As we mark the 100th birthday of the Montreal Canadiens, the most celebrated franchise in hockey history, let us also pause to pay tribute to the original "Habs" from whom the club gets its famous nickname.

Or shall we say its English nickname.

In French, the Canadiens are affectionately known as La Sainte-Flanelle, Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge, Le Tricolore, Les Glorieux or Le Grand Club - and only rarely as Les Habitants. But none of these nicknames have resonated globally in a world increasingly dominated by English. Instead, Habs has become the club's signature nickname. Habs, of course, is the English derivative of Habitants, which was the name used to describe the original settlers of New France in the early 1600s. To use an analogy from sports, the Habs were Canada's first expansion team. They represented France's expansion into North America.

The first permanent settlement was set up in Quebec City on July 3, 1608, under the command of Samuel de Champlain, a household name in Quebec and Canadian history. During that first year in Quebec, Champlain oversaw construction of a fort - and he made a drawing of it, which is reproduced on this page. Notice the title he gave his picture, in medieval French. It says: Abitation de Qvebecq. Champlain didn't call it a colony or a settlement. He called it a habitation, as result of which the residents within it, the inhabitants, came to be known as habitants.

Twenty-eight "habs" spent that first winter of 1608-09 inside of the fort; 20 died, leaving only eight alive in the spring, including Champlain. Slowly but surely, the numbers recovered, through birth and immigration. But growth was slow. By 1632, there were still only 72 people living permanently in Quebec City.

After New France expanded to Trois-Rivères in 1634 and Montreal in 1642, the term habitant came to designate farmers and other year-round residents, while the term coureurs de bois described explorers and fur traders who disappeared into the bush for long periods of time.

In that first quarter century inside the original Abitation in Quebec City, a few leaders and other notables stood out. And to honour their memory for the Habs' centennial celebration, we do hereby nominate six names for consideration as the all-star team for these "original Habs."

Goaltender: #1 Louis Hébert
Patriarch of the first French family to settle permanently in New France. As the first, he gets No. 1. He came with his wife, Marie Rollet, and three children in 1617. A native of Paris, he worked as an apothecary before emigrating. He was mainly a farmer here. He died after a fall on the ice in the winter of 1626-27. Rollet remarried.

Left defence: #32 Abraham Martin
The Plains of Abraham in Quebec City are named after him. He was a Scottish seaman and fisherman who visited Dieppe and married a French woman, Marguerite Langlois, probably in 1619, and with whom he emigrated to Quebec, probably in 1620. He got in trouble at age 64 when he was caught having extra-marital sex with a 16-year old. But he was well-liked and the community forgave him. Champlain had given him 10 acres of land as a gift, and friends had given him 22 other acres. It's likely these 32 acres were on what is now the Plains of Abraham, but there is no conclusive evidence of that. He's the most famous non-francophone original Hab.

Right defence: #6 Marguerite Langlois
Wife of Abraham Martin, for whom the Plains of Abraham were named. On Oct. 24, 1621, she gave birth to the first child of full French ethnic origin to be born in New France: Eustache Martin. She and her husband also had six daughters. Thousands of Quebecers who are living today can trace their roots back to that cluster of six Langlois sisters.

Left wing: #8 Olivier Le Tardif
As a young man, he was sent out by Samuel de Champlain to live with aboriginal peoples and learn their languages. He came back to Quebec speaking fluent Montagnais, Algonquian and Huron, and became Champlain's chief translator and most trusted adviser in the three years before Champlain's death in 1635. Admired for his integrity, Le Tardif fathered five children of his own and adopted three aboriginal children. Eight is his number then, the same number that namesake left winger Marc Tardif wore while with the Montreal Canadiens in the early 1970s.

Centre: #28 Samuel de Champlain
A household name in Quebec, as the founder of New France. He was one of 28 people from France who spent the first winter in Quebec in 1608-09. And he spent the final 28 years of his life trying to help the fledgling French presence in North America take root. He landed in what is now Quebec City on July 3, 1608. Known for his wisdom, sense of fairness, and high regard for aboriginal people. Had no offspring with his wife, Hélène Boullé, from whom he eventually separated. Thus the Champlain name isn't very common in Quebec today, other than on roads, bridges and other things named after him.

Right wing: #3 Paul Le Jeune
As the first head of the Jesuit order in New France, this Black Robe deserves the number of the holy trinity: 3. Born a Protestant, he was a convert to Roman Catholicism. He gave out Jesuit rings to aboriginal converts, rings which became the first ceremonial rings to be distributed in Quebec - long before Stanley Cup rings.

The biographical information for these nominations has been gleaned from American historian David Hackett Fischer's recent biography of Champlain, entitled Champlain's Dream. (A professor of history at Brandeis University outside of Boston, Fischer won a Pulitzer Prize for history for his book Washington's Crossing.)

One last note: The H in the Canadiens' logo CH does not stand for Habitant. It stands for hockey, while the logo itself is an abbreviation for Club de hockey Canadien. NHL.com says the the first man to call the Canadiens "the Habs" was Tex Rickard, owner of Madison Square Garden, in 1924.