Carey Price, Saku Koivu highlight Canadiens’ NHL quarter-century team

The Montreal Canadiens announced on Sunday their Quarter-Century squad, naming the best players of their franchise since 2000, voted on by broadcasters and former players.

The Canadiens’ first team was made up of two former captains and a Hart Trophy winner, as the forward group included Saku Koivu, Alex Kovalev and Tomas Plekanec, with Shea Weber and Andrei Markov on the blue line, and Carey Price in net.

Koivu spent 13 seasons in Montreal, serving as captain for seven of them. He scored 191 goals and 450 assists for 641 points in 792 career regular-season games. He helped the Canadiens reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs eight times, scoring 16 goals and 32 assists for 48 points in 54 games.

Kovalev spent five years with Montreal, including the 2007-08 season where he scored 35 goals and 49 assists for 84 points. Meanwhile, Plekanec played all but 17 of his 1,001 career regular-season games with the Canadiens, scoring 223 goals and 373 assists for 606 points, including six 50-point campaigns.

Weber served as captain in Montreal between 2018-19 and 2020-21, scoring 58 goals and 146 points in 275 games, as well as leading the club to the Stanley Cup Final in his final season. As for Markov, the Russian blueliner spent his entire career with the Canadiens, scoring 119 goals and 453 assists for 572 points in 990 career regular-season games.

As for Price, the future Hockey Hall of Famer was arguably the game’s best goaltender of the 2010s, finishing at or near the top in every statistical category and carrying the Canadiens into the playoffs. He won both the Vezina Trophy and Hart Trophy in 2014-15, going 44-16-6 with a .933 save percentage (SV%) and 1.96 goals against average (GAA).

On the Canadiens’ second team, present-day captain Nick Suzuki centers a line with former captain Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher. On the backend, P.K. Subban and Sheldon Souray make up the blue line, while Jose Theodore is between the pipes.

Taken No. 13 overall in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Suzuki has three 60-point seasons in his first five years, and is currently on pace to eclipse his 2023-24 career high of 77 points. Gallagher has spent all 13 seasons of his career with the Canadiens, with more than 200 goals and 400 points, including back-to-back 30-goal seasons in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Pacioretty spent 10 seasons in Montreal, three as captain, and produced five 30-goal and 60-point campaigns.

Souray played in Montreal for six seasons, but during that time recorded 160 points in 324 regular-season games. Meanwhile, Subban spent seven seasons in Montreal, winning the Norris Trophy in 2012-13 and among the most productive offensive defenseman in the NHL for nearly a decade.

Finally, Theodore played in Montreal for nine seasons, going 141-158-35 with a .911 SV% and 2.62 GAA. Theodore won both the Vezina and Hart Trophies in 2001-02, going 304-24-10 with a .931 SV% and 2.11 GAA.