Major honours
Founded on 4 December 1909, the Montreal Canadiens are the NHL's oldest and most decorated club. Twenty-four Stanley Cups rank second only to the New York Yankees' 27 World Series titles across North American pro sports. Born as the team of French Canada, they became a cultural symbol of Quebec; the Montreal Forum, closed in 1996, was long called the sport's cathedral. Their peak was a five-peat from 1956 to 1960 — a power play built around Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, Jacques Plante, and Bernie Geoffrion so dominant that the NHL changed the rules in 1956–57 so a minor penalty ended when the shorthanded team scored. The 1970s brought Guy Lafleur and goaltender Ken Dryden and another four-peat from 1976 to 1979. The last title came in 1993 — still the last time a Canadian-based club lifted the Cup. John McCrea's locker-room inscription, urging the next generation to hold the torch high, still hangs on the wall.
Record comparison
Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.
Club legends
Rivalry
The feud with the Toronto Maple Leafs has long been read as a proxy war between English- and French-speaking Canada. Against the Boston Bruins, the clubs have met 34 times in the playoffs — the most repeated series in the sport's history.