# 2004–05 Montreal Canadiens season

The 2004–05 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's 96th season, 88th in the National Hockey League (NHL). However, its games were cancelled as the 2004–05 NHL lockout could not be resolved in time. The other 29 teams did not play either due to the labour dispute.

## Schedule

The Canadiens preseason and regular season schedules were announced on July 14, 2004.
2004–05 schedule :
Preseason
GameDateOpponent
1September 23Tampa Bay Lightning
2September 24Toronto Maple Leafs
3September 26Ottawa Senators
4September 28Boston Bruins
5September 29@ Boston Bruins
6October 2Buffalo Sabres
7October 5@ Toronto Maple Leafs
8October 6@ Buffalo Sabres
9October 9@ Ottawa Senators :
Regular season
GameDateOpponent
1October 13@ Ottawa Senators
2October 16Philadelphia Flyers
3October 19Pittsburgh Penguins
4October 21@ Washington Capitals
5October 23Toronto Maple Leafs
6October 26Carolina Hurricanes
7October 28@ Philadelphia Flyers
8October 30Atlanta Thrashers
9November 3@ Florida Panthers
10November 5@ Carolina Hurricanes
11November 6@ St. Louis Blues
12November 9Washington Capitals
13November 12@ Ottawa Senators
14November 13Ottawa Senators
15November 16Boston Bruins
16November 17@ Pittsburgh Penguins
17November 20New York Rangers
18November 24@ New York Islanders
19November 26@ Buffalo Sabres
20November 27Boston Bruins
21November 30Minnesota Wild
22December 3@ New Jersey Devils
23December 4@ Boston Bruins
24December 8@ Florida Panthers
25December 9@ Tampa Bay Lightning
26December 11@ Toronto Maple Leafs
27December 14Tampa Bay Lightning
28December 17@ New Jersey Devils
29December 18New Jersey Devils
30December 21Buffalo Sabres
31December 22@ Buffalo Sabres
32December 29@ Vancouver Canucks
33December 31@ Calgary Flames
34January 1@ Edmonton Oilers
35January 4Pittsburgh Penguins
36January 6@ Boston Bruins
37January 8Florida Panthers
38January 10@ New York Rangers
39January 11Carolina Hurricanes
40January 15Dallas Stars
41January 17@ Nashville Predators
42January 19@ Colorado Avalanche
43January 22Toronto Maple Leafs
44January 24Atlanta Thrashers
45January 26@ Columbus Blue Jackets
46January 28@ Washington Capitals
47January 29New York Rangers
48February 1Boston Bruins
49February 3San Jose Sharks
50February 5Los Angeles Kings
51February 6New York Islanders
52February 8Vancouver Canucks
53February 10@ Boston Bruins
54February 15Philadelphia Flyers
55February 17Edmonton Oilers
56February 19Ottawa Senators
57February 20@ Philadelphia Flyers
58February 22New York Islanders
59February 24Florida Panthers
60February 26Buffalo Sabres
61February 27@ Pittsburgh Penguins
62March 2@ Chicago Blackhawks
63March 3@ Detroit Red Wings
64March 5@ Toronto Maple Leafs
65March 8Washington Capitals
66March 11@ New York Islanders
67March 12Buffalo Sabres
68March 15@ Ottawa Senators
69March 17@ Carolina Hurricanes
70March 19Anaheim Mighty Ducks
71March 21Phoenix Coyotes
72March 23@ Atlanta Thrashers
73March 24@ Tampa Bay Lightning
74March 26Calgary Flames
75March 28@ New York Rangers
76March 29Tampa Bay Lightning
77March 31Toronto Maple Leafs
78April 2@ Toronto Maple Leafs
79April 4New Jersey Devils
80April 6@ Atlanta Thrashers
81April 8@ Buffalo Sabres
82April 9Ottawa Senators :

## Transactions

The Canadiens were involved in the following transactions from June 8, 2004, the day after the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, through February 16, 2005, the day the 2004–05 season was officially cancelled.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details | Ref |
| June 26, 2004 (2004-06-26) | To Montreal Canadiens Radek BonkCristobal Huet | To Los Angeles Kings Mathieu Garon3rd-round pick in 2004 | |
| June 27, 2004 (2004-06-27) | To Montreal Canadiens Future considerations | To Los Angeles Kings Stephane Quintal | |

