LAVAL-SUR-LE-LAC, Que. — Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis was brought in more than four years ago to help the team navigate its first rebuild.
He is now charged with navigating the opening of a Stanley Cup contention window in Montreal.
St. Louis was signed Monday to a four-year contract extension through the 2029-30 season, a critical time period for the Canadiens to go from the solid playoff team they are today to a true Stanley Cup contender.
But St. Louis insists that drastic change in circumstances will not change how he goes about his job.
“Every year, every opportunity, it’s a chance to learn, to grow,” St. Louis said Monday at the Canadiens’ annual season-opening charity golf tournament. “I would say I’m comfortable with where I am today, and I wouldn’t be here today without all the steps the club has taken.
“I didn’t come in and try to be a certain way. I came in here just to be myself, help the group along the way. I can say I haven’t changed how I coach just because we’re better. I probably changed a little bit of what I coach because we’re getting better, but I haven’t changed how I coach. I’m glad I’ve stayed true to myself that way.”
Given how well St. Louis fulfilled his first rebuilding mandate with the organization, he has instilled confidence in Canadiens management that he will be able to do the same with his latest mandate, which could be considered the more difficult of the two.
“There’s nothing that he’s shown us that he’s incapable of doing it,” general manager Kent Hughes said Monday. “We’ve progressed every year. We made the playoffs when we were at extreme odds to do so two years ago at one point in the year. Last year he was able to maneuver the team to the conference finals. He hasn’t given us any reason to doubt him.
“The reasons we hired him weren’t simply for player development; it was because we thought he can become an excellent coach. He’s a very, very bright guy with a very analytical mind, and I believe Marty and our group will continue to get better.”
St. Louis, a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year in 2025, was entering the final year of his contract. Canadiens president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton explained that the previous contract was simply torn up, and St. Louis’ new four-year deal begins immediately.
“He’s never somebody that (says), ‘I have all the answers.’ You’re not going to walk into a room with Marty and he’s just going to shut everybody down,” Gorton said. “He has that thirst to get better all the time, and that’s difficult.
“In the NHL there’s a lot of egos; you’re dealing with players making a lot of money with a lot of experience and a lot of success, so to be able to walk in front of the team every day and have the success and capture the room and make it exciting and have them want to come, that’s a special talent. And he has that.”
St. Louis has become the fourth-longest tenured coach in the NHL since being hired away from coaching his son’s minor hockey team in Connecticut to become coach of the Canadiens on Feb. 9, 2022. He was first charged with teaching the team’s young core and building it up to become one of the most promising young groups in the NHL.
Captain Nick Suzuki was in his third NHL season when St. Louis arrived, still young and growing into the two-way star and Selke Trophy winner he is today.
“His expectations have changed,” Suzuki said. “When he first came in, it was just kind of about having fun and getting through that first season; it wasn’t the best spot to be in the standings. I think every year expectations have gone up, and the belief that he has that we could be a really good hockey team in the league. He saw it before a lot of people. It’s just the belief that he gives us to go out there every night knowing we can beat anybody in the whole league.”
An answer St. Louis gave on the team’s addition of new associate coach Derek Lalonde, a coach with more NHL bench experience than him, is a perfect reflection of why St. Louis has been able to succeed to this point — and also why he received this massive vote of confidence from his team to guide the Canadiens to where they want to go, which is consistent Stanley Cup contention.
“One of the biggest qualities you need to have if you want to continue to grow and improve is to be curious. And I’m very curious,” St. Louis said. “So, to bring in someone like Derek, I can tell you I’m asking him a lot of questions. You need to take the opportunity to know that there are a lot of people around you that you can learn from, even if you’re comfortable with how you do things.
“So, my curiosity will help me a lot.”
