2002–03 Montreal Canadiens | |
---|---|
Division | 4th Northeast |
Conference | 9th Eastern |
2002–03 record | 30–35–8–9 |
Home record | 16–16–5–4 |
Road record | 14–19–3–5 |
Goals for | 206 |
Goals against | 234 |
Team information | |
General manager | Andre Savard |
Coach |
Michel Therrien (Oct–Jan) Claude Julien (Jan–Apr) |
Captain | Saku Koivu |
Alternate captains |
Patrice Brisebois Doug Gilmour (Oct–Mar) |
Arena | Bell Centre |
Average attendance | 20,672 |
Minor league affiliate(s) |
Hamilton Bulldogs Columbus Cottonmouths |
Team leaders | |
Goals | Richard Zednik (31) |
Assists | Saku Koivu (50) |
Points | Saku Koivu (71) |
Penalty minutes | Richard Zednik (79) |
Plus/minus | Andrei Markov (+13) |
Wins | Jose Theodore (20) |
Goals against average | Mathieu Garon (1.99) |
The 2002–03 Montreal Canadiens season was the club's 94th season of play. Facing numerous challenges throughout the season including a coaching change, the team did not qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Before the start of the season, many predicted a strong showing from the Canadiens as a result of a healthy Saku Koivu and last season's Hart Memorial Trophy winner, Jose Theodore. The team was .500 for the first two months of the season and showed little improvement in December. Players such as Mariusz Czerkawski, added to the lineup during the summer, and Donald Audette were slow to produce offence for the team, and the two forwards were both sent down for brief stints in the minors. Moreover, Jose Theodore's performances were not up to par with his MVP-winning season of a year earlier. Despite strong seasons from Koivu, Richard Zednik and Yanic Perreault, the Canadiens slid to 11th place in the Eastern Conference in mid-January. This losing streak prompted General Manager Andre Savard to fire head coach Michel Therrien and replace him with Claude Julien, who filled the same role behind the bench of the Habs' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs. [1] Despite Julien's arrival, the team was unable to improve its situation and saw their playoff hopes evaporate with a nine-game winless streak that ended in early March. Despite Saku Koivu's 71 points and Richard Zednik's 31 goals, the Canadiens missed the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons. The Canadiens ended with a record of 30–35–9–8, and former MVP Theodore had a disappointing season with a record of 20–31–6.
The Canadiens finished the regular season tying the Nashville Predators for the fewest short-handed goals scored, with just two. [2]
No. | CR | GP | W | L | T | OTL | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 52 | 21 | 8 | 1 | 263 | 182 | 113 |
2 | 5 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 44 | 28 | 7 | 3 | 236 | 208 | 98 |
3 | 7 | Boston Bruins | 82 | 36 | 31 | 11 | 4 | 245 | 237 | 87 |
4 | 10 | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 30 | 35 | 8 | 9 | 206 | 234 | 77 |
5 | 12 | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 27 | 37 | 10 | 8 | 190 | 219 | 72 |
Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.
