# 1925–26 Montreal Canadiens season

The 1925–26 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's 17th season and ninth as a member of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Canadiens lost their star goalie Georges Vezina to tuberculosis and struggled as a team, not making the playoffs. The league added teams in Pittsburgh and New York, New York taking the players of the former Hamilton Tigers franchise.
The team had a large turnover of personnel, partly due to Vezina's leaving. Alphonse Lacroix, Herb Rheaume and Bill Taugher all appeared in the Canadiens' net. New players included Bill Holmes, Wildor Larochelle, Albert Leduc, Alfred Lepine, Hector Lepine, Joe Matte and Roland Paulhus. Departures included the Cleghorn brothers, Odie and Sprague. Odie signed with Pittsburgh as playing-coach and Sprague was traded to the Boston Bruins for $5,000 on November 8, 1925. Cecil Hart took over as coach from Leo Dandurand, and Billy Coutu was named team captain.

## Regular season

From 1911 Georges Vezina had been the Montreal Canadiens goaltender, and had led them to the Cup in 1924. In the first game of this season, he collapsed on the ice as the second period got underway. It was found that he had contracted tuberculosis and could no longer play. He went home to Chicoutimi, Quebec, where he died in March 1926. The team struggled with several goaltenders before Herb Rheaume won the job, but the team finished last.
In the second half of the season, the team had a twelve-game losing streak, from February 13, losing 0–3 to Pittsburgh, until March 16, winning 6–1 over Toronto.

### Final standings

National Hockey League :
| Teams | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | PIM | Pts |
| Ottawa Senators | 36 | 24 | 8 | 4 | 77 | 42 | 341 | 52 |
| Montreal Maroons | 36 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 91 | 73 | 554 | 45 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 36 | 19 | 16 | 1 | 82 | 70 | 264 | 39 |
| Boston Bruins | 36 | 17 | 15 | 4 | 92 | 85 | 279 | 38 |
| New York Americans | 36 | 12 | 20 | 4 | 68 | 89 | 361 | 28 |
| Toronto St. Patricks | 36 | 12 | 21 | 3 | 92 | 114 | 325 | 27 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 36 | 11 | 24 | 1 | 79 | 108 | 458 | 23 |
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

### Record vs. opponents

1925–26 NHL Records :
| Team | BOS | MTL | MTM | NYA | OTT | PIT | TOR |
| Boston | — | 2–3–1 | 4–1–1 | 2–2–2 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 5–1 |
| M. Canadiens | 3–2–1 | — | 1–5 | 2–4 | 0–6 | 2–4 | 3–3 |
| M. Maroons | 1–4–1 | 5–1 | — | 4–1–1 | 1–2–3 | 3–3 | 6–0 |
| New York | 2–2–2 | 4–2 | 1–4–1 | — | 1–5 | 3–3 | 1–1–4 |
| Ottawa | 4–2 | 6–0 | 2–1–3 | 5–1 | — | 4–2 | 3–1–2 |
| Pittsburgh | 4–2 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 2–4 | — | 3–2–1 |
| Toronto | 1–5 | 3–3 | 0–6 | 1–1–4 | 1–3–2 | 2–3–1 | — |

