The Montreal Canadiens were the one exception when The Athletic asked its staff to name a jersey each NHL team should bring back, and the omission makes sense. The Canadiens have had plenty of looks over the years, but none really belongs anywhere near the standard they wear now.
That current sweater still carries the weight of the franchise’s history. It’s the clean, classic look that fits the oldest team in the league, and it’s hard to argue with a jersey that has become the default for a reason.
Even during their centennial year, Montreal cycled through six different designs. There was a blue jersey with a simple C, a red and green version with a C inside a maple leaf, the barbershop look with red, white and blue stripes, a maple leaf and a C, a red, white and blue jersey with a C that contained an A, and two others that were closer to what the club wears now.
The Canadiens have also turned up in a handful of Winter Classic and Heritage Classic uniforms. The ones worn in 2003 against the Edmonton Oilers and in 2011 against the Calgary Flames were not much to write home about, but the 2016 version against the Boston Bruins was a different story.
That one had a white base, a wide blue stripe between two thinner red stripes, a white C with an H inside in a vintage font, and a planet on the sleeve stripes. Montreal’s first game in it was a 5-1 rout of the Bruins in Foxboro, which gave the jersey an instant place in Canadiens memories.
There was also the sweater worn for the NHL 100th anniversary, the one in which Montreal lost 3-0 to the Ottawa Senators. The result was ugly, but the jersey itself was sharp, with an extra silver stripe on the sleeves showing the years in which the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup.
Montreal also went through both years of the retro reverse trend. The first version, a bright blue jersey, looked good enough on its own, but it did not exactly deliver results. The Canadiens had to wait until their fifth game in it before finally beating the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 in a shootout, and their last game in that jersey was later postponed because of COVID protocol.
Then came the baby blue reverse retro, the one tied to the Montreal Expos. That look is probably the easiest one to leave in the past. Martin St-Louis made his feelings clear after the Canadiens opened their run in it with a brutal stretch, saying:
I think the hockey gods- I mean, this is an historical franchise (and) the guys who wore those jerseys 50 years ago, red and white, are looking down and saying: 'What are you guys doing? We probably get what we deserve, based on how historical this franchise is. I don’t know what next year will bring, but I hope it’s not those jerseys.
His frustration came after Montreal went 0-6-1 in its first seven games wearing the alternate. The Canadiens eventually snapped that skid with a 4-3 overtime win over the New York Islanders in their eighth game in the powder blue.
Still, that’s not a jersey anyone would be eager to see back. It’s bad enough that second mascot Metal wears one.
If anything, the 2016 Winter Classic jersey stands out as the best candidate for a return. The first retro reverse would be next on the list, but the losses that came with it make the case a lot weaker.
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What makes the story more interesting is the price tag the Canadiens would be looking for if they ever decided to seriously entertain a deal. Montreal is not treating Xhekaj like a spare part, and that matters in a market where rumors can outrun reality pretty quickly. For a team trying to keep building a sturdier defense, the question is not just who wants him, but whether the return would be worth changing the makeup of the roster. [Read more 🡒]
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Dylan Larkin has added another layer to the noise, with reports suggesting he would accept a move to certain clubs, but the salary cap and the cost in assets still make any deal complicated. For Montreal, that keeps the discussion in the realm of rumor and possibility rather than momentum, and it leaves the real question hanging in the background of all this buzz: whether the Canadiens can put together the kind of package Columbus would actually want. [Read more 🡒]