R | Div | GP | W | L | T | OTL | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | P- Ottawa Senators | NE | 82 | 52 | 21 | 8 | 1 | 263 | 182 | 113 |
2 | Y- New Jersey Devils | AT | 82 | 46 | 20 | 10 | 6 | 216 | 166 | 108 |
3 | Y- Tampa Bay Lightning | SE | 82 | 36 | 25 | 16 | 5 | 219 | 210 | 93 |
4 | X- Philadelphia Flyers | AT | 82 | 45 | 20 | 13 | 4 | 211 | 166 | 107 |
5 | X- Toronto Maple Leafs | NE | 82 | 44 | 28 | 7 | 3 | 236 | 208 | 98 |
6 | X- Washington Capitals | SE | 82 | 39 | 29 | 8 | 6 | 224 | 220 | 92 |
7 | X- Boston Bruins | NE | 82 | 36 | 31 | 11 | 4 | 245 | 237 | 87 |
8 | X- New York Islanders | AT | 82 | 35 | 34 | 11 | 2 | 224 | 231 | 83 |
8.5 | ||||||||||
9 | New York Rangers | AT | 82 | 32 | 36 | 10 | 4 | 210 | 231 | 78 |
10 | Montreal Canadiens | NE | 82 | 30 | 35 | 8 | 9 | 206 | 234 | 77 |
11 | Atlanta Thrashers | SE | 82 | 31 | 39 | 7 | 5 | 226 | 284 | 74 |
12 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 82 | 27 | 37 | 10 | 8 | 190 | 219 | 72 |
13 | Florida Panthers | SE | 82 | 24 | 36 | 13 | 9 | 176 | 237 | 70 |
14 | Pittsburgh Penguins | AT | 82 | 27 | 44 | 6 | 5 | 189 | 255 | 65 |
15 | Carolina Hurricanes | SE | 82 | 22 | 43 | 11 | 6 | 171 | 240 | 61 |
Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast
P – Clinched Presidents Trophy; Y – Clinched Division; X – Clinched Playoff spot
2002–03 regular season [5] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 3–3–3–0 (home: 1–2–3–0; road: 2–1–0–0)
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November: 7–6–1–1 (home: 5–3–0–1; road: 2–3–1–0)
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December: 6–5–1–2 (home: 2–2–0–0; road: 4–3–1–2)
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January: 5–6–2–2 (home: 4–1–1–1; road: 1–5–1–1)
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February: 3–7–0–2 (home: 2–4–0–1; road: 1–3–0–1)
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March: 5–7–1–2 (home: 1–4–1–1; road: 4–3–0–1)
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April: 1–1–0–0 (home: 1–0–0–0; road: 0–1–0–0)
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Legend:
Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) Overtime loss (1 point) |
Regular season | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
11 | Saku Koivu | C | 82 | 21 | 50 | 71 | 5 | 72 |
20 | Richard Zednik | RW | 80 | 31 | 19 | 50 | 4 | 79 |
94 | Yanic Perreault | C | 73 | 24 | 22 | 46 | −11 | 30 |
38 | Jan Bulis | C | 82 | 16 | 24 | 40 | 9 | 30 |
79 | Andrei Markov | D | 79 | 13 | 24 | 37 | 13 | 34 |
93 | Doug Gilmour‡ | C | 61 | 11 | 19 | 30 | −6 | 36 |
43 | Patrice Brisebois | D | 73 | 4 | 25 | 29 | −14 | 32 |
24 | Andreas Dackell | RW | 73 | 7 | 18 | 25 | −5 | 24 |
82 | Donald Audette | RW | 54 | 11 | 12 | 23 | −7 | 19 |
14 | Oleg Petrov‡ | RW | 53 | 7 | 16 | 23 | −2 | 16 |
52 | Craig Rivet | D | 82 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 1 | 71 |
90 | Joe Juneau | C | 72 | 6 | 16 | 22 | −10 | 20 |
21 | Randy McKay | RW | 75 | 6 | 13 | 19 | −14 | 72 |
71 | Mike Ribeiro | C | 52 | 5 | 12 | 17 | −3 | 6 |
25 | Chad Kilger | LW | 60 | 9 | 7 | 16 | −4 | 21 |
27 | Mariusz Czerkawski | RW | 43 | 5 | 9 | 14 | −7 | 16 |
37 | Niklas Sundstrom† | RW | 33 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 3 | 8 |
81 | Marcel Hossa | LW | 34 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 3 | 14 |
54 | Patrick Traverse | D | 65 | 0 | 13 | 13 | −9 | 24 |
5 | Stephane Quintal | D | 67 | 5 | 5 | 10 | −4 | 70 |
17 | Jason Ward | RW | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
