List Of Montreal Canadiens Head Coaches
There have been 28 head coaches for the Canadiens franchise in the NHL. The team's first head coach in the NHL was Newsy Lalonde, who coached the Canadiens for eight NHL seasons in two stints. Although Dick Irvin coached the team for 15 seasons, Toe Blake, who coached two fewer seasons, is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (914), the most regular-season games won (500), the most regular-season points (1159), the most playoff games coached (119), and the most playoff games won (82). Blake has also won the most Stanley Cup championships with eight; Scotty Bowman has won five, Irvin has won three, Cecil Hart has won two, and Leo Dandurand, Claude Ruel, Al MacNeil, Jean Perron, and Jacques Demers have won one each. Lalonde won a Stanley Cup championship in 1915–16 while in the NHA. Bowman and Pat Burns have each been awarded the Jack Adams Award, in 1976–77 and 1988–89 respectively. Nine head coaches have spent their entire NHL head coaching careers with the Canadiens. Bowman and Dandurand have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as builders. Dandurand is the only coach to have spent his entire NHL head coaching career with the Canadiens and to have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder.
Key
# | Number of coaches |
GC | Games coached |
W | Wins = Two points |
L | Losses = No points |
T | Ties = One point |
OT | Overtime/shootout losses = One point |
PTS | Points |
Win% | Winning percentage |
* | Spent entire NHL head coaching career with the Canadiens |
† | Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder |
‡ | Spent entire NHL head coaching career with the Canadiens and have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder |
Coaches
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/E_Lalonde.jpg/170px-E_Lalonde.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Toe_Blake.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/081128_Claude_Julien.jpg/170px-081128_Claude_Julien.jpg)
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2023–24 season. This list only includes NHL coaches, and not NHA seasons.
# | Name | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Achievements | Reference | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GC | W | L | T/OT | PTS | Win% | GC | W | L | T | Win% | |||||
1 | Newsy Lalonde | 1917–1922 | 95 | 51 | 44 | — | 102 | .537 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | .714 | 1 O'Brien Trophy championship (1918–19) | |
2 | Leo Dandurand‡ | 1922–1926 | 131 | 64 | 63 | 6 | 134 | .511 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | 1 Stanley Cup championship (1923–24) 2 Prince of Wales Trophy championships (1923–24, 1924–25) |
|
3 | Cecil Hart* | 1926–1932 | 268 | 148 | 72 | 48 | 344 | .642 | 29 | 13 | 12 | 4 | .517 | 2 Stanley Cup championships (1929–30, 1930–31) | |
— | Newsy Lalonde | 1932–1934 | 112 | 45 | 53 | 14 | 104 | .464 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .000 | ||
— | Leo Dandurand‡ | 1934–1935 | 32 | 14 | 15 | 3 | 31 | .484 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | ||
4 | Sylvio Mantha* | 1935–1936 | 48 | 11 | 26 | 11 | 33 | .344 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
— | Cecil Hart* | 1936–1939 | 126 | 48 | 53 | 25 | 121 | .480 | 8 | 3 | 5 | — | .375 | ||
