2006–07 Montreal Canadiens season

NHL hockey team season

2006–07 Montreal Canadiens
Division	4th Northeast
Conference	10th Eastern
2006–07 record	42–34–6
Home record	26–12–3
Road record	16–22–3
Goals for	245
Goals against	256
Team information
General manager	Bob Gainey Pierre Gauthier (interim, Dec. 10–Jan. 1)^[1]
Coach	Guy Carbonneau
Captain	Saku Koivu
Alternate captains	Alexei Kovalev (Feb–Apr) Craig Rivet (Oct–Feb) Sheldon Souray
Arena	Bell Centre
Team leaders
Goals	Michael Ryder (30)
Assists	Saku Koivu (53)
Points	Saku Koivu (75)
Penalty minutes	Sheldon Souray (135)
Plus/minus	Alexander Perezhogin (+11)
Wins	Cristobal Huet (19)
Goals against average	Cristobal Huet (2.81)
← 2005–06 2007–08 →

The 2006–07 Montreal Canadiens season was the club's 98th season, 90th in the National Hockey League (NHL). The club finished fourth in the Northeast division and missed qualification for the playoffs by two points after losing the final game of the regular season 6–5 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Pre-season

The Canadiens were only minimally active in offseason transactions, with forwards Sergei Samsonov and Mike Johnson and defenceman Janne Niinimaa representing the only additions. Forwards Jan Bulis, Richard Zednik and Mike Ribeiro moved to other teams: Bulis via free agency to Vancouver, Zednik via a trade to Washington and Ribeiro via a trade to Dallas (for Niinimaa).

Regular season

The club intended to build on a 2005–06 season in which it took the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes to six games in the first round of the playoffs. Behind the leadership of goaltender Cristobal Huet and captain Saku Koivu, the Canadiens poised themselves to join the elite of the Eastern Conference.

However, the team failed to keep its momentum for the whole season. Cristobal Huet's injury on February 15, 2007, forced the Canadiens to use backup goaltenders Jaroslav Halak and David Aebischer. Despite Halak's decent performance, the Canadiens could not clinch a playoff spot. They were eliminated on April 8 after a 6–5 loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the season's last game.

On January 9, 2007, the NHL announced that Sheldon Souray had been voted by the fans to start at defence in the 2007 All-Star Game in Dallas.^[2]

The Canadiens finished the regular season with the NHL's best power-play percentage, at 22.75% (86 for 378), and tied the Ottawa Senators for most shorthanded goals scored, with 17.^[3]

Standings

Northeast Division
No.	CR		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	1	Buffalo Sabres	82	53	22	7	308	242	113
2	4	Ottawa Senators	82	48	25	9	288	222	105
3	9	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	40	31	11	258	269	91
4	10	Montreal Canadiens	82	42	34	6	245	256	90
5	13	Boston Bruins	82	35	41	6	219	289	76

^[4]

Note: No. = Division rank, CR = Conference rank, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Eastern Conference^[5]
R		Div	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	P - Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	53	22	7	308	242	113
2	Y - New Jersey Devils	AT	82	49	24	9	216	201	107
3	Y - Atlanta Thrashers	SE	82	43	28	11	246	245	97
4	X - Ottawa Senators	NE	82	48	25	9	288	222	105
5	X - Pittsburgh Penguins	AT	82	47	24	11	277	246	105
6	X - New York Rangers	AT	82	42	30	10	242	216	94
7	X - Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	82	44	33	5	253	261	93
8	X - New York Islanders	AT	82	40	30	12	248	240	92
8.5
9	Toronto Maple Leafs	NE	82	40	31	11	258	269	91
10	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	42	34	6	245	256	90
11	Carolina Hurricanes	SE	82	40	34	8	241	253	88
12	Florida Panthers	SE	82	35	31	16	247	257	86
13	Boston Bruins	NE	82	35	41	6	219	289	76
14	Washington Capitals	SE	82	28	40	14	235	286	70
15	Philadelphia Flyers	AT	82	22	48	12	214	303	56

Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast

P – Clinched Presidents Trophy; Y – Clinched Division; X – Clinched Playoff spot

Schedule and results

2006–07 regular season^[6]

October: 6–2–3 (home: 3–1–2; road: 3–1–1)

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points	Recap
1	October 6	Montreal	4–5	Buffalo	SO	Huet	18,690	0–0–1	1	Recap
2	October 7	Montreal	3–2	Toronto	SO	Aebischer	19,353	1–0–1	3	Recap
3	October 11	Montreal	3–1	Philadelphia		Aebischer	19,256	2–0–1	5	Recap
4	October 14	Ottawa	3–2	Montreal	SO	Huet	21,273	2–0–2	6	Recap
5	October 17	Calgary	4–5	Montreal		Huet	21,273	3–0–2	8	Recap
6	October 18	Montreal	1–2	Chicago		Aebischer	11,095	3–1–2	8	Recap
7	October 21	Colorado	5–8	Montreal		Aebischer	21,273	4–1–2	10	Recap
8	October 23	Buffalo	4–1	Montreal		Huet	21,273	4–2–2	10	Recap
9	October 26	Montreal	3–2	Boston		Huet	13,920	5–2–2	12	Recap
10	October 28	Toronto	5–4	Montreal	SO	Aebischer	21,273	5–2–3	13	Recap
11	October 31	Ottawa	2–4	Montreal		Aebischer	21,273	6–2–3	15	Recap

November: 8–5–0 (home: 4–2–0; road: 4–3–0)

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points	Recap
12	November 2	Montreal	4–0	Carolina		Huet	6,486	7–2–3	17	Recap
13	November 4	New Jersey	2–1	Montreal		Huet	21,271	7–3–3	17	Recap
14	November 7	Edmonton	2–3	Montreal	SO	Aebischer	21,273	8–3–3	19	Recap
15	November 11	Montreal	1–5	Toronto		Aebischer	19,501	8–4–3	19	Recap
16	November 13	Montreal	6–3	Ottawa		Huet	20,051	9–4–3	21	Recap
17	November 15	Montreal	3–1	Tampa Bay		Huet	19,920	10–4–3	23	Recap
18	November 16	Montreal	1–5	Florida		Aebischer	13,506	10–5–3	23	Recap
19	November 18	Atlanta	1–3	Montreal		Huet	21,273	11–5–3	25	Recap
20	November 22	Minnesota	2–4	Montreal		Huet	21,273	12–5–3	27	Recap
21	November 24	Montreal	2–1	Buffalo	OT	Huet	18,690	13–5–3	29	Recap
22	November 25	Philadelphia	4–2	Montreal		Aebischer	21,273	13–6–3	29	Recap
23	November 28	Florida	0–1	Montreal	SO	Huet	21,273	14–6–3	31	Recap
24	November 30	Montreal	2–4	Carolina		Huet	13,103	14–7–3	31	Recap

December: 8–4–2 (home: 5–1–1; road: 3–3–1)

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points	Recap
25	December 2	Toronto	3–4	Montreal	SO	Huet	21,273	15–7–3	33	Recap
26	December 4	Boston	6–5	Montreal		Aebischer	21,273	15–8–3	33	Recap
27	December 6	Montreal	1–2	New Jersey	OT	Aebischer	10,986	15–8–4	34	Recap
28	December 7	Montreal	4–2	NY Islanders		Huet	9,551	16–8–4	36	Recap
29	December 9	Buffalo	3–2	Montreal	SO	Huet	21,273	16–8–5	37	Recap
30	December 12	Boston	3–4	Montreal		Aebischer	21,273	17–8–5	39	Recap
31	December 14	Tampa Bay	2–4	Montreal		Huet	21,273	18–8–5	41	Recap
32	December 16	Pittsburgh	3–6	Montreal		Huet	21,273	19–8–5	43	Recap
33	December 19	Montreal	5–2	Buffalo		Huet	18,690	20–8–5	45	Recap
34	December 21	Philadelphia	2–4	Montreal		Aebischer	21,273	21–8–5	47	Recap
35	December 23	Montreal	2–4	Boston		Huet	17,565	21–9–5	47	Recap
36	December 27	Montreal	4–1	Washington		Huet	15,609	22–9–5	49	Recap
37	December 29	Montreal	1–3	Florida		Huet	19,772	22–10–5	49	Recap
38	December 30	Montreal	1–3	Tampa Bay		Huet	21,120	22–11–5	49	Recap

