The Montreal Canadiens (French: Canadiens de Montréal) are a professional men's 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, Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge, La Sainte-Flanelle, Le Tricolore, Les Glorieux, Les Habitants and Le Grand Club. In English, the main nickname is the Habs (coming from "Les Habitants").

The Canadiens are one of the 'Original Six' teams, the teams of the NHL, before the 1967 expansion. They have won more Stanley Cups (24, the first in 1916, before the NHL existed) than any other NHL team; the Toronto Maple Leafs have the second most with a total of 13.  On a percentage basis, as of 2006, this makes them the third most historically successful major pro sports team in North America, having won 25% of all NHL/NHA Stanley Cup championships. Only the Boston Celtics of the NBA (26.2%) and the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (25.5%) have higher success rates.

The Canadiens play their home games at the Bell Centre, which was previously named the Molson Centre up 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 two of their Stanley Cup championships.

The team's Championship season in 1992-93 still marks the last time that a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, in a current span of thirteen seasons (fourteen years, due to the NHL lockout season).