Our history - The historical website of the Montreal Canadiens

THE REGULAR SEASON

The 1925-26 season saw the NHL grow to seven teams with three franchises now located in the US. Expansion team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, joined the fray while the relocation of the Hamilton Tigers brought about the New York Americans.

The Canadiens made some major changes, including Billy Coutu taking over the captaincy and Cecil Hart assuming the coaching reins. The biggest change, however, came in the season opener, when an ailing Georges Vezina collapsed and could not complete the game. Vezina, the only man to play goal for the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL died of tuberculosis four months later.

Alphonse “Frenchy” Lacroix, US Olympic hero in the 1924 Winter Games, finished the game in Vezina’s place.  A handful of games later he yielded his post to Herb Rheaume, but neither could adequately replace the greatest goaltender the NHL had yet seen.

Forwards Pit Lepine and Wildor Larochelle broke in with the club that season but with the Howie Morenz line still firing on all cylinders, they saw limited ice time. Albert Leduc, later nicknamed “Battleship” for his devastating body checks, joined Sylvio Mantha on the blue line, giving the fans something to look forward to for years to come.

Although Morenz and Aurele Joliat finished among the five top NHL scorers and their linemate, Billy Boucher who continued playing his usual gritty, two-way game, was not far behind, the Canadiens never really challenged in 1925-26. A late season 12-game losing streak sealed their fate and the Habs finished in dead last, watching from the sidelines as the cross-town Maroons upset the first-place Ottawa Senators for NHL bragging rights and then downed the Victoria Cougars for the Stanley Cup.