January: 6–7–0 (home: 4–3–0; road: 2–4–0)

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points	Recap
39	January 2	Tampa Bay	2–5	Montreal	Huet	21,273	23–11–5	51	Recap
40	January 4	Montreal	1–5	Washington	Huet	11,287	23–12–5	51	Recap
41	January 6	NY Rangers	4–3	Montreal	Aebischer	21,273	23–13–5	51	Recap
42	January 7	New Jersey	3–0	Montreal	Huet	21,273	23–14–5	51	Recap
43	January 9	Atlanta	2–4	Montreal	Huet	21,273	24–14–5	53	Recap
44	January 11	Montreal	4–2	Philadelphia	Aebischer	19,411	25–14–5	55	Recap
45	January 13	Montreal	3–8	Ottawa	Huet	20,038	25–15–5	55	Recap
46	January 15	Montreal	0–2	Detroit	Aebischer	20,066	25–16–5	55	Recap
47	January 16	Vancouver	4–0	Montreal	Huet	21,273	25–17–5	55	Recap
48	January 18	Montreal	4–1	Atlanta	Huet	14,025	26–17–5	57	Recap
49	January 20	Buffalo	3–4	Montreal	Huet	21,273	27–17–5	59	Recap
50	January 27	Montreal	1–4	Toronto	Huet	19,508	27–18–5	59	Recap
51	January 29	Ottawa	1–3	Montreal	Aebischer	21,273	28–18–5	61	Recap

February: 5–9–1 (home: 3–5–0; road: 2–4–1)

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points	Recap
52	February 1	Montreal	4–5	Pittsburgh	SO	Aebischer	17,132	28–18–6	62	Recap
53	February 3	NY Islanders	4–2	Montreal		Huet	21,273	28–19–6	62	Recap
54	February 4	Pittsburgh	3–4	Montreal	OT	Aebischer	21,273	29–19–6	64	Recap
55	February 6	Carolina	2–1	Montreal		Aebischer	21,273	29–20–6	64	Recap
56	February 8	Montreal	1–4	Ottawa		Huet	19,915	29–21–6	64	Recap
57	February 10	Ottawa	5–3	Montreal		Aebischer	21,273	29–22–6	64	Recap
58	February 13	Florida	1–0	Montreal		Huet	21,273	29–23–6	64	Recap
59	February 14	Montreal	2–5	New Jersey		Huet	7,515	29–24–6	64	Recap
60	February 17	Carolina	5–3	Montreal		Aebischer	21,273	29–25–6	64	Recap
61	February 18	Montreal	3–2	Columbus		Halak	16,116	30–25–6	66	Recap
62	February 20	Washington	3–5	Montreal		Halak	21,273	31–25–6	68	Recap
63	February 22	Montreal	6–5	Nashville	SO	Halak	15,808	32–25–6	70	Recap
64	February 24	Montreal	2–3	NY Islanders		Halak	16,234	32–26–6	70	Recap
65	February 26	Toronto	5–4	Montreal		Aebischer	21,273	33–26–6	72	Recap
66	February 27	Montreal	0–4	NY Rangers		Halak	18,200	33–27–6	72	Recap

March: 8–5–0 (home: 6–0–0; road: 2–5–0)

