1990–91 Montreal Canadiens season
The 1990–91 Montreal Canadiens season was the Canadiens' 82nd season. The season saw the Montreal Canadiens being eliminated in the Adams Division finals by the Boston Bruins.
Offseason
Co-Captain Chris Chelios was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for Denis Savard, in August 1990. With Chelios' departure, Guy Carbonneau continued as Canadiens captain.Mats Naslund resumes his playing career in Europe. Veteran forwards Brian Skrudland and Mike McPhee are named alternate captains.
NHL Draft
Montreal's draft picks at the 1990 NHL Entry Draft held at the BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia.| Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club Team |
| 1 | 12 | Turner Stevenson | Seattle Thunderbirds | |
| 2 | 39 | Ryan Kuwabara | Ottawa 67's | |
| 3 | 58 | Charles Poulin | Saint-Hyacinthe Laser | |
| 3 | 60 | Robert Guillet | Longueuil College Francais | |
| 4 | 81 | Gilbert Dionne | Kitchener Rangers | |
| 5 | 102 | Paul DiPietro | Sudbury Wolves | |
| 6 | 123 | Craig Conroy | Northwood School | |
| 7 | 144 | Stephen Rohr | Culver Military Academy | |
| 8 | 165 | Brent Fleetwood | Portland Winter Hawks | |
| 9 | 186 | Derek Maguire | Delbarton School | |
| 10 | 207 | Mark Kettelhut | East High School | |
| 11 | 228 | John Uniac | Kitchener Rangers | |
| 12 | 249 | Sergei Martinyuk | Torpedo Yaroslavl | |
| S | 22 | Bruce Coles | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
Regular season
In terms of injuries, Patrick Roy missed the most games due to injury during the 90-91 season. Backup goalies Andre Racicot and Jean-Claude Bergeron appeared in 25 games.- December 12, 1990: Petr Svoboda and Toronto Maple Leafs winger Wendel Clark fell on Patrick Roy's left knee. Roy suffered strained ligaments.
- January 27, 1991: Donald Dufresne checked Bruins right winger Graeme Townshend. He fell on Patrick Roy's left ankle. Roy suffered a ruptured ligament and missed fourteen games. Roy would re-injure the ankle on March 16.
Final standings
Playoffs
The Montreal Canadiens were eliminated in the Adams Division final by the Boston Bruins, four games to three.Schedule and results
Player statistics
Regular season
;Scoring| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PPG | SHG | GWG |
| RW | 79 | 26 | 50 | 76 | 29 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | |
| RW | 75 | 31 | 30 | 61 | 53 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 4 | |
| C | 70 | 28 | 31 | 59 | 52 | -1 | 7 | 2 | 0 | |
| C | 73 | 22 | 31 | 53 | 24 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 2 | |
| LW | 71 | 23 | 24 | 47 | 138 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | |
| C | 78 | 20 | 24 | 44 | 63 | -1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | |
| LW | 64 | 22 | 21 | 43 | 56 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| RW | 73 | 13 | 23 | 36 | 50 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| C | 57 | 15 | 19 | 34 | 85 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| D | 69 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 63 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 3 | |
| D | 60 | 4 | 22 | 26 | 52 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | |
| D | 62 | 7 | 18 | 25 | 27 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| C | 54 | 6 | 19 | 25 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| LW | 47 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 18 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | |
| D | 63 | 5 | 18 | 23 | 30 | -11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| LW | 57 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 32 | -8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | |
| D | 51 | 3 | 16 | 19 | 31 | -2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 51 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 10 | -3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| D | 53 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 55 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 19 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 20 | -2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| LW | 10 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| D | 28 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| RW | 28 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 128 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 17 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 32 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 39 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 52 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 259 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 48 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 21 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C/LW | 25 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | -3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
;Goaltending
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO | SA | SV | SV% |
| 2835 | 48 | 25 | 15 | 6 | 128 | 2.71 | 1 | 1362 | 1234 | .906 | |
| 941 | 18 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 59 | 3.76 | 0 | 426 | 367 | .862 | |
| 975 | 21 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 52 | 3.20 | 1 | 479 | 427 | .891 | |
| 108 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3.33 | 0 | 45 | 39 | .867 | |
| Team: | 4859 | 80 | 39 | 30 | 11 | 245 | 3.03 | 2 | 2312 | 2067 | .894 |
Playoffs
;Scoring| Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | PPG | SHG | GWG |
| LW | 13 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 36 | 4 | 1 | 3 | |
| RW | 13 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| C | 13 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 42 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 13 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| RW | 13 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| D | 13 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 13 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| LW | 13 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 13 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| RW | 12 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 13 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| LW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| C/LW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
;Goaltending
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | GA | GAA | SO | SA | SV | SV% |
| 785 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 40 | 3.06 | 0 | 394 | 354 | .898 | |
| 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10.00 | 0 | 14 | 12 | .857 | |
| Team: | 797 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 42 | 3.16 | 0 | 408 | 366 | .897 |
Transactions
- In November 1990, Brian Hayward was traded to the Minnesota North Stars for defenseman Jayson More.