2020–21 Montreal Canadiens season

The 2020–21 Montreal Canadiens season was the 112th for the club that was established on December 4, 1909, and their 104th season as a franchise in the National Hockey League.

Due to the Canada–U.S. border restrictions brought in as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadiens were re-aligned with the other six Canadian franchises into the newly-formed North Division. The league's 56 game season was played entirely within the new divisions, meaning that Montreal and the other Canadian teams played an all-Canadian schedule for the 2020–21 regular season as well as the first two rounds of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs.

On May 10, 2021, the Canadiens clinched a playoff berth after a 4–3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers. In the first round, the Canadiens successfully overcame a 3–1 series deficit to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games. In the second round, the Canadiens swept the Winnipeg Jets in four games. Since they were the lowest-remaining team from the second round, they played against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup semifinals, defeating them in six games. The Canadiens won the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1993, subsequently ending a 10-year Canadian team Finals appearance drought, the Vancouver Canucks (in 2011) being the previous team to reach such juncture. In the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Canadiens lost the first three games of the series, finally earning a win in game four. However, the Canadiens were defeated in five games.

Regular season
The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.

Goaltenders
†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Canadiens. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only. ‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Canadiens only. Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

Transactions
The Canadiens had been involved in the following transactions during the 2020–21 season.

Draft picks
Below are the Montreal Canadiens' selections at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, which was held virtually via video conference call from the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey on October 6–7, 2020. Originally scheduled for June 26–27, 2020 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, the draft was subsequently postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and moved to such format hereafter.