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points	Recap
67	March 2	Montreal	5–8	Buffalo		Aebischer	18,690	33–28–6	72	Recap
68	March 3	Montreal	1–3	Boston		Halak	17,565	33–29–6	72	Recap
69	March 8	Montreal	2–6	Atlanta		Halak	14,528	33–30–6	72	Recap
70	March 10	Montreal	4–3	St. Louis		Aebischer	19,421	34–30–6	74	Recap
71	March 13	NY Islanders	3–5	Montreal		Aebischer	21,273	35–30–6	76	Recap
72	March 16	Montreal	3–6	Pittsburgh		Aebischer	17,132	35–31–6	76	Recap
73	March 17	Toronto	2–3	Montreal	SO	Halak	21,273	36–31–6	78	Recap
74	March 20	Boston	0–1	Montreal		Halak	21,273	37–31–6	80	Recap
75	March 22	Montreal	6–3	Boston		Halak	17,026	38–31–6	82	Recap
76	March 24	Washington	1–4	Montreal		Halak	21,273	39–31–6	84	Recap
77	March 27	Rangers	4–6	Montreal		Halak	21,273	40–31–6	86	Recap
78	March 30	Montreal	2–5	Ottawa		Halak	20,185	40–32–6	86	Recap
79	March 31	Buffalo	3–4	Montreal		Halak	21,273	41–32–6	88	Recap

April: 1–2–0 (home: 1–0–0; road: 0–2–0)

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points	Recap
80	April 3	Boston	0–2	Montreal	Halak	21,273	42–32–6	90	Recap
81	April 5	Montreal	1–3	NY Rangers	Halak	18,200	42–33–6	90	Recap
82	April 7	Montreal	5–6	Toronto	Huet	19,723	42–34–6	90	Recap

Legend:

Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)

Player stats

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Saku Koivu	C	81	22	53	75	74	−21	11	1	4
Sheldon Souray	D	81	26	38	64	135	−28	19	1	6
Michael Ryder	RW	82	30	28	58	60	−25	17	2	3
Andrei Markov	D	77	6	43	49	56	2	5	0	2
Tomas Plekanec	LW	81	20	27	47	36	10	5	2	1
Alexei Kovalev	RW	73	18	29	47	78	−19	8	0	5
Chris Higgins	C	61	22	16	38	26	−11	8	3	3
Mark Streit	D	76	10	26	36	14	−5	2	1	1
Mike Johnson	RW	80	11	20	31	40	6	1	2	1
Guillaume Latendresse	RW	80	16	13	29	47	−20	5	0	3
Sergei Samsonov	LW	63	9	17	26	10	−4	0	0	0
Radek Bonk	C	74	13	10	23	54	0	1	2	1
Mike Komisarek	D	82	4	15	19	96	7	0	2	1
Craig Rivet	D	54	6	10	16	57	−7	2	0	0
Alexander Perezhogin	LW	61	6	9	15	48	11	1	0	1
Francis Bouillon	D	62	3	11	14	52	−10	1	0	1
Maxim Lapierre	C	46	6	6	12	24	−7	0	1	2
Andrei Kostitsyn	W	22	1	10	11	6	3	0	0	0
Steve Begin	C	52	5	5	10	46	−6	0	0	0
Mathieu Dandenault	D	68	2	6	8	40	−8	0	0	0
Garth Murray	C	43	2	1	3	32	−10	0	0	0
Janne Niinimaa	D	41	0	3	3	36	−13	0	0	0
Aaron Downey	RW	21	1	0	1	48	−6	0	0	1
Jaroslav Halak	G	16	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	0
Cristobal Huet	G	42	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Duncan Milroy	RW	5	0	1	1	0	−2	0	0	0
David Aebischer	G	32	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Josh Gorges	D	7	0	0	0	0	−1	0	0	0
Mikhail Grabovski	C	3	0	0	0	0	−2	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T/OT	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Cristobal Huet	2286	42	19	16	3	107	2.81	2	1280	1173	.916
David Aebischer	1760	32	13	12	3	93	3.17	0	929	836	.900
Jaroslav Halak	912	16	10	6	0	44	2.89	2	469	425	.906
Team:	4958	82	42	34	6	244	2.95	4	2678	2434	.909

