The 2012–13 Montreal Canadiens season was the 104th season of play for the franchise that was founded on December 4, 1909, and its 96th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). 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 would be Therrien's second stint as the Canadiens head coach (previously coached team from 2000 to 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 third overall pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and selected Alex Galchenyuk from the Sarnia Sting. |- bgcolor= | 1 || September 23 || Ottawa || Montreal || |- bgcolor= | 2 || September 24 || Buffalo || Montreal || |- bgcolor= | 3 || September 27 || Montreal || Ottawa || |- bgcolor= | 4 || October 2 || Montreal || Carolina || |- bgcolor= | 5 || October 3 || Carolina || Montreal || |- bgcolor= | 6 || October 6 || Boston || Montreal || |- bgcolor= | 7 || October 7 || New Jersey || Montreal || |- |- style="text-align:center;" bgcolor= | 1 || October 11 ||Ottawa || Montreal || |- style="text-align:center;" bgcolor= | 2 || October 13 ||Montreal || Toronto || |- style="text-align:center;" bgcolor= | 3 || October 16 ||Boston || Montreal || |- style="text-align:center;" bgcolor= | 4 || October 18 ||Montreal || Boston || |- style="text-align:center;" bgcolor= | 5 || October 20 ||Washington || Montreal || |- style="text-align:center;" bgcolor= | 6 || October 23 ||Montreal || Minnesota || |- style="text-align:center;" bgcolor= | 7 || October 25 ||Philadelphia || Montreal || |- style="text-align:center;" bgcolor= | 8 || October 27 ||Anaheim || Montreal || |- style="text-align:center;" bgcolor= | 9 || October