Montreal Canadiens: Five Best American Players To Suit Up For Habs

3. Mathieu Schneider

Mathieu Schneider was a third round pick by the Canadiens in 1987, but quickly showed he was worthy of a higher selection. He made his NHL debut the following year, suiting up for four games with the Habs in the 1987-88 season and had three assists in three playoff games for the Sherbrooke Canadiens of the AHL.

He then played another year of Junior before splitting a season between the NHL and AHL. Finally, by 1990-91 he was a full-time member of the Habs and scored ten goals and 30 points in 69 games that year. He would add an impressive nine points in 13 playoff games that spring as well.

Schneider quickly emerged as a go-to defenceman for the Canadiens at both ends of the ice. He had a great season in 1992-93, scoring 44 points in 60 games, and helped the Habs win their most recent Stanley Cup.

The New York native was even better the following year, scoring 20 goals and 52 points in 75 games. He started the lockout shortened 1995 campaign with 20 points in 30 games but was then traded with Kirk Muller to the New York Islanders for Pierre Turgeon and Vladimir Malakhov.

The left shot defender would return to Montreal at the trade deadline during their centennial season, and was tasked with helping breathe life into their struggling power play. Though he was 39 years old at the time, he scored five goals and 18 points in 23 games to close out the 2008-09 season.

In all, he played 383 games with the Montreal Canadiens, scoring 68 goals and 216 points while playing a top pairing role for years in the early 1990’s. He had a lot of good years in front of him when the Habs traded him to Long Island, but he made quite the mark in Montreal during his two tenures that included parts of eight different seasons.