^[7]

Note:

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;

Transactions

Trades

July 12, 2006	To Washington Capitals Richard Zednik	To Montreal Canadiens 3rd round pick in 2007
July 12, 2006	To Phoenix Coyotes 4th round pick in 2007	To Montreal Canadiens Mike Johnson
September 30, 2006	To Dallas Stars Mike Ribeiro 6th round pick in 2008	To Montreal Canadiens Janne Niinimaa 5th round pick in 2007
December 15, 2006	To San Jose Sharks Patrick Traverse	To Montreal Canadiens Mathieu Biron
February 25, 2007	To San Jose Sharks Craig Rivet 5th round pick in 2008	To Montreal Canadiens Josh Gorges 1st round pick in 2007

Free agents acquired

Player	Former team
F Sergei Samsonov	Edmonton Oilers

Free agents lost

Player	Current team
F Jan Bulis	Vancouver Canucks

Claimed off waivers

Player	Former team	Date
G Michael Leighton	Philadelphia Flyers	February 27

Draft picks

Montreal's picks at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver, British Columbia.^[8] The Canadiens had the 16th overall draft pick, which they traded to the San Jose Sharks for the 20th and 53rd overall picks.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	NHL team	College/junior/club team (league)
1	20	David Fischer (D)	United States	Montreal Canadiens (from San Jose)	Apple Valley High School (MSHSL)
2	49	Ben Maxwell (C)	Canada	Montreal Canadiens	Kootenay Ice (WHL)
2	53	Mathieu Carle (D)	Canada	Montreal Canadiens (from San Jose)	Acadie-Bathurst Titan (QMJHL)
3	66	Ryan White (C)	Canada	Montreal Canadiens (from Chicago)	Calgary Hitmen (WHL)
5	139	Pavel Valentenko (D)	Russia	Montreal Canadiens	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (Russian Superleague)
7	199	Cameron Cepek (D)	United States	Montreal Canadiens	Portland Winterhawks (WHL)

Awards and records

King Clancy Memorial Trophy: Saku Koivu

References

^ "Canadiens GM returns to work after daughter's death". ESPN. January 2, 2006. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
^ TSN : NHL – Canada's Sports Leader
^ "2006-07 NHL Summary".
^ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 157. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
^ "2006–2007 Standings by Conference". National Hockey League. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
^ "2006-07 Montreal Canadiens Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
^ "2006-07 Montreal Canadiens Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
^ 2006 NHL Entry Draft Results [1] – accessed January 4, 2007.

Montreal Canadiens

Founded in 1909
Based in Montreal, Quebec

Franchise

History

Personnel

Owner(s): Molson family (Geoff Molson, chairman)
General manager: Kent Hughes
Head coach: Martin St. Louis
Team captain: Nick Suzuki
Current roster

Arenas

Rivalries

Affiliates

AHL: Laval Rocket
ECHL: Trois-Rivières Lions

Media

TV: TSN2 (English); RDS (French)
Radio: TSN Radio 690 (English); 98,5 FM (French)

Culture and lore

Category
Commons

v t e Montreal Canadiens seasons
1900s	1900–01 . 1901–02 . 1902–03 . 1903–04 . 1904–05 . 1905–06 . 1906–07 . 1907–08 . 1908–09 . 1909–10
1910s	1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920s	1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

v t e 2006–07 NHL season
Atlantic	New Jersey NY Islanders NY Rangers Philadelphia Pittsburgh
Northeast	Boston Buffalo Montreal Ottawa Toronto
Southeast	Atlanta Carolina Florida Tampa Bay Washington
Central	Chicago Columbus Detroit Nashville St. Louis
Northwest	Calgary Colorado Edmonton Minnesota Vancouver
Pacific	Anaheim Dallas Los Angeles Phoenix San Jose
See also	Draft All-Star Game Stanley Cup Playoffs Stanley Cup Finals Transactions