The Montreal Maroons (officially the Montreal Professional Hockey Club) were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL). They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935. They were the last non-Original Six team to win the Stanley Cup until the Philadelphia Flyers in 1974.

Founded as a team for the English community in Montreal, they shared their home city with the Canadiens, who eventually came under the same ownership as the Maroons but were intended to appeal to the French Canadian population. This was the first time since 1918, when the Montreal Wanderers folded, that Montreal had a second major-league professional hockey team. In order to accommodate the Maroons, a new arena was built for them in 1924, the Montreal Forum. The Maroons were a highly competitive team, winning the Stanley Cup twice and finishing first in their Canadian Division twice more. Some of the best players of the era played for the Maroons; eleven players were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, while five of the six head coaches of the Maroons were also honoured.

Financial difficulties resulting from the Great Depression led to the Maroons suspending play after 1938. Despite efforts to revive the team, the franchise was cancelled in 1947, leaving the Canadiens as the sole NHL team in Montreal. Since the Maroons' demise, no NHL team that has won a Stanley Cup at any point in its history has subsequently folded or relocated.

The Montreal Maroons ice hockey team was created to appeal to the anglophone neighbourhoods of Montreal. On January 2, 1918, the Montreal Arena, shared by the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Wanderers, burned down. The Canadiens, who drew primarily Montreal's francophones, moved to the Jubilee Arena which, in 1919, also burned down, before settling in the Mount Royal Arena, which had natural ice and seating for 3,250 spectators. The Wanderers, team of Montreal's anglophone community, folded. By 1922, work began to build a team to appeal to the anglophones and return to the NHL. In July 1924, construction began on a new arena, on the site of a former roller-skating rink known as the Forum. By fall, at a cost of CA$1,500,000 (equivalent to about $27,366,667 in 2025), the Montreal Forum was complete. The Montreal Forum was the first large arena in the NHL. The Maroons joined the NHL in 1924, along with the league's first United States-based team, the Boston Bruins. The Canadiens initially objected to a second team in Montreal, but relented when compensated by the expansion fee. The expansion fee for each team was CA$15,000 (equivalent to about $273,667 in 2025). The Canadiens, the local rivals of the Maroons, received $11,000 of the Maroons' fee. While the Canadiens' owner initially lodged a formal objection to ensure he would get adequate compensation for sharing his franchise's territory, he was actually quite enthusiastic about having a second franchise in the same city; rather, he would later state, he "saw in them an important and lucrative local rivalry."

At the time of their founding, the Maroons had no nickname. The Maroons' president, James Strachan, had been the owner of the Wanderers in the 1900s. He attempted to secure the Wanderers name, but negotiations failed (Wanderers' last owner Sam Lichtenhein wanted CA$5,000 (equivalent to about $91,222 in 2025)), so the club was known by its official name, the Montreal Professional Hockey Club. With the team introducing maroon-coloured sweaters complete with a large capital letter "M" for a logo (the letter officially stood for their home city, not the colour), the "Maroons" nickname was picked up by the media. The club never officially changed the organizational name to incorporate the Maroons name.^{[citation needed]}

In the Maroons' first season, they finished second to last in the league. However, the new Forum was selling out and, with the addition of players like Nels Stewart, Babe Siebert and Merlyn Phillips, success came quickly. In a single year, the Maroons went from having their worst record in franchise history to their best. In only their second season, Montreal won their first Stanley Cup. The NHL playoffs that year were a two-game, total-goals format. Montreal won the opening series over the Pittsburgh Pirates 6–4, then upset the favored Ottawa Senators 2–1. In the NHL playoff final, Montreal defeated Ottawa to advance to the 1926 Stanley Cup Final against the Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League (WHL). In the last Stanley Cup Final involving two different leagues, Montreal defeated Victoria three games to one. Contributing to the victory was rookie, and future Hall of Fame member, Nels Stewart, who scored six of the Maroons' 10 goals in the series. Stewart won the Hart Trophy as most valuable player. While not a smooth skater, Stewart compensated with size (at 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) and 195 lb (88 kg), he was a giant compared to other players of that era), toughness (amassing 119 penalty minutes), and shooting (scoring 34 of Montreal's 91 goals during the season). Stewart's 34 goals remained an NHL record for rookies until the 1970–71 season. During this era, team's best players often played the entire game with substitutions only made for injuries.

For the 1926–27 season, the NHL expanded to 10 teams and was divided into American and Canadian divisions. The Maroons finished third in the Canadian Division, behind their rivals the Canadiens, with whom they now shared the Forum. The two teams met in the playoffs for a two-game, total-goals series. The Forum was packed with 11,000 fans, in a building whose capacity was listed at 10,000, to watch the Canadiens defeat the defending Stanley Cup champions. The Maroons also participated in another moment of ice hockey history when, on November 26, 1926, they were the competition in the New York Rangers' NHL debut game.

The Maroons got revenge on the Canadiens in the 1927–28 season, by eliminating them in the semifinals of the playoffs. The Maroons then met the New York Rangers for the 1928 Stanley Cup Final, but lost the series 3–2. Because the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus occupied Madison Square Garden, all five games were played at the Forum.