Hockey franchises don’t come any prouder than the Montreal Canadiens, who have 104 NHL seasons to their name and almost twice as many Stanley Cup championships as the next-best team. The Habs have enjoyed so many highs in their history that when they hit an all-time low, it’s particularly memorable.
It happened Wednesday night. When the Arizona Coyotes rallied from a 3-0 deficit and pushed the Dallas Stars to overtime before winning on a Tyler Boyd goal, the Yotes secured, at worst, a tiebreaker over the Canadiens to finish 31st overall. The Habs are now locked into 32nd, good for their first last-overall finish since 1939-40. Put differently, it’s their first last-place finish in an NHL with more than six teams. The Habs’ .327 points percentage is also their lowest since 1939-40 and their third-worst in 104 seasons. It’s a particularly jarring stat considering they reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2020-21. They’re the first team since the 2002-03 Carolina Hurricanes to finish last overall after reaching the final the season prior.
Montreal got a temporary surge in the standings when Martin St. Louis took over as interim head coach in February, going 12-10-4 in his first 26 games, but petered out down the stretch, losing nine straight before snapping the skid Wednesday night with a win over the New York Rangers. It wasn’t enough to escape the 32nd-overall finish.
Placing last has its benefits, of course. Montreal now owns the best odds to win the May 10 NHL Draft Lottery at 18.5% and earn the chance to select probable No. 1 overall pick Shane Wright from the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. The Habs haven’t picked first overall since 1980 when they snagged Doug Wickenheiser.
The 2022 NHL draft goes down July 7-8 in Montreal at the Bell Centre.
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