28 | Karl Dykhuis | D | 65 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −5 | 34 |
51 | Francis Bouillon† | D | 20 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −1 | 2 |
22 | Bill Lindsay | RW | 19 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −1 | 23 |
60 | Jose Theodore | G | 57 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
8 | Mike Komisarek | D | 21 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −6 | 28 |
36 | Francois Beauchemin | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
26 [a] | Sylvain Blouin† | LW | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 43 |
32 | Gordie Dwyer† | LW | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 46 |
30 | Mathieu Garon | G | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
31 | Jeff Hackett‡ | G | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
65 | Ron Hainsey | D | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
Regular season | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Player | GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
60 | Jose Theodore | 57 | 20 | 31 | 6 | 1797 | 165 | 2.90 | .908 | 2 | 3419 |
31 | Jeff Hackett‡ | 18 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 606 | 45 | 2.54 | .926 | 0 | 1063 |
30 | Mathieu Garon | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 267 | 16 | 1.99 | .940 | 2 | 482 |
Type | Award/honour | Recipient | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
League (in-season) |
NHL All-Star Game selection | Saku Koivu [b] | [7] |
NHL YoungStars Game selection | Marcel Hossa | [8] | |
Team | Jacques Beauchamp Molson Trophy | Jan Bulis | [9] |
Molson Cup | Jose Theodore | [10] |
The Canadiens were involved in the following transactions from June 14, 2002, the day after the deciding game of the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 9, 2003, the day of the deciding game of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. [11]
Date | Details | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|
June 22, 2002 | To Montreal Canadiens 1st-round pick in 2002 |
To
Edmonton Oilers 1st-round pick in 2002 8th-round pick in 2002 |
[12] |
June 22, 2002 | To Montreal Canadiens Mariusz Czerkawski |
To
New York Islanders Arron Asham 5th-round pick in 2002 |
[12] |
June 23, 2002 | To Montreal Canadiens Florida’s 4th-round pick in 2002 |
To
Calgary Flames 4th-round pick in 2002 Minnesota’s 5th-round pick in 2002 |
[13] |
June 30, 2002 | To Montreal Canadiens 4th-round pick in 2004 |
To
Chicago Blackhawks Sergei Berezin |
[14] |
October 31, 2002 | To Montreal Canadiens Sylvain Blouin |
To
Minnesota Wild 7th-round pick in 2003 |
[15] |
January 17, 2003 [c] | To Montreal Canadiens Claude Julien |
To Edmonton Oilers 5th-round pick in 2003 |
[11] |
January 23, 2003 | To Montreal Canadiens Niklas Sundstrom 3rd-round pick in 2004 |
To
San Jose Sharks Jeff Hackett |
[16] |
January 29, 2003 | To Montreal Canadiens 2nd-round pick in 2003 |
To
Philadelphia Flyers Eric Chouinard |
[17] |
March 3, 2003 | To Montreal Canadiens 4th-round pick in 2003 |
To
Nashville Predators Oleg Petrov |
[18] |
March 11, 2003 | To Montreal Canadiens 6th-round pick in 2003 |
To
Toronto Maple Leafs Doug Gilmour |
[19] |
Date | Player | Former team | Term | Via | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 4, 2002 | Randy McKay | Dallas Stars | 2-year | Free agency | [20] |
Matt O'Dette | Quebec Citadelles ( AHL) | 1-year [d] | Free agency | [21] | |
September 10, 2002 | Eric Fichaud | Krefeld Pinguine ( DEL) | 1-year [d] | Free agency | [22] |
