The Montreal Canadiens ended up founded on December 4th, 1909 by J. Ambrose O'Brien as a member of the Nationwide Hockey Association (NHA). The NHA was the forerunner to the Nationwide Hockey League (NHL). The team was to be the group of the francophone neighborhood in Montreal and was to be comprised of francophone players and to be owned by francophone ownership. The Montreal Canadiens had a horrible first season and they positioned dead last in the association. Following the very 1st yr, the ownership was transferred to George Kennedy of Montreal and the group started out executing significantly far better more than the next handful of seasons. The crew won its very first Stanley Cup championship in the 1915-1916 period. One particular 12 months later on, the Canadiens joined with four other groups to type the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens won their initial NHL Stanley Cup throughout the 1923-1924 time, and the group was led by Howie Morenz. The group then moved to the Montreal Forum for the 1926-1927 year. The group started off the 1930's with success by profitable the Stanley Cups in 1930 and 1931. After these many years of successful, the club started to decline on the ice as effectively as with the financial system at the time. The monetary losses grew to the level in which the team proprietors were thinking about selling the staff to Cleveland, Ohio investors. As these talks ended up likely on, nearby investors have been identified which ended up keeping the group in Montreal. At this very same time, the Montreal Maroons ended up shutting down and several of these players joined the Canadiens staff.The Canadiens had some golden decades in the 1940's led by Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Toe Blake, and Elmer Lach. From 1952 to 1950, the team won 6 Stanley Cups, such as 5 that they won in a row from 1956 to 1960. These a long time had a large sum of stars which included: Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, Doug Harvey, Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, Jacques Plante, and Henri.From 1965 to 1979 the Canadiens additional ten far more championships. They also had another four straight Cups from 1976 to 1979. This group also set a report in 1976 for the fewest losses by only losing eight video games in the eighty game period. The 70's brought some incredible stars which incorporated: Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, Ken Dryden, Pete Mahovlich, Steve Shutt, Bob Gainey, Serge Savard, Man Lapointe, and Larry Robinson. Scotty Bowman was the coach and afterwards set a record for the most NHL victories by a coach.Another Stanley Cup was won in 1986, led by the rookie star goaltender Patrick Roy. They also won an additional Cup in 1993 which continued their streak of at least successful one championship in each and every ten years because 1910. In 1996 the team stopped playing in the Montreal Forum and now plays in the Bell Centre. Recently, on December 29, 2008 the Canadiens defeat the Florida Panthers to grow to be the 1st staff in NHL historical past to achieve about three,000 victories. The crew also retired several uniform amounts before internet hosting the 2009 NHL All-Star Game. They also hosted the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.