | To New York RangersClaude Bourque |