October 25, 2002 | Francis Bouillon | Nashville Predators | Waivers | [23] | |
February 21, 2003 | Gordie Dwyer | New York Rangers | Waivers | [24] |
Date | Player | New team | Via [e] | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
N/A | Gennady Razin | Amur Khabarovsk ( RSL) | Free agency (UFA) | [26] |
July 12, 2002 | Craig Darby | New Jersey Devils | Free agency | [27] |
July 24, 2002 | Shaun Van Allen | Ottawa Senators | Free agency (III) | [28] |
August 22, 2002 | Francis Belanger | Anaheim Mighty Ducks | Free agency (UFA) | [29] |
August 23, 2002 | Vadim Tarasov | Metallurg Novokuznetsk (RSL) | Free agency (II) [f] | [31] |
September 9, 2002 | Stephane Fiset | Retirement (III) | [32] | |
October 4, 2002 | Francis Bouillon | Nashville Predators | Waiver draft | [33] |
Stephane Robidas | Atlanta Thrashers | Waiver draft | [33] | |
April 9, 2003 | Eric Landry | Lausanne HC ( NLA) | Free agency | [34] |
Date | Player | Term | Contract type | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
June 21, 2002 | Saku Koivu | 1-year | Re-signing | [35] |
July 4, 2002 | Benoit Gratton | 2-year | Re-signing | [21] |
July 15, 2002 | Andreas Dackell | 2-year | Re-signing | [36] |
July 19, 2002 | Mike Ribeiro | 1-year | Re-signing | [37] |
Jason Ward | 1-year | Re-signing | [37] | |
July 24, 2002 | Mike Komisarek | 3-year | Entry-level | [38] |
July 26, 2002 | Chad Kilger | 1-year | Re-signing | [39] |
August 2, 2002 | Francis Bouillon | 1-year | Re-signing | [40] |
Mathieu Garon | 1-year | Re-signing | [40] | |
Sheldon Souray | 2-year | Re-signing | [40] | |
August 9, 2002 | Doug Gilmour | 1-year [g] | Re-signing | [41] |
September 5, 2002 | Jose Theodore | 3-year | Re-signing | [42] |
September 18, 2002 | Richard Zednik | 2-year | Re-signing | [43] |
September 26, 2002 | Craig Rivet | 4-year | Extension | [44] |
February 28, 2003 | Mathieu Garon | 2-year [h] | Extension | [45] |
April 11, 2003 | Jason Ward | 2-year | Extension | [46] |
May 5, 2003 | Jan Bulis | 2-year | Extension | [47] |
May 22, 2003 | Chris Higgins | 3-year | Entry-level | [48] |
May 29, 2003 | Andrew Archer | 3-year | Entry-level | [49] |
Francis Bouillon | 2-year | Extension | [49] | |
Duncan Milroy | 3-year | Entry-level | [49] |
Montreal's draft picks at the 2002 NHL Entry Draft held at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. [50]
Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 14 | Chris Higgins | United States | Yale University (ECAC) |
2 | 45 | Tomas Linhart | Czech Republic | HC Pardubice Jr. (Czech Republic) |
4 | 99 | Michael Lambert | Canada | Montreal Rocket ( QMJHL) |
6 | 182 | Andre Deveaux | Canada | Belleville Bulls ( OHL) |
7 | 212 | Jonathan Ferland | Canada | Acadie-Bathurst Titan (QMJHL) |
9 | 275 | Konstantin Korneyev | Russia | Krylya Sovetov (Russia) |
CANADIENS: Traded F Sergei Berezin to Blackhawks for 2004 fourth-round draft pick.
Montreal Canadiens -- Signed free agent right wing Randy McKay, who had been with the Dallas Stars, to a two-year contract; agreed to terms with center Benoit Gratton on a two-year contract; agreed to terms with defenseman Matt O'dette on a one-year contract with an option for 2003-04.
New Jersey Devils -- Signed… free agent center Craig Darby, who had been with the Montreal Canadiens
OTTAWA SENATORS--Signed C Shaun Van Allen to a multiyear contract.
23-Aug-02: Returned to Russia.
Montreal Canadiens -- Re-signed right wings Andreas Dackell and Jason Ward and center Mike Ribeiro.
Montreal Canadiens -- Re-signed center Chad Kilger to a one-year contract.