NHL announces Canadiens quarter-century team

The Montreal Canadiens’ quarter-century team was unveiled by the NHL on Sunday, featuring the historic franchise’s best players from 2000 to the present.

The first team includes forwards Saku Koivu, Tomas Plekanec and Alex Kovalev, defensemen Shea Weber and Andrei Markov and goaltender Carey Price.

The second team features forwards Nick Suzuki, Brendan Gallagher and Max Pacioretty, defensemen Sheldon Souray and PK Subban and goaltender Jose Theodore.

Members of the media, retired NHL players and club executives weighed in on the selection, with each team consisting of three forwards, two defensemen and a goaltender, for a total of 12 players.

The league-wide initiative launched in December with the goal of highlighting the best players from each franchise over the past 25 years (or a quarter of a century).

Price holds the Canadiens franchise record for most wins by a goaltender with 361, surpassing greats Jaques Plante (314), Patrick Roy (289) and Ken Dryden (258).

Koivu, the Canadiens’ former captain for 10 years, tops the franchise’s top 10 in total points (641), assists (450) and power-play goals (66).

Plekanec, who played 15 years with the Canadiens from 2003 to 2019, ranks seventh on the all-time game list (984).

The second team includes three active players with Suzuki, Gallagher and Pacioretty, although only Suzuki and Gallagher remain on the Canadiens at the moment.