MONTREAL — Three seasons. 282 games. A standard nobody has touched since. That is the argument at the heart of Jeff Olson's new book, The Heights Team: Hockey's Best Team Ever, from 8th House Publishing.

Olson makes a case that has long been whispered but rarely argued this carefully: the Montreal Canadiens of 1975–76 through 1977–78 are the greatest sustained run in hockey history. He even coins a name for them — the Heights Team — alongside the old familiars: Les Habs, Les Habitants, Bleu-Blanc-Rouge.

The numbers do a lot of the talking. The Canadiens posted 58 wins and 127 points in 1975–76, then 60 wins and 132 points the following season — a campaign with just eight losses that the book insists was never equaled in any NHL schedule — then 59 wins and 129 points in 1977–78. Three straight Stanley Cups across 282 games: 240 regular-season contests plus 42 in the playoffs. Scoped to the 80-game era, Olson argues that nobody has matched that combination of dominance and championships.

He does not simply lean on the standings. He takes readers through a roster that is a problem for anyone arguing against him: Guy Lafleur, who led the league in scoring all three seasons; Ken Dryden in net; Larry Robinson and Yvan Cournoyer; and the rest of a lineup that counts nine Hall of Famers — all wired together by Scotty Bowman.

Timed to the 50th anniversary of the 1976–77 season, The Heights Team is published in English and French editions, a fittingly bilingual tribute to a club at home in both.

The book is available in paperback and hardcover, 392 pages, with archival black-and-white photographs. Paperback ISBN 978-1-926716-86-2 ($29.99 USD); hardcover ISBN 978-1-926716-85-5 ($39.99 USD).

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