Canadiens earn hardware at Stanley Awards

MONTREAL - The Canadiens are no strangers to Stanleys.

After all, the organization has won Lord Stanley's Cup 24 times since 1909 for the team's excellence on the ice.

But on July 19, it was the team's work off the ice that took home hardware.

During the 2023 Stanley Awards at the NHL's annual Club Business Meetings in Los Angeles, the Habs were named the League's Social Media Club of the Year.

While this "Stanley" might not be 35.25 inches tall, nor 37 pounds heavy, it nevertheless took a team effort to win.

"We're incredibly proud of our entire content group for earning this award," said the Canadiens' Senior Director of Content Strategy, Shauna Denis. "So much hard work has gone into shifting our focus to platforms that appeal to a new generation of fans and this award is a testament to the incredible work the members of our social, video and content team do every day."

Hosted annually by the NHL, the Stanley Awards honor Club business and marketing achievements by recognizing excellence, innovation, and creativity for fan engagement in hockey. This year's honor marked the Canadiens' second Stanley award since the inaugural edition of the event in 2018. Previously, the Habs also earned a Stanley for the best Social Impact and Growth Initiative for the Montreal Canadiens Children's Foundation's flagship BLEU BLANC BOUGE program in 2021.

THE WINNING FORMULA

Just like the youth movement on the ice, the Canadiens have likewise connected with the next generation of fans online by providing unparalleled access to the team via high-growth social platforms.

With an emphasis on livestreamed content - think Q&As with players and prospects, gaming sessions, media availabilities, and more - the Habs have become the most-followed NHL team on Twitch and YouTube.

Last season, fans got a look-in to previously inaccessible areas, like backstage at the annual RadioTELEDON as Habs players called donors live on air to thank them for their contributions (or rather, tried to), or from the team's (sometimes unhinged) media day at training camp.

Traditional VOD also got love in the form of mic'd up features, episodic series showing off the players' personalities, and longform documentaries, including from inside the war room at the NHL Draft.

Not to mention the team's own takes on viral memes and TikTok trends.

Having Cole Caufield on the roster makes admin's life easy regarding the latter.

Thank you to all the fans who have made @CanadiensMTL among the most-engaged NHL accounts across all social media platforms, and canadiens.com the most-read website in the League.

And to those just tuning in, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, TikTok, YouTube and Threads for more award-winning content.