Ronald Corey - Montreal Canadiens Executive

Montreal Canadiens Executive

On November 12, 1982, Corey was appointed president of the Canadiens. During his term as president, the team won two Stanley Cups; in 1986 and 1993. Corey was president for the building of the Bell Centre, however during the 1990s, the team's business declined under the indirect ownership of parent company Molson Brewery by Foster's.

Corey was known for his good treatment of past Canadiens' stars Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur. In 1986, he also brought Doug Harvey back into the Canadiens' organization, as a scout and arranging the retirement of his jersey number 2. He was also criticized by the media for poor management decisions in the hiring of Montreal Canadiens general managers. One famous action of Corey's was the firing, four games into the 1995–96 season, of the entire Canadiens' hockey management - general manager Serge Savard and coaches Jacques Demers, Carol Vadnais and Andre Boudrias, and replaced them with Rejean Houle and Mario Tremblay. Houle had no previous general manager experience while Tremblay had no coaching experience, and the moves would indirectly lead to the departure of star goaltender Patrick Roy weeks later. Earlier, however, Savard had been hired by Corey with no prior front-office experience and went on to put together 2 Stanley Cup-winning teams. Corey retired in May 1999, after Molson openly discussed selling the team, he was unwilling and unable to fulfill that mandate, and Molson went on installing new team president Pierre Boivin. The Canadiens were soon sold to an American by the name of George.