# 1921–22 Montreal Canadiens season

The 1921–22 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's 13th season and fifth as a member of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Canadiens, for the third season in a row, did not qualify for the playoffs, finishing third.
Billy Coutu returned to the Canadiens. Other additions included Odie Cleghorn's brother Sprague Cleghorn, Bill Boucher, Edmond Bouchard and Phil Stevens. Dave Ritchie retired and Cully Wilson joined the Hamilton Tigers.
Prior to the start of this season, the NHL's first multiple-player trade in its history was made when Billy Coutu and Sprague Cleghorn of the Hamilton Tigers were traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Harry Mummery, Amos Arbour and Cully Wilson.
Canadiens owner George Kennedy never recovered from the influenza he contracted in 1919, and died on October 19, 1921, at age 39. His widow sold the Canadiens to a unit that would be known affectionately as the Three Musketeers of owners, Leo Dandurand, Louis Letourneau, and Joseph Cattarinich. Dandurand became manager and coach, and immediately there were problems between him and Newsy Lalonde. At one point, Dandurand accused Lalonde of not trying, and also the fans started to boo their old hero. Finally, Lalonde walked out on the team. NHL president Frank Calder mediated the dispute and Lalonde returned to the team. But his days in Montreal were numbered.

## Regular season

Georges Vezina came third in the league in goals against average of 3.9 per game. Odie Cleghorn led the Canadiens in offence, scoring 21 goals and 3 assists.

### Final standings

National Hockey League :
| | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA |
| Ottawa Senators | 24 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 30 | 106 | 84 |
| Toronto St. Patricks | 24 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 27 | 98 | 97 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 24 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 25 | 88 | 94 |
| Hamilton Tigers | 24 | 7 | 17 | 0 | 14 | 88 | 105 |
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

### Record vs. opponents

1921–22 NHL Records :
| Team | HAM | MTL | OTT | TOR |
| Hamilton | — | 1–7 | 3–5 | 3–5 |
| Montreal | 7–1 | — | 1–6–1 | 4–4 |
| Ottawa | 5–3 | 6–1–1 | — | 3–4–1 |
| Toronto | 5–3 | 4–4 | 4–3–1 | — |

## Schedule and results

Regular season results :
| No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
| 1 | L | December 17, 1921 | 2–5 | @ Toronto St. Patricks (1921–22) | 0–1–0 |
| 2 | W | December 21, 1921 | 3–1 | Hamilton Tigers (1921–22) | 1–1–0 |
| 3 | L | December 24, 1921 | 0–10 | @ Ottawa Senators (1921–22) | 1–2–0 |
| 4 | L | December 28, 1921 | 1–2 OT | Ottawa Senators (1921–22) | 1–3–0 |
| 5 | W | December 31, 1921 | 5–3 | Toronto St. Patricks (1921–22) | 2–3–0 |
| 6 | L | January 4, 1922 | 3–4 | @ Hamilton Tigers (1921–22) | 2–4–0 |
| 7 | L | January 7, 1922 | 2–4 | Ottawa Senators (1921–22) | 2–5–0 |
| 8 | W | January 11, 1922 | 3–2 | @ Hamilton Tigers (1921–22) | 3–5–0 |
| 9 | W | January 14, 1922 | 10–6 | Hamilton Tigers (1921–22) | 4–5–0 |
| 10 | L | January 18, 1922 | 6–10 | @ Ottawa Senators (1921–22) | 4–6–0 |
| 11 | L | January 21, 1922 | 3–5 | Toronto St. Patricks (1921–22) | 4–7–0 |
| 12 | L | January 25, 1922 | 1–3 | @ Toronto St. Patricks (1921–22) | 4–8–0 |
| 13 | W | January 28, 1922 | 3–2 | Hamilton Tigers (1921–22) | 5–8–0 |
| 14 | L | February 1, 1922 | 2–4 | @ Ottawa Senators (1921–22) | 5–9–0 |
| 15 | L | February 4, 1922 | 1–3 | @ Toronto St. Patricks (1921–22) | 5–10–0 |
| 16 | W | February 8, 1922 | 6–4 | Toronto St. Patricks (1921–22) | 6–10–0 |
| 17 | W | February 11, 1922 | 3–1 | @ Hamilton Tigers (1921–22) | 7–10–0 |
| 18 | T | February 15, 1922 | 6–6 OT | Ottawa Senators (1921–22) | 7–10–1 |
| 19 | W | February 18, 1922 | 6–4 | Toronto St. Patricks (1921–22) | 8–10–1 |
| 20 | L | February 22, 1922 | 3–4 | @ Ottawa Senators (1921–22) | 8–11–1 |
| 21 | W | February 25, 1922 | 6–1 | Hamilton Tigers (1921–22) | 9–11–1 |
| 22 | W | March 1, 1922 | 3–2 | @ Hamilton Tigers (1921–22) | 10–11–1 |
| 23 | W | March 4, 1922 | 2–1 | Ottawa Senators (1921–22) | 11–11–1 |
| 24 | W | March 8, 1922 | 8–7 | @ Toronto St. Patricks (1921–22) | 12–11–1 |

## Player statistics

Regular season :
Scoring :
| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Sprague Cleghorn | D | 24 | 17 | 9 | 26 | 80 |
| Odie Cleghorn | RW/C | 24 | 21 | 3 | 24 | 26 |
| Billy Boucher | RW | 24 | 17 | 5 | 22 | 18 |
| Louis Berlinquette | LW | 24 | 13 | 5 | 18 | 10 |
| Newsy Lalonde | C | 20 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 20 |
| Bert Corbeau | D | 22 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 26 |
| Billy Coutu | D | 24 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 8 |
| Didier Pitre | RW/D | 23 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 12 |
| Edmond Bouchard | LW/D | 18 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Billy Bell | C/RW | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jack McDonald | LW | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Phil Stevens | C/D | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clement Piché | ? | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Georges Vezina | G | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Goaltending :
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO |
| Georges Vezina | 1469 | 24 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 94 | 3.84 | 0 |
| Sprague Cleghorn | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Team: | 1471 | 24 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 94 | 3.83 | 0 |
    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;
Clement Piché had signed a contract with the Canadiens on December 6, 1921. Later that month, on December 21, he was slated to play versus the Hamilton Tigers. He did noy play due to the flu, yet he had been erroneously been credited with playing one shift in that game.
   "A daily newspaper from yesterday announced that Piché had been sent on the ice in the game of two nights ago. That was an error, as Piché suffers from the flu and will not even be able to play Saturday night in Ottawa [the article was published on Friday]. The doctor recommended that he not go out this week and he will not be able to resume training before Sunday."

## Transactions
### Trades

| Date | From Canadiens | To Canadiens |
| November 15, 1921 | To Hamilton Tigers | Billy Coutu(return from loan) |
| November 26, 1921 | To Hamilton TigersAmos Arbour, Harry Mummery | Sprague Cleghorn |
| January 6, 1922 | To Ottawa SenatorsBilly Bell | (loan for season as compensation ordered by NHL for Cleghorn) |
Source: "Hockey Transactions Search Results". prosportstransactions.com. Retrieved 2009-05-19.