5 | Jules Dugal* | 1939 | 18 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 21 | .583 | 3 | 1 | 2 | — | .333 | ||
6 | Babe Siebert | 1939–1940 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
7 | Alfred Lepine | 1939–1940 | 48 | 10 | 33 | 5 | 25 | .260 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
8 | Dick Irvin | 1940–1955 | 896 | 431 | 313 | 152 | 1014 | .566 | 115 | 62 | 53 | — | .539 | 3 Stanley Cup championships (1943–44, 1945–46, 1952–53) | |
9 | Toe Blake* | 1955–1968 | 914 | 500 | 255 | 159 | 1159 | .634 | 119 | 82 | 37 | — | .689 | 8 Stanley Cup championships (1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1967–68) | |
10 | Claude Ruel* | 1968–1970 | 175 | 95 | 49 | 31 | 221 | .631 | 14 | 12 | 2 | — | .857 | 1 Stanley Cup championship (1968–69) | |
11 | Al MacNeil | 1970–1971 | 55 | 31 | 15 | 9 | 71 | .645 | 20 | 12 | 8 | — | .600 | 1 Stanley Cup championship (1970–71) | |
12 | Scotty Bowman† | 1971–1979 | 634 | 419 | 110 | 105 | 943 | .744 | 98 | 70 | 28 | — | .714 | 5 Stanley Cup championships (1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79) 1976–77 Jack Adams Award winner |
|
13 | Bernie Geoffrion | 1979 | 30 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 36 | .600 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
— | Claude Ruel* | 1979–1981 | 130 | 77 | 33 | 20 | 174 | .669 | 13 | 6 | 7 | — | .462 | ||
14 | Bob Berry | 1981–1984 | 223 | 116 | 71 | 36 | 268 | .601 | 8 | 2 | 6 | — | .250 | ||
15 | Jacques Lemaire | 1984–1985 | 97 | 48 | 37 | 12 | 108 | .557 | 27 | 15 | 12 | — | .556 | ||
16 | Jean Perron | 1985–1988 | 240 | 126 | 84 | 30 | 282 | .588 | 48 | 30 | 18 | — | .625 | 1 Stanley Cup championship (1985–86) | |
17 | Pat Burns† | 1988–1992 | 320 | 174 | 104 | 42 | 390 | .609 | 56 | 30 | 26 | — | .536 | 1988–89 Jack Adams Award winner | |
18 | Jacques Demers | 1992–1995 | 220 | 107 | 86 | 27 | 241 | .548 | 27 | 19 | 8 | — | .704 | 1 Stanley Cup championship (1992–93) | |
— | Jacques Laperriere* | 1995 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
19 | Mario Tremblay* | 1995–1997 | 159 | 71 | 63 | 25 | 167 | .525 | 11 | 3 | 8 | — | .273 | ||
20 | Alain Vigneault | 1997–2000 | 266 | 109 | 118 | 39 | 257 | .483 | 10 | 4 | 6 | — | .400 | ||
21 | Michel Therrien | 2000–2003 | 190 | 77 | 77 | 36 | 190 | .500 | 12 | 6 | 6 | — | .500 | ||
22 | Claude Julien | 2003–2006 | 159 | 72 | 62 | 25 | 169 | .531 | 11 | 4 | 7 | — | .364 | ||
— | Bob Gainey | 2006 | 41 | 23 | 15 | 3 | 49 | .598 | 6 | 2 | 4 | — | .333 | ||
23 | Guy Carbonneau* | 2006–2009 | 230 | 124 | 83 | 23 | 271 | .589 | 12 | 5 | 7 | — | .417 | ||
— | Bob Gainey | 2009 | 16 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 16 | .500 | 4 | 0 | 4 | — | .000 | ||
24 | Jacques Martin | 2009–2011 | 196 | 96 | 75 | 25 | 217 | .554 | 26 | 12 | 14 | — | .462 | ||
25 | Randy Cunneyworth* | 2011–2012 | 50 | 18 | 23 | 9 | 45 | .450 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
— | Michel Therrien | 2012–2017 | 352 | 194 | 121 | 37 | 425 | .612 | 34 | 17 | 17 | — | .500 | 2017 NHL All Star Game - Atlantic Division Coach | |
— | Claude Julien | 2017–2021 | 277 | 129 | 113 | 35 | 293 | .529 | 16 | 7 | 9 | — | .416 | ||
26 | Dominique Ducharme* | 2021–2022 | 83 | 23 | 46 | 14 | 60 | .277 | 19 | 13 | 6 | — | .684 | 2021 Stanley Cup finalist | |
27 | Martin St. Louis* | 2022–present | 201 | 75 | 100 | 26 | 176 | .438 | — | — | — | — | — |