2005–06 Montreal Canadiens season


The 2005–06 Montreal Canadiens season was the team's 97th season, 89th in the National Hockey League. The Canadiens would qualify for the playoffs, eventually being eliminated in the Eastern Conference Quarter-finals by the Carolina Hurricanes 4 games to 2.

Offseason

NHL draft

Regular season

started the season as coach but was fired and replaced on an interim basis by manager Bob Gainey. The Canadiens's number one goaltender Jose Theodore was traded to the Colorado Avalanche. His place was taken by Cristobal Huet. Huet would lead the league in save percentage of 92.9% and placed fourth overall in goals against average of 2.20.

Final standings

Schedule and results

Playoffs

The Canadiens placed 3rd in the Northeast division, and seventh in the Eastern Conference. The Canadiens played the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes in the first round and lost four games to two. The Canadiens were winning 2–0 in the series when Saku Koivu sustained a serious injury to his left eye. Hurricanes forward Justin Williams attempted to lift Koivu's stick but instead struck him in the eye. Koivu was rushed to the hospital, where he would remain overnight and for the remainder of the playoffs. Koivu remained out of the lineup for the rest of the series and underwent surgery to repair a detached retina during the off-season.
DateHomeScoreVisitorsScoreNotes
April 22 Carolina Hurricanes1Montreal Canadiens6-
April 24 Carolina Hurricanes5Montreal Canadiens6
April 26 Montreal Canadiens1Carolina Hurricanes2
April 28 Montreal Canadiens2Carolina Hurricanes3-
April 30 Carolina Hurricanes2Montreal Canadiens1-
May 2Montreal Canadiens1Carolina Hurricanes2

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

PlayerGPGAPtsPIM
69 23 42 6576
72 17 45 62 70
81 30 25 55 40
79 16 35 5136
67 10 36 46 74
73 20 20 40 50
75 12 27 39 116
80 23 15 38 26
82 7 27 34 109
67 16 14 30 48

Goaltending

PlayerGPWLTSOGAA
36 18 11 4 7 2.20
38 17 15 5 0 3.46
7 4 3 0 0 3.73
6 3 2 0 1 2.69

Awards and records

Transactions

Roster

Draft picks

Montreal's draft picks at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft held at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa, Ontario.
Round#PlayerNationalityCollege/Junior/Club Team
15Carey PriceTri-City Americans
245Guillaume LatendresseDrummondville Voltigeurs
4121Juraj MikusHK 36 Skalica Jr.
5130Mathieu AubinLewiston Maineiacs
6190Matt D'AgostiniGuelph Storm
7200Sergei KostitsynHK Gomel
7229Philippe PaquetSalisbury School

Farm teams