## Schedule and results

Regular season results :
| No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
| 1 | L | November 28, 1925 | 0–1 | Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) | 0–1–0 |
| 2 | W | December 1, 1925 | 3–2 | @ Boston Bruins (1925–26) | 1–1–0 |
| 3 | L | December 3, 1925 | 2–3 | Montreal Maroons (1925–26) | 1–2–0 |
| 4 | L | December 8, 1925 | 2–6 | New York Americans (1925–26) | 1–3–0 |
| 5 | L | December 12, 1925 | 0–4 | @ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) | 1–4–0 |
| 6 | W | December 15, 1925 | 3–1 | @ New York Americans (1925–26) | 2–4–0 |
| 7 | L | December 17, 1925 | 0–3 | @ Ottawa Senators (1925–26) | 2–5–0 |
| 8 | W | December 19, 1925 | 6–5 OT | Boston Bruins (1925–26) | 3–5–0 |
| 9 | L | December 26, 1925 | 0–3 | Ottawa Senators (1925–26) | 3–6–0 |
| 10 | W | December 30, 1925 | 7–4 | @ Montreal Maroons (1925–26) | 4–6–0 |
| 11 | W | January 1, 1926 | 2–1 | @ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) | 5–6–0 |
| 12 | W | January 5, 1926 | 5–4 | Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) | 6–6–0 |
| 13 | L | January 9, 1926 | 1–2 | New York Americans (1925–26) | 6–7–0 |
| 14 | W | January 12, 1926 | 4–2 | @ Boston Bruins (1925–26) | 7–7–0 |
| 15 | W | January 13, 1926 | 2–1 | @ New York Americans (1925–26) | 8–7–0 |
| 16 | L | January 16, 1926 | 0–1 | @ Montreal Maroons (1925–26) | 8–8–0 |
| 17 | L | January 19, 1926 | 1–2 | Ottawa Senators (1925–26) | 8–9–0 |
| 18 | L | January 23, 1926 | 2–6 | @ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) | 8–10–0 |
| 19 | W | January 26, 1926 | 6–3 | Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) | 9–10–0 |
| 20 | L | January 28, 1926 | 2–4 | @ Ottawa Senators (1925–26) | 9–11–0 |
| 21 | L | February 2, 1926 | 0–2 | Montreal Maroons (1925–26) | 9–12–0 |
| 22 | T | February 6, 1926 | 3–3 OT | Boston Bruins (1925–26) | 9–12–1 |
| 23 | W | February 9, 1926 | 4–2 | Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) | 10–12–1 |
| 24 | L | February 13, 1926 | 0–3 | @ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) | 10–13–1 |
| 25 | L | February 16, 1926 | 0–1 | Ottawa Senators (1925–26) | 10–14–1 |
| 26 | L | February 18, 1926 | 2–4 | @ Ottawa Senators (1925–26) | 10–15–1 |
| 27 | L | February 20, 1926 | 1–3 | Boston Bruins (1925–26) | 10–16–1 |
| 28 | L | February 23, 1926 | 2–3 | @ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) | 10–17–1 |
| 29 | L | February 24, 1926 | 1–6 | @ New York Americans (1925–26) | 10–18–1 |
| 30 | L | February 27, 1926 | 0–1 | New York Americans (1925–26) | 10–19–1 |
| 31 | L | March 2, 1926 | 1–4 | @ Boston Bruins (1925–26) | 10–20–1 |
| 32 | L | March 6, 1926 | 3–4 OT | Montreal Maroons (1925–26) | 10–21–1 |
| 33 | L | March 9, 1926 | 3–4 | Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) | 10–22–1 |
| 34 | L | March 11, 1926 | 3–5 | @ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) | 10–23–1 |
| 35 | L | March 13, 1926 | 2–4 | @ Montreal Maroons (1925–26) | 10–24–1 |
| 36 | W | March 16, 1926 | 6–1 | Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) | 11–24–1 |

## Player statistics
### Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts |
| Howie Morenz | 31 | 23 | 3 | 26 |
| Aurel Joliat | 35 | 17 | 9 | 26 |
| Pit Lepine | 32 | 10 | 3 | 13 |
| Billy Boucher | 34 | 8 | 5 | 13 |
| Albert Leduc | 32 | 9 | 1 | 10 |

### Leading goaltenders

GP = Games played, GA = Goals against, SO = shutouts, GAA = Goals against average
| Player | GP | GA | SO | GAA |
| Georges Vezina | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Bill Taugher | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3.0 |
| Herb Rheaume | 29 | 89 | 0 | 3.1 |
| Alphonse Lacroix | 5 | 16 | 0 | 3.43 |

## Awards and records

* Prince of Wales Trophy – awarded for winning first game in Madison Square Garden, December 15, 1925.