### Players acquired

| Date | Player | Former team | Term | Via |
| July 16, 2004 (2004-07-16) | Raitis Ivanans | Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 23, 2004 (2004-07-23) | Gavin Morgan | Dallas Stars | 1-year | Free agency |
| August 19, 2004 (2004-08-19) | Jean-Philippe Cote | Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) | 2-year | Free agency |
| August 24, 2004 (2004-08-24) | Benoit Dusablon | New York Rangers | 1-year | Free agency |

### Players lost

| Date | Player | New team | Via |
| June 9, 2004 (2004-06-09) | Benoit Gratton | HC Lugano (NLA) | Free agency (VI) |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | Yanic Perreault | | Contract expiration (III) |
| July 3, 2004 (2004-07-03) | Darren Langdon | New Jersey Devils | Free agency (III) |
| August 11, 2004 (2004-08-11) | Gordie Dwyer | Carolina Hurricanes | Free agency (UFA) |
| September 9, 2004 (2004-09-09) | Patrick Traverse | Dallas Stars | Free agency (UFA) |
| September 14, 2004 (2004-09-14) | Francois Beauchemin | Columbus Blue Jackets | Waivers |
| September 16, 2004 (2004-09-16) | Jean-Francois Damphousse | Quebec RadioX (LNAH) | Free agency (UFA) |
| October 1, 2004 (2004-10-01) | Jim Dowd | Hamburg Freezers (DEL) | Free agency (III) |
| October 6, 2004 (2004-10-06) | Jerome Marois | Trois-Rivieres Caron & Guay (LNAH) | Free agency (UFA) |
| November 13, 2004 (2004-11-13) | Rene Vydareny | HC Slovan Bratislava (SVK) | Free agency (II) |
| January 13, 2005 (2005-01-13) | Benoit Dusablon | | Retirement |
| January 25, 2005 (2005-01-25) | Eric Fichaud | Quebec RadioX (LNAH) | Free agency (UFA) |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Term | Contract type |
| July 14, 2004 (2004-07-14) | Steve Begin | 2-year | Re-signing |
| July 14, 2004 (2004-07-14) | Marcel Hossa | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 14, 2004 (2004-07-14) | Mike Ribeiro | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 14, 2004 (2004-07-14) | Niklas Sundstrom | 2-year | Re-signing |
| July 19, 2004 (2004-07-19) | Marc-Andre Thinel | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 23, 2004 (2004-07-23) | Ron Hainsey | 2-year | Re-signing |
| July 30, 2004 (2004-07-30) | Radek Bonk | 3-year | Re-signing |
| August 3, 2004 (2004-08-03) | Cristobal Huet | 2-year | Re-signing |
| August 4, 2004 (2004-08-04) | Richard Zednik | 3-year | Re-signing |
| August 10, 2004 (2004-08-10) | Andrei Kostitsyn | 3-year | Entry-level |
| September 9, 2004 (2004-09-09) | Cory Urquhart | 3-year | Entry-level |
| September 13, 2004 (2004-09-13) | Sheldon Souray | 3-year | Re-signing |
| September 15, 2004 (2004-09-15) | Corey Locke | 3-year | Entry-level |

## Draft picks

The 2004 NHL entry draft was held on June 26 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was the last NHL event to take place before the beginning of the lockout which cancelled all the games scheduled for the 2004–05 NHL season.
Montreal selected nine players at the 2004 draft:
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | Position | College/junior/club team |
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Chipchura | Canada | Centre | Prince Albert Raiders (WHL) |
| 3 | 84 | Alexei Emelin | Russia | Defence | CSK VVS Samara (Russia) |
| 4 | 100 | J. T. Wyman | United States | Right Wing | Dartmouth College (NCAA) |
| 5 | 150 | Mikhail Grabovski | Belarus | Centre | Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (Russia) |
| 6 | 181 | Loic Lacasse | Canada | Goaltender | Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL) |
| 7 | 212 | Jon Gleed | Canada | Defence | Cornell University (NCAA) |
| 8 | 246 | Gregory Stewart | Canada | Right Wing | Peterborough Petes (OHL) |
| 9 | 262 | Mark Streit | Switzerland | Defence | HC Zürich (Switzerland) |
| 9 | 278 | Alexandre Dulac-Lemelin | Canada | Defence | Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL) |