Jean Beliveau was honoured in a pre-game ceremony by the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre prior to hosting the Ottawa Senators in the team's playoff opener on Wednesday night.

A video was shown of Beliveau passing the torch, in this case to symbolize the beginning of the NHL post-season. An audio clip containing an inspiring message from Beliveau was also played in the arena. 

The torch appears before every home game and is typically carried by a young fan. 

The hockey legend and former Habs captain passed away at the age of 83 in December of 2014.

Beliveau retired in 1971 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame the following year. He remains the second all-time scoring leader in franchise history with 1,219 points, and even more impressively, was a member of 10 Stanley Cup winning teams in Montreal.

In another classy move, the Canadiens also paid tribute to Mark Reeds, the Senators' assistant coach who died on Tuesday after a battle with cancer. 

  • Footage of both tributes are available in the video players at the top of this article.