The Montreal Canadiens have a long and storied history stretching back to its founding in Dec. 1909, a full eight years before the birth of the NHL. Because of this, there have been many who have donned their iconic logo. With well over 800 players who have played at least one game with the franchise, there are bound to be some that fans today would never identify as former Habs but can be listed as one.
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Many players, who were indispensable pieces for another franchise, simply passed through Montreal without much fanfare or notoriety. This list could have dozens of players on it, but we will stick to those from 1990 to today. Some began their careers with Montreal before moving on. Others had a brief stay and had success elsewhere before or after. It’s fun to look back and remember some former players that many had forgotten played for the Canadiens.
5. Mariusz Czerkawski
Mariusz Czerkawski played with the Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers before breaking out as a member of the New York Islanders. In his final season in Edmonton, he had a 26-goal season, but it was with New York that he found a fit. He played five seasons with the Islanders recording four 20-plus goal seasons including back-to-back 30-goal campaigns and a career-high 70 points in 1999-00. Just before the 2002-03 season, he was traded to the Canadiens; they hoped that he’d provide them with scoring depth. In the end, however, both the team and Czerkawski left disappointed.
He ended up playing 45 games in Montreal, scoring only five goals and 14 points. He never fit into the team’s style or offensive scheme, this is likely why he demanded a trade, but before that request was met, he was sent to the American Hockey League (AHL) to complete the season. He returned to the Islanders in 2003-04 and posted another 25-goal season before ending his NHL career split between the Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. His stay in Montreal was short and uneventful. For some unknown reason, he only seemed capable of reaching his full potential on Long Island.
4. Darcy Tucker
The best years of Darcy Tucker’s career came during his tenure with the Maple Leafs. He quickly became a fan favorite in Toronto, in large part due to his gritty, physical style where he backed down from no one, even though he was undersized for that era of hockey. As an agitator, he became a hated player among all fan bases outside of Toronto, in part for his grit but also for his questionable hits. He wasn’t just a borderline fourth-liner, he provided offense as well, recording a career-high 28 goals and 61 points in 2005-06.
However, prior to his becoming a Leaf legend, Tucker began his career when he was drafted 151st overall by the Canadiens in 1993. He played parts of three seasons in Montreal, posting 26 points in 115 games before being dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning midway through 1997-98, along with Stephane Richer and David Wilkie in a trade that brought Patrick Poulin, Mick Vukota and Igor Ulanov to the Canadiens. He is definitely not a forgotten player in Montreal, but he isn’t remembered for being a Habs player.
While he will always be remembered fondly in Toronto by their fan base, Canadiens fans always remember him from that time Alex Kovalev had enough of the dirty hits and decided to take over a game and leave behind one of the most iconic moments of the early 2000s.
3. Craig Conroy
Craig Conroy, before he took over as the general manager, is best remembered for his time as a player with the Calgary Flames. During the 2004 run to the Stanley Cup Final, before they lost in Game 7 to Tampa Bay, he was their top-line center. It is this playoff run and his over 500 games in a Flames jersey that makes him a Calgary icon.
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However, Conroy began his NHL career with Montreal. In 1990, the Canadiens selected the Clarkson University graduate in the sixth round, 123rd overall of the NHL Entry Draft. He played the majority of his first two professional seasons in the AHL, however, the first 13 of his 1,009 NHL games were in a Canadiens uniform.
2. Tomas Vokoun
Tomas Vokoun eventually established himself as a bonafide number-one goaltender in the NHL. In his 700 career games, he had 300 wins. After being selected by the Nashville Predators in the 1998 Expansion Draft, he eventually came to be identified as a Predator as he was the first true starting goaltender in franchise history. He played eight of his 14 NHL seasons in Nashville, winning 161 games, and remained the franchise’s winningest goaltender until Pekka Rinne smashed all the goaltending records. He went on the play four seasons for the Florida Panthers followed by brief stints with the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins before retiring.
The Canadiens drafted Vokoun with the 226th pick in the 1994 NHL Draft and he spent two seasons with their AHL affiliate. His one and only game in a Habs sweater came in 1997 during the post-Patrick Roy, Jocelyn Thibault era. It lasted one period as the Philadelphia Flyers pounded the young Czech for four goals on 14 shots, led by the Legion of Doom line of Eric Lindros, John LeClair, and Mikhail Rendberg. If you’re a Canadiens fan who remembers Vokoun wearing the CH, you look back at that dark era and perhaps wish that he hadn’t gotten away.
1. Doug Gilmour
A seventh-round pick in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft by the St. Louis Blues, no one expected to see Doug Gilmour have a Hall of Fame career. In his five seasons with the Blues, he never scored fewer than 21 goals and hit a career-high of 42 goals in 1986-87. In 1988 he was traded to the Flames in return for 48-goal scorer Mike Bullard in what some call one of the worst trades in Blues history. For Gilmour, joining the Flames is where his legend grew, as he won his only Stanley Cup championship in 1989. Once he joined the Maple Leafs, he established himself as a star player with back-to-back 100-plus point seasons, winning a Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in 1993 and being named a finalist for the Hart Trophy. That season he led the Leafs to the Western Conference Final where they lost to the Los Angeles Kings and missed the opportunity to face the eventual Cup champion, Canadiens.
After Toronto, Gilmour played for several teams, one being the Habs. He played parts of two seasons with the Canadiens, posting 71 points in 131 games before being traded back to Toronto where he suffered a career-ending injury in his first game back in a Leafs sweater.
Gilmour’s time in Montreal was short and didn’t help them even become a playoff team, but he showed class and the fire that led him to be a star. If there is one memory any Habs fan from that era has it would be the one of him slamming the penalty box door and shattering the glass at the Bell Center.
Because of the long history the Canadiens have, many other players have made short stops in Montreal. There will be those that are remembered as key players for other franchises and not ever be remembered as having played for the Habs. That’s what makes it fun to look back and remember these forgotten former Canadiens players.