2001–02 Montreal Canadiens season

Regular season

The Canadiens season began with a shocking announcement that team captain Saku Koivu was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma, a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This condition kept him out of all but three games in the regular season. On October 5, to respond to Koivu's absence, General Manager Andre Savard signed veteran forward Doug Gilmour to address the absence. The team began the season hovering around the .500 mark, but a five-game winning streak to end November, highlighted by spectacular performances by goaltender Jose Theodore, allowed the Canadiens to climb into the playoff mix. Around this time, Savard added offensive power to the team by acquiring Donald Audette and Shaun Van Allen from the Dallas Stars in exchange for Martin Rucinsky and Benoît Brunet. Head coach Michel Therrien and the Canadiens had a rough December, posting a record of 4–8–2–1 while the newly acquired Audette had his forearm tendons sliced by the skate of New York Rangers forward Radek Dvorak. His season was jeopardized. Despite the inconsistency of the team, Theodore was spectacular in net. In January, the Canadiens played more .500 hockey, which prompted Savard to make a change. He traded forward Brian Savage to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for Sergei Berezin. The regular season went on hold for two weeks while the 2002 Winter Olympics were taking place. When play resumed, Jose Theodore took matters into his own hands and carried the Habs into the playoffs, finishing the regular season with a record of 30–24–10, seven shutouts and a goals against average of 2.11. In the 80th game of the regular season, captain Saku Koivu returned from treatment and played his first game of the season against the Ottawa Senators. He played for the team for the rest of the season. The Canadiens made the playoffs with a record of 36–31–12–3 behind the play of eventual Hart Memorial Trophy winner Jose Thoedore.

The Canadiens finished the regular season having allowed the fewest power play goals, with just 38.

In a 2025 interview, Brett Hull said he was ready to sign with Montreal as a free agent in 2001 after a 45 minute phone call with Jean Beliveau, before receiving a call from Chris Chelios asking him to join Detroit. He eventually did join Detroit and won the Cup.

Final standings

Schedule and results

Regular season

|- |1||October 4, 2001||6–4 || align="left"| @ Ottawa Senators (2001–02) ||1–0–0–0||2 || |- |2||October 6, 2001||2–2 OT|| align="left"| Toronto Maple Leafs (2001–02) ||1–0–1–0||3 || |- |3||October 9, 2001||3–1 || align="left"| Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2001–02) ||2–0–1–0||5 || |- |4||October 12, 2001||3–1 || align="left"| @ Columbus Blue Jackets (2001–02) ||3–0–1–0||7 || |- |5||October 13, 2001|| 3–1 || align="left"| New Jersey Devils (2001–02) ||4–0–1–0||9 || |- |6||October 15, 2001|| 1-2 || align="left"| New York Rangers (2001-02) ||4-1-1-0||9 || |- |7||October 19, 2001||1–4 || align="left"| @ Washington Capitals (2001–02) ||4–2–1–0||9 || |- |8||October 20, 2001||1–3 || align="left"| Buffalo Sabres (2001–02) ||4–3–1–0||9 || |- |9||October 26, 2001||5–2 || align="left"| @ Buffalo Sabres (2001–02) ||5–3–1–0||11 || |- |10||October 27, 2001||1–5 || align="left"| Philadelphia Flyers (2001–02) ||5–4–1–0||11 || |- |11||October 30, 2001||1–3 || align="left"| @ Edmonton Oilers (2001–02) ||5–5–1–0||11 ||

| Legend:

Playoffs

In the first round of the playoffs, the Canadiens were matched against the Boston Bruins, who finished first overall in the Eastern Conference. Donald Audette lead the way with three goals and Saku Koivu had a goal and an assist to win game one 5–2 for Montreal. Game 2 would prove to be a back-and-forth affair, as both teams traded momentum. Boston won the game by a score of 6–4 despite a four-point performance from the Canadien Richard Zednik. The series shifted to Montreal, and the Canadiens won Game 3 5–3 through by a four-point performance by Koivu. This gave Montreal a 2–1 series lead. The Bruins responded in Game 4 as they won easily, 5–2. Theodore rose to the occasion in Game 5, stopping 43 of 44 shots for a 2–1 win to give the Canadiens a 3–2 series lead going back to the Molson Centre. Theodore was spectacular again in Game 6, and Yanic Perreault scored the game-winning goal to give the Canadiens a 2–1 victory. The Canadiens won the series in six games, upsetting the Conference's top seed.

The Canadiens faced the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the playoffs. The Hurricanes won Game 1 2–0 as Hurricanes goaltender Kevin Weekes was awarded the shutout. The Carolina Hurricanes dominated the Canadiens outshooting them 46 to 16, but Theodore only yielded one goal and Koivu had a goal and an assist and the Canadiens won Game 2 4–1 to tie the series. Game 3 went to overtime and due to the heroics of Theodore, he kept his team in the game. The Habs would win Game 3 just over two minutes into overtime on a goal by Donald Audette, giving the Canadiens the series lead. The Habs had momentum in Game 4, establishing a 3–0 lead early in the third period of Game 4. The Hurricanes, however, would score three-straight goals to send the game to overtime, where 'Canes defenceman Niclas Wallin ended the game in overtime to tie the series at 2–2. With newly gained series momentum, the Hurricanes would win the next two games to win take the series at 4–2, outscoring Montreal 13–3 in the process. |- | 1 || April 18, 2002 || 5–2 || align="left"| @ Boston Bruins || Canadiens lead 1–0 || |- | 2 || April 21, 2002 || 4–6 || align="left"| @ Boston Bruins || Series tied 1–1 || |- | 3 || April 23, 2002 || 5–3 || align="left"| Boston Bruins || Canadiens lead 2–1 || |- | 4 || April 25, 2002 || 2–5 || align="left"| Boston Bruins || Series tied 2–2 || |- | 5 || April 27, 2002 || 2–1 || align="left"| @ Boston Bruins || Canadiens lead 3–2 || |- | 6 || April 29, 2002 || 2–1 || align="left"| Boston Bruins || Canadiens win 4–2 ||

| Legend:

Player statistics

Scoring

• Position abbreviations: C = Centre; D = Defence; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
• • = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only.*
• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only.*

Goaltending

• • = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only.*

Awards and records

Awards

Milestones

Transactions

The Canadiens were involved in the following transactions from June 10, 2001, the day after the deciding game of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 13, 2002, the day of the deciding game of the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals.

Trades

Players acquired

Players lost

Signings

Draft picks

Montreal's draft picks at the 2001 NHL entry draft held at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida.

Notes

References

References

1. "2001-02 NHL Summary".
2. "2001-02 Montreal Canadiens Schedule".
3. "Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy".
4. "Hart Memorial Trophy".
5. "Postseason All-Star Teams".
6. "Roger Crozier MBNA Saving Grace Award award winners at hockeydb.com".
7. "Vezina Trophy".
8. "2002 NHL All-Star Game Rosters".
9. (April 8, 2002). "Theodore named NHL player of the week".
10. (January 30, 2002). "NHL - 2002 YoungStars rosters".
11. Montreal Canadiens 2014–2015 Media Guide, p.553
12. Montreal Canadiens 2014–2015 Media Guide, p.552
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18. (November 21, 2001). "Canadiens acquire Donald Audette and Shaun Van Allen from the Dallas Stars in return for Benoit Brunet and Martin Rucinsky".
19. (January 25, 2002). "Canadiens acquire forward Sergei Berezin from the Phoenix Coyotes".
20. (March 19, 2002). "Canadiens acquire forward Bill Lindsay and goaltender Stéphane Fiset".
21. (May 24, 2002). "Canadiens acquire Minnesota's 5th round pick in 2002, in return for defenceman Chris Dyment".
22. (July 5, 2001). "Perreault signs with Canadiens".
23. (September 10, 2001). "Canadiens sign forward Reid Simpson".
24. (September 18, 2001). "Canadiens sign goaltender Olivier Michaud".
25. (October 6, 2001). "Doug Gilmour under contract with the Canadiens".
26. (July 12, 2001). "2001 NHL free agent list".
27. (July 1, 2006). "List of Available Free Agents". NHL.com.
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29. "BARRY RICHTER".
30. {{hockey-reference. b/bashkan01. Andrei Bashkirov, retrieved March 6, 2023
31. "JOSH DEWOLF".
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34. (November 9, 2001). "Sport in brief".
35. (November 20, 2001). "Bure leaves in Panthers' 5-1 defeat".
36. {{hockey-reference. h/higgima01. Matt Higgins, retrieved March 6, 2023
37. (January 30, 2002). "Nashville Claims Simpson Off Waivers".
38. "PANTHER NEWS-ARCHIV".
39. (July 10, 2001). "Lightning sign Holzinger".
40. (July 13, 2001). "SPORTS TRANSACTIONS FOR FRIDAY, JULY 13+ - UPI Archives".
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42. (August 15, 2001). "The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on August 15, 2001 · 36".
43. (December 1, 2001). "Canadiens sign Karl Dykhuis to 3-year deal".
44. (December 18, 2001). "Patrice Brisebois agrees to a long term contract with the Canadiens".
45. (April 22, 2002). "Canadiens sign prospects Jozef Balej and Tomas Plekanec".
46. (June 3, 2002). "Canadiens sign Christian Larrivée to 3-year agreement".
47. "2001 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".