2012–13 Montreal Canadiens season

The 2012–13 Montreal Canadiens season was the 104th season of play for the franchise that was founded on December 4, 1909. However, it will only be their 96th season in the National Hockey League. The regular season was reduced from its usual 82 games to 48 due to a lockout.

Off-season
After a disappointing 2011–12 season, the Canadiens started over in the front office. Marc Bergevin was named the new general manager on May 2, 2012. Rick Dudley was then named as the assistant general manager. The search then began for a new head coach and on June 5, Michel Therrien was named the new head coach. This will be Therrien's second stint as the Canadiens head coach (previously coached team from 2000–2003) Scott Mellanby was hired as the Director of Player Personnel and Randy Cunneyworth and Randy Ladouceur were relieved of their assistant coaching duties. Some other hockey operations changes included the hiring of Martin Lapointe as Director of Player Development, Patrice Brisebois was hired as a Player Development Coach and on June 15, Gerard Gallant, J.J. Daigneault and Clement Jodoin were added to Montreal's coaching staff as assistant coaches.

Montreal held the 3rd overall pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and selected Alex Galchenyuk from the Sarnia Sting.

Regular Season
The Canadiens had the most power-play opportunities during the regular season, with 207. They also tied the Tampa Bay Lightning for the fewest shorthanded goals scored, with 0.

Player statistics
Final stats
 * Skaters


 * Goaltenders

†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Canadiens. Stats reflect time with the Candadiens only.

‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only.

Bold/italics denotes franchise record

Transactions
The Canadiens have been involved in the following transactions during the 2012–13 season:

Draft picks
Montreal Canadiens' picks at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 22 & 23, 2012.
 * Draft Notes
 * The Nashville Predators' second-round pick went to the Montréal Canadiens as a result of a February 17, 2012 trade that sent Hal Gill and a 2013 conditional fifth-round pick (if Blake Geoffrion plays 40 NHL games in 2012–13) to the Predators in exchange for Blake Geoffrion, Robert Slaney and this pick.


 * The Columbus Blue Jackets' fifth-round pick went to the Montréal Canadiens as a result of a June 29, 2011 trade that sent James Wisniewski to the Blue Jackets in exchange for this pick.


 * The Montreal Canadiens' fifth-round pick went to the Calgary Flames as the result of a January 12, 2012 trade that traded Rene Bourque, Patrick Holland and a 2013 second round pick to the Canadiens for Michael Cammalleri, Karri Ramo and this pick.


 * The Montreal Canadiens' seventh-round pick went to the Phoenix Coyotes as the result of an October 23, 2011 trade that traded Petteri Nokelainen and Garrett Stafford to the Canadiens for Colin Stuart, Anton Stralman and this pick.