Canadiens Make Decision on Head Coach Martin St. Louis’ Future
The Montreal Canadiens have decided to pick up the team option on head coach Martin St. Louis’ contract.
The Canadiens announced on April 17 that the team has picked up the two-year option on St. Louis’ deal to remain the head coach in Montreal. St. Louis had just finished his second full season as Canadiens coach after being hired on February 9, 2022, to replace Dominique Ducharme as the interim head coach. St. Louis was promoted to full-time head coach on June 1, 2022.
St. Louis had one more year left on his deal, but the Canadiens have decided to pick up the option for two more seasons, leaving him to be under contract for three seasons.
“He doesn’t believe he has all the answers,” Montreal general manager Kent Hughes said, per NHL.com. “He’s able to reflect on what he’s doing as a coach, what we need to do as a team to take input from the analytics group about where we appear to be deficient, at least what the data is saying, and then work to come up with solutions. And I think that’s true of our coaching staff, so that gives us reassurance that where we see issues, they’re bright and motivated and dedicated to fixing those.
“There’s a lot to him, and I think he takes pride in the fact that he’s always getting better and we see that and we talk about it all the time and we’ve said it a number of times — he’s very impressive and he’s the right person for what we’re doing,” Canadiens executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton said, per NHL.com. “And there’s not a day goes by where we’re not happy that he’s at the helm, that he’s out front. He’s the point person for our franchise and we’re pretty proud of that.”
The news comes a day after St. Louis’ year-end press conference, where he expressed his interest in remaining as the Canadiens’ head coach for the foreseeable future.
““It’s a passion, not a job,” he said, per the Montreal Gazette. “I want to be here until they don’t want me anymore.”
The Canadiens’ season ended on April 16 with a shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Montreal finished the year with a record of 30-36-16, which was good for 15th in the Eastern Conference as the Habs failed to make the playoffs.
