The Montreal Canadiens (French: Les Canadiens de Montréal) are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The club is officially known as Le Club de Hockey Canadien. French nicknames for the team include Les Canadiens (or Le Canadien), Le Bleu-Blanc-et-Rouge, La Sainte-Flanelle, Le Tricolore, Les Glorieux (or Nos Glorieux), Les Habitants and Le Grand Club. In English, the team's main nickname is the Habs (coming from "Les Habitants"). The French spelling Canadiens is always used in English (never Canadians).

Founded in 1909, eight years before the founding of the NHL, the Canadiens are the oldest continuously-operating professional ice hockey team and the only continuously-operating club to predate the league. On account of playing in the NHL prior to its 1967 expansion, they are considered one of the "Original Six" teams. With the departure of the Quebec Nordiques in 1995, the Canadiens are the sole NHL team in Quebec. The team's championship season in 1992-93 still marks the last time that a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup.

The Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cups (including their first in 1916, before the NHL existed), more than any other team. On a percentage basis, as of 2008, the franchise has won 26% of all Stanley Cup championships contested after the Challenge Cup era, making it one of the most successful professional sports teams of the traditional four major sports of Canada and the United States.

The Canadiens play their home games at the Bell Centre, which was named the Molson Centre until 2003. Former homes of the team include Jubilee Rink, Montreal Westmount Arena, Mount Royal Arena and the famous Montreal Forum. The Forum was considered a veritable shrine to hockey fans everywhere, and housed the team for seven decades and all but their first two Stanley Cup championships.

The Canadiens were founded by J. Ambrose O'Brien on December 4, 1909 as a charter member of the National Hockey Association, the forerunner to the National Hockey League. The team won its first Stanley Cup championship in the 1915-16 season. In 1917, with four other NHA teams, the Canadiens formed the NHL, and they won their first NHL Stanley Cup during the 1923-24 season, led by Howie Morenz. The team moved to the Montreal Forum for the 1926-27 season.

Led by the "Punch Line" of Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Toe Blake, and Elmer Lach, in the 1940s the Canadiens enjoyed success again atop the NHL. From 1952 to 1960, the franchise won six Stanley Cups, including a record five straight from 1956 to 1960, with a new set of stars coming to prominence: Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, Doug Harvey, Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, Jacques Plante, and Richard's younger brother, Henri.

The Canadiens added ten more championships in fifteen seasons from 1965 to 1979, with another dynastic run of four straight Cups from 1976 to 1979. In the 1976-77 season, the Canadiens set a modern-day record for fewest losses by only losing eight games in an 80-game season. The next generation of stars included Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, Ken Dryden, Pete Mahovlich, Steve Shutt, Bob Gainey, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe and Larry Robinson. Scotty Bowman, who would later set a record for most NHL victories by a coach, was the team's head coach for its last five Stanley Cup victories in the 70s.

The Canadiens won Stanley Cups in 1986, led by rookie star goaltender Patrick Roy, and in 1993, continuing their streak of winning at least one championship in every decade from the 1910s to the 1990s. In 1996, the Habs moved from the Montreal Forum, their home during 71 seasons and 22 Stanley Cups, to the Molson Centre.

As part of the Canadiens celebrations for their Centennial year of 2008-09, the NHL awarded the 2009 NHL All-Star Game to Montreal, as well as the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

The current team colors are red, blue and white. These colors have been used in combination since 1914. The Canadiens' famous colors are an important part of French Canadian culture. In the short story "The Hockey Sweater" by Roch Carrier a young Québécois boy is accidentally given the jersey of the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. The poem was later made into an animated short; a quote from it appears on the Canadian five dollar bill.

One of sports' oldest and most recognizable logos, the classic 'C' and 'H' of the Montreal Canadiens was first used together in the 1917-18 season before evolving to its current form in 1952-53. The 'H' does not stand for 'Habs' or Habitants; this misconception stems from an error by an English language newspaper reporter in the 1950s. It actually stands for 'Hockey', as in 'Club de Hockey Canadien', the official name of the team. According to NHL.com, the first man to refer to the team as "the Habs" was American Tex Rickard, owner of Madison Square Garden, in 1924. Rickard apparently told a reporter that the "H" on the Canadiens' sweaters was for "Habitants."

The home jersey (traditionally called a sweater) is predominantly red in colour. There are four blue and white stripes, one across each arm, one across the chest and the other across the waist. The main road sweater is mainly white with a red and blue stripe across the waist, red at the end of both arm sleeves and the shoulders are also draped with red. The basic design has been in use since 1914. Because of the team's rich history and significance, the sweater is referred to by many as 'La sainte flanelle' (the holy flannel sweater).

Beginning in the 2004-05 NHL season, the Canadiens adopted Youppi as their official mascot, the first in their 90+ year history. Youppi was the longtime mascot for the Montreal Expos baseball team, but was dropped from the franchise when they moved to Washington, D.C. in 2004 and became the Washington Nationals. With the switch, Youppi became the first mascot in professional